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Entries are now open for the Building Excellence Awards 2025 Did a local authority provide the building control for your project? If so, read on:First, you will need to register on our awards platform. If you registered last year you can use the same username and password.Once you have…
The above photograph was taken by one of our building control surveyors carrying out a site inspection, and shows how attention to detail (or a lack of!) can lead to future problems. This extension will suffer from moisture problems, but there is not one reason why – there are three.
Look…
This image shows an external cavity with the insulation removed because of damp penetration through the wall. If you look closely, the wall ties fall backwards to the internal leaf - allowing water to track across the cavity. This is because the mortar bed to the brick skin is too thick, resulting…
Can you see what the problem is with this roof?
If you look closely, the purlins connecting to the hip rafter don’t make contact with one another and make very little contact with the hip itself.
Traditional roofs work by distributing loads from the rafters down through to the…
Perimeter upstand insulation performs a vital function in the thermal envelope of the building. It’s used to prevent cold bridging at the edge of the floor where it meets the wall. Basically, it stops the heat from seeping out of the edges of the floor where the screed/concrete meets the wall.
A…
Article updated on 31 January 2024One of our surveyors recently sent in this photo, taken in a brand new commercial building. It’s the ground floor of a protected staircase and shows the door swing directly over the bottom of the stair within the landing space. Clear space should be…
One of our officers was surprised to be greeted with this novel approach to childproofing windows at a recent completion inspection - a child safety gate.
An earlier inspection had highlighted the need to provide some form of guarding to the window because it was within 800mm of the floor.…
Approved Document J outlines the precautions needed to ensure that smoke and gases from appliances can be safely discharged. Diagrams 17 and 18 highlight the outlet heights needed in relation to traditional roofs and easily ignited coverings such as thatch and shingles.In general, outlets need to…
Insulating floors will go a long way towards making a property more energy efficient. But gaps, however small, can often compromise good insulation by allowing air leakage that can lead to cold bridging and other issues. This advice is for floor insulation above a concrete floor and below a screed…
For the past year LABC President, Richard Scott has been fundraising for Pancreatic Cancer UK. With just a couple of weeks remaining LABC will be opening an online auction of signed celebrity sporting goods to help him reach his target.
Richard has spent the past year relentlessly fundraising…