House Extensions …

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Anyone contemplating a House Extension would be well-advised to watch this seventeen minute extract from a webinar: **LINK**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edz5OfXXVbQ

and also to look at this:

https://www.hse.gov.uk/construction/cdm/2015/index.htm

MichaelG.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 23/07/2023 19:45:11

Edited By JasonB on 24/07/2023 07:06:40

Michael, very interesting.

Let's hope it avoids future tragedies. Interesting that hotels are not included, perhaps existing legislation cover such places. Part of the problem with Grenfell was that safety tests on materials were inadequate, and inappropriatematerials were used for cladding.

The 18m (approx 6 stories) falls in line with the National Fire Chiefs' Council NFCC link, presumably to do with firefighting equipment and techniques..It won't apply to too many house extensions (having just gone through the trauma of that, I wouldn't have wanted too much more bureaucracy!), but these kinds of requirements have a tendency to creep.

The presenter did upset me a bit in his intro with "a excerpt...," but I guess I have to get used to 'evolution of the language!

Bill

I don't think the Grenfell Tower Inquiry has been published yet so we can't predict it here; but a builder told me (presumably knowing via the trade) that the fire spread not because the cladding material could burn, but because it was installed to a design that made sure it would burn once alight.

I must admit I was worried about the insulating-board fastened to my rafters, but a test on off-cuts showed it did not ignite very easily, and anyway, for it to catch fire the home is already alight.

One precaution I took though was to remove all six halogen inset lamps in my main bedroom, and replace just three or four with l.e.d. types.

If anyone wants to learn more about the Grenfell fire tragedy I suggest you spend a few weeks watching all of the videos taken of the enquiry, they are all posted on Youtube. It's quite an eye opener to the way sales of insulation board was promoted, fire safety testing establishments shortfalls, design of the new windows installation method, ventilation system downfalls, door closers missing or not functioning, the list goes on and on.

Emgee

Link to the Chairman's statement of Phase 1 of the enquiry,

https://youtu.be/YE9idAhfq4o?si=05kz7X0lvpfwxUNb

Edited By Emgee on 23/07/2023 23:34:15

There's always more to learn, but, after the cause of ignition, the cladding was the proximate cause of the disaster by being the mechanism that the fire was spread.

The Inquiry received information that the cladding was highly flammable (Building Reseach Establishment, 'an immediate and present risk to life', 2002). Government failed to update advice to the industry. But, as Emgee implies, commercial pressure to sell the product overrode knowledge of its shortcomings. One must hope that the new regulations do not suffer from shortcuts and future desire to deregulate that seems to blight good intentions.

Bill

Sorry, chaps … I wondered why the discussion had focussed on Grenfell

My intention was to link Part 2 … which is specifically about non-high-risk buildings

**LINK** : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiuFrVrUNhg

YouTube had already skipped forward to Part 3 by the time I copied the link.

MichaelG.

Thanks, Jason, for adding the note to my opening post

MichaelG.

Mea culpa, Michael. I thought it unlikely that you were having a super-sized extension, so assumed it was about the much needed improvements in our civil engineering industry. So apologies for hijacking your thread.

I shall take a look at changes for smaller scale building, but only for an academic interest since I had an extension completed last year. It has 100mm of insulation, but I think that this is already superceded.

Bill