Justifying 15 year payback exceeded

[andyrew1]

We have pebbledash on the back of our Victorian terrace that we want to strip off and replace with lime render to hopefully help some damp issues.

As we are rerendering such a large portion of the house it falls under building regulations that say we should up its thermal properties. We intend to put a bit of wood fibre IWI in the kitchen area but that obviously won't get us anywhere near the required U value and I don't currently intend to do anything in the near future in the other rooms.

We don't really want to have to put external insulation on as it will require replacing all the windows and backdoor due to the space available on th reveals and either extend the roof overhangs or do some horrible detailing in that area.

I therefore want to try and make use of the 15 year payback limit in the building regulations.

Does anyone know how I go about this? Do I need actual quotes for the extra work to be able to show to building control? That seems like a real waste of a load of tradesmans time.

 

[Cubist]

It may be wisest to speak with the local planning officers as the regulations/policies they work within may not allow them to accept such raw data /payback calculations from a private individual.

 

[Feltwell]

The back of a terrace? I'd be inclined to be naughty and forget about building regs. I've honestly never heard of anyone getting consent for re-rendering, and unlike some other jobs there's no proving when it was done. The chances of enforcement must be tiny.

 

[andyrew1]

It may be wisest to speak with the local planning officers as the regulations/policies they work within may not allow them to accept such raw data /payback calculations from a private individual.

Yes I planned on asking them directly was hoping just to go into it as informed as I can be.

The back of a terrace? I'd be inclined to be naughty and forget about building regs. I've honestly never heard of anyone getting consent for re-rendering, and unlike some other jobs there's no proving when it was done. The chances of enforcement must be tiny.

This is the backup option that seems to be becoming more and more likely... I had initially just assumed it is like for like maintenance so wouldn't even fall into it until I went digging

Thanks both

 

[Feltwell]

This is the backup option that seems to be becoming more and more likely... I had initially just assumed it is like for like maintenance so wouldn't even fall into it until I went digging

Ignorance is bliss - and I'm a happy chap!

Seriously, ignorance is no defence of course when it comes to building regs but quite honestly if it's not going to get picked up in a later buyer's survey and is highly unlikely to be noticed or warrant enforcement action by BC, I wouldn't lose any sleep.

 

[paulc]

I've been insulating walls internally here on a piecemeal basis. Whilst I have aimed to hit or exceed Building Regulation requirements where possible, I've never involved Building Control. At £300 a time, it is an expense I can well do without.

 

[Lacan07]

We have pebbledash on the back of our Victorian terrace that we want to strip off and replace with lime render to hopefully help some damp issues.

As we are rerendering such a large portion of the house it falls under building regulations that say we should up its thermal properties. We intend to put a bit of wood fibre IWI in the kitchen area but that obviously won't get us anywhere near the required U value and I don't currently intend to do anything in the near future in the other rooms.

We don't really want to have to put external insulation on as it will require replacing all the windows and backdoor due to the space available on th reveals and either extend the roof overhangs or do some horrible detailing in that area.

I therefore want to try and make use of the 15 year payback limit in the building regulations.

Does anyone know how I go about this? Do I need actual quotes for the extra work to be able to show to building control? That seems like a real waste of a load of tradesmans time.

I wouldn't be getting BC involved for that, and I wouldn't worry about meeting the current U value specification either. No BC officer should hold you to that if you're living in a solid brick walled house. To get anywhere near the spec using wood fibre board you'd have to go somewhere up to 200mm!! Modern houses are most often insulated using rigid foam board which has a much higher U value and therefore takes up way less room. They also don't have to confront the issue of freeze/thaw within the walls.

I stripped all the plaster off the walls downstairs in my house and BC came round (inspecting other jobs), mentioned insulation, I told him probably 60mm wood fibre (at best), and he was more than happy with that.

 

[paulc]

I wouldn't be getting BC involved for that, and I wouldn't worry about meeting the current U value specification either. No BC officer should hold you to that if you're living in a solid brick walled house. To get anywhere near the spec using wood fibre board you'd have to go somewhere up to 200mm!! Modern houses are most often insulated using rigid foam board which has a much higher U value and therefore takes up way less room.

Building Regs recommends a target value for walls of 0.30W/m²K in refurbished buildings (0.18W/m²K for new builds). 120mm of cork or woodfibre will get you up to target (assuming a 9" solid brick wall). Using Celotex type insulation board, you could get away with 75mm.

 

[Lacan07]

Building Regs recommends a target value for walls of 0.30W/m²K in refurbished buildings (0.18W/m²K for new builds). 120mm of cork or woodfibre will get you up to target (assuming a 9" solid brick wall). Using Celotex type insulation board, you could get away with 75mm.

That's interesting, thanks. I wasn't aware of the exact figures, and my mind has been scrambled with a roof insulation that obviously demands a bit more. 120mm wood fibre isn't too bad, although more space than most people would want to lose in a room, and too much thickness for a solid wall. This actually makes me feel a bit better about my plans to utilise 60mm wood fibre, its not great but better than nothing.

 

[andyrew1]

Just to add to this the internal insulation also has a criteria of not losing more than 5% floor space, which covers us for what we are planning in the kitchen