Foundations for home extensions and house extensions are extremely important. The footings for a new home extension can pose a danger, not only to your home, but the neighbour’s house too.
Home extensions often cause some sort of conflict with the neighbours.
But residents living near this piece of botched building work might have complained a little more vigorously had they foreseen the results.
The extension to the semi-detached houses in Wolverhampton did far worse than just block out extra light – it looks to have caused the adjacent home to crumble.
The house collapsed into its foundations early this morning after work on the neighbouring property is believed to have made the ground unstable.
Most excavations close to boundaries ( 3m rule and 6m rule) are covered under the Party Wall Act, with notices having to be served by the developer on the neighbour. Providing what the developer is doing is technically sound the work can in due course proceed. The DIY world avoid this like the plague, and most will not know or bother with it, as it is viewed as an unnecessary and easily avoidable cost.
A good and safe practice for house and home extension builders when digging foundations for extensions in a very populated urban area and with properties very close to the new foundation is to use foundations walls support as soon is possible.
Because of Building Regulations, a builder or a ground worker can not pour concrete and cement without a Building Inspector approval, as the footings for a new building needs to be inspected. The foundation work can take sometimes up to two weeks before is completed, and in most cases the Building Company or the builders, will make an appointment with the Building Control Inspector a day before ordering the ready mix concrete or starting pouring concrete if the concrete is mixed on site.
Even when the soil is stable and the ground looks very solid, the foundations needs to be reinforced very quickly. Using external grade plywood, 22 mm and noggins, helps stabilizing a foundation before the concrete is poured into the footing trench. If necessary, mechanical equipment can be rented or hired.
If you want to read more about home extensions, you can do it here :
Building a House Extension in Acton, West London
House Extensions builders in Mill Hill NW7 North West London
Getting the right Building Company & Contractors to carry out the building works pays off on the long term.