Advice: Building control - thermal elements

sitomo

Hi all,

Looking for some advice on the building control regs.

I have a 1 ft horizontal crack in the (horrible grey) pebble dash above a picture window on the front of my semi detached house.
When we bought the house the surveyor thought that a concrete lintel may have failed above the window (we had a reduction in purchase price).

I have spoken to a couple of builders and the proposed remedy is:
1. Take off the whole of the pebble dash on the front of the house
2. Investigate the lintel/ wall ties to check whether remedial work needs completing and then complete as necessary
3. Re-render the front of the house (might as well improve the look of the front instaed of just taking a 4ft square section of render off and replacing it as a patch).

I have spoken to building control and they said that if I remove more than 25% of the pebble dash then I will need to submit a building control notice.

to do this, I will need to improve the thermal rating of the entire walls of the property. (This could be by installing cavity wall insulation).

However, if I install the cavity wall insulation first then I may not need to file a building control notice.

Does this make sense to people?
Can anybody advise on the regulations and my responsibilities under them?
It all seems a bit up in the air.
Also, do I need to go to planning as well? (I don't think I do, but might as well ask!)
The building control guy said, "although these regs have been in place since 2006 we haven't really got our heads around them yet"!?!?!

Thanks

trickys77

The way I understand it is that rendered buildings can have their thermal efficiency improved by installing an insulating layer underneath or into the render when it is replaced. This is usually more expensive than cavity wall insulation etc. However if you are removing and re-rendering the whole wall anyway it's worth while. Hence the building regs came in to force the insulation if the render is removed. (Unless it is already cavity filled).

Firstly make sure that your have cavity walls rather than solid brick. If you have solid brick then go for the external insulation when you re-render. If you have cavity then get quotes for both options and go for the cheapest.

Another option is don't touch the outside at all. I also have a broken lintel which I am getting replaced and they are doing it internally so not touching the outside render at all.

sitomo

thanks for that!!