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Property owners across England and Wales are increasingly investing in photovoltaic and solar thermal collector panels to lower their energy costs. These panels usually come in a rigid, lightweight aluminium shell that can be screwed or clamped securely to a roof.
But once the individual solar…
Failing an acoustics test is not as uncommon as you may think. In many cases, it’s the simple, but avoidable things that lead to failure. The resultant costs and project delays are easily avoided by ensuring that the problem doesn’t occur in the first place.
If the architect’s drawings have left…
As the Government announced the first of the new garden villages, a new report ‘Small is beautiful: Delivering more homes through small sites’ published by FMB looks at ways smaller scale developments can contribute to the demand for new homes.
Gary Lewis, National President of the FMB said…
The drive towards more energy efficient buildings continues to bring innovative products onto the market, such as insulated roof panels. These are an easy-to-fit, quick-to-install, low-maintenance roofing option that also offers thermal performance. Long length panels also reduce the number of end…
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.…