[Help] Neighbor is taking bricks out of party wall in semi detached very concerned

AdventureRocks

Hello everyone,

I would like know if neighbors in a semi detached house are allowed to take the row of bricks out at floor level on the party wall (their side of the double brick) to put a damp proof membrane in? Will this cause damage to the joining property in the future?

Any help would be very appreciated

Many Thanks

DRP

Do you have any more details?


presumably he's putting them back again afterwards?


Is this a DIY job? or a builder doing it?

AdventureRocks

DRP wrote: »

Do you have any more details?


presumably he's putting them back again afterwards?


Is this a DIY job? or a builder doing it?

He is a armature builder i think.

He is taking out 5 bricks from the front of the house, 5 bricks from the middle of the house, 5 bricks from the back of the house. Then putting those bricks outs and doing the next batch of 15 , 5 from back, middle , front

J_B

AdventureRocks wrote: »

He is taking out 5 bricks from the front of the house, 5 bricks from the middle of the house, 5 bricks from the back of the house. Then putting those bricks outs and doing the next batch of 15 , 5 from back, middle , front

Sorry, confused dot com ...

You have party walls front side and back?????????

southcoastrgi

J_B wrote: »

Sorry, confused dot com ...

You have party walls front side and back?????????

Exactly what I was thinking

paddy's_mum

I think what the OP means is that his next door neighbour is an amateur builder (although having once been a final inspector for a well-known electronics firm, I do actually know some armature builders/winders!) and that said neighbour is chiselling out five bricks at a time from all three of his unshared walls in order to install a damp membrane.

In his shoes, I would be asking the neighbour if he has taken advice on the safety or otherwise of what he is doing but houses are held up as much by their inner skin as by the outer and a few bricks at a time, replacing as he goes, is unlikely to bring the whole lot tumbling down around both families ears, I would venture to suggest.

Bit silly of the neighbour though to not let know such an obviously interested party know what was proposed and why. A quick chat over the garden fence might have saved a lot of anxiety and potentially some real feelings of grievance.

AdventureRocks

J_B wrote: »

Sorry, confused dot com ...

You have party walls front side and back?????????

Sorry for confusion, i will try to explain better.

So it is a semi detached house with a party wall right down the middle separating the two properties. There is only this one party wall in the middle.

With the wall he is going to go along to take 5 bricks out at 3 different points at a time so 15 bricks total. Once these bricks are out he is going to put a damp proof course in. Then is he going to put all 15 bricks back. Then he is going to repeat the process moving along the same middle wall taking another 5 bricks out at 3 different points.

Hope i have explained my self better.

Thanks for your help

J_B

Isn't it 'law' that you should legally inform your party-wall sharing neighbour that you are doing any structural work on the said wall???

tired_dad

why is he doing it? Is there a moisture issue?

missile

It seems neighbour has discussed this with you. Did you not express your concerns to him at the time? If not do it now.

Seems like he is installing damp course in a proper way. I would feel inclined to trust an owner occupier, rather than some of the cowboy builders I have seen.

konark

Is there a damp-proof course already in the bricks, they have been common since Victorian times?

If he feels he has a damp problem why don't you ?

The partition wall will probably be solid so if he only installs a dpc at his side the moisture will come up at your side and 'bridge' over. If there really is a rising damp problem then maybe you should both be removing a few bricks and installing a full-width dpc.