Foundations

Darkstar

I had a builder round to give me an estimate for an extension that I am considering and there was a statement he made that I would like to check. Has every single floor extension built since the 1970’s been required to the have the necessary foundations to allow a second story to be added without additional foundation work?

My house was built in 1979 and I want to build on one wall of an existing single floor utility room.

Doozergirl

Possibly, but not everyone has the work checked by building control to confirm that. If Building Control have the record of your utility being built then they will know whether the foundations are deep enough to meet current regs, otherwise they will insist upon you digging to expose the foundations to prove that they are deep enough.

What the builder says doesn't matter - as far as BC are concerned they are going to check it.

Kiran

As Doozergirl says BC will ask you to dig a trial pit to prove foundation depth. As far as they are concerned your single storey extension could be a DIY job and therefore not built to building regs. For costing purposes you culd assume so but be prepared to do a trial pit to prove it to the BCO and factor that into cost.