How was my house built
Discussion
I want an extension building on the back of my house which sounds pretty straight forward and normally I would agree but my house is built into a hillside and therefore the rear garden is at first floor level. So from the back the ground floor of the house is equivalent to a basement.
Now it was built 14 years ago and I am trying to establish how the rear of the house was built taking into account the rather large wooded hill it is built into. I have tried the builder Bovis Homes but they do not have information going back that far and I have tried my local planning office to no avail. So I am a bit stuck as I have no way of knowing how they did it.
Anyone got any suggestions of where such information could be obtained. Is there some other party that would have been informed of how the house was built, original plans. I know it is a tall order and I just want to exhaust any remaining possibilities. It had an NHBC guarantee would they have had plans lodged?
Now it was built 14 years ago and I am trying to establish how the rear of the house was built taking into account the rather large wooded hill it is built into. I have tried the builder Bovis Homes but they do not have information going back that far and I have tried my local planning office to no avail. So I am a bit stuck as I have no way of knowing how they did it.
Anyone got any suggestions of where such information could be obtained. Is there some other party that would have been informed of how the house was built, original plans. I know it is a tall order and I just want to exhaust any remaining possibilities. It had an NHBC guarantee would they have had plans lodged?
The bit that is built back into the hillside will be designed as a retaining wall and will be tanked to prevent water penetration, but it's impossible to say what the precise detailing will have been, if you can't get hold of the drawings, 'cos there are a variety of different solutions.
If it was NHBC, then, yes, a copy of the plans would have been lodged with them, but I wouldn't rely on them being able to find them after 14 years.
If it was NHBC, then, yes, a copy of the plans would have been lodged with them, but I wouldn't rely on them being able to find them after 14 years.
Hasve you tried the LA Building Control department, it's a long shot but the officer dealing with the original build MAY still work there. Alternative is they may have the records of inspections and/or photo copies of the original submissions / cals / details. As aleady said it's likly the wall is designed as retaing structure you may be lucky and find the name of the Consulting Structural Enginners. Good luck.
Story so far.
I tried the builder - they don't keep plans that long.
I tried the planning office - It would take me ages to find those, I am too busy calculating my final salary pension
I tried NHBC - Fill this form in and pay us £57 but you must get copyright permission from builder
I tried the builder - Company policy is not to grant copyright
Round in a big circle. The upshot of which is that I cannot obtain the plans to my own house from a well known builder or anyone else because the builder has a company policy.
I feel that building a time machine and going back 14 years to see how it was built is more achievable so I will get on with that rather than wasting my time.
I tried the builder - they don't keep plans that long.
I tried the planning office - It would take me ages to find those, I am too busy calculating my final salary pension
I tried NHBC - Fill this form in and pay us £57 but you must get copyright permission from builder
I tried the builder - Company policy is not to grant copyright
Round in a big circle. The upshot of which is that I cannot obtain the plans to my own house from a well known builder or anyone else because the builder has a company policy.
I feel that building a time machine and going back 14 years to see how it was built is more achievable so I will get on with that rather than wasting my time.
SLacKer said:
I tried the builder - Company policy is not to grant copyright
...I cannot obtain the plans to my own house from a well known builder or anyone else because the builder has a company policy.
To be fair to Bovis, that's pretty much a standard policy that you'd get from any major builder (ourselves included)....I cannot obtain the plans to my own house from a well known builder or anyone else because the builder has a company policy.
You can blame the current penchant for litigation I'm afraid... its a sub clause of the 'always cover your arse' policy that all big companies adopt these days.
Sam_68 said:
SLacKer said:
I tried the builder - Company policy is not to grant copyright
...I cannot obtain the plans to my own house from a well known builder or anyone else because the builder has a company policy.
To be fair to Bovis, that's pretty much a standard policy that you'd get from any major builder (ourselves included)....I cannot obtain the plans to my own house from a well known builder or anyone else because the builder has a company policy.
You can blame the current penchant for litigation I'm afraid... its a sub clause of the 'always cover your arse' policy that all big companies adopt these days.
I have written to Bovis Technical Services Director to ask him for permission. As for their help desk they were more than helpful after they got over the shock of hearing a question that they had never been asked before. Must make a nice change from the usual stuff.
As for the house into the hill I love it and appreciate the engineering that must have gone into it to make it rock solid for 14 years with a big hill behind it. In fact the built into a hill bit was what attracted me to buy it in the first place.
Edited by SLacKer on Wednesday 14th October 17:03
Find some of the local Bovis sites under construction and just call round and poke your head in the site managers cabin. If you take a pic of the house no doubt either he or some of the other lads will have worked on them or similar over the years and could help you out - especially if you go armed with a crate of lager for there trouble
Trouble is detailing like the construction of a tanked retaining wall changes quite frequently. It's not unusual for it to have been drawn up by a structural engineer specifically for an individual site or plot.
Even if the company was organised enough to have a Group-wide package of 'standard detail drawings', these tend to get re-drawn on a frequent basis to take account of changes in the Building Regulations, variation in the price of materials, etc., so the chances of finding someone who can say definitely 'we will have built it this way, using these materials', without referring to the drawings, is slim to nil.
On top of that, one of the reasons we don't release drawings is that what's shown on the drawing isn't always exactly the way it was built on site, and we don't want to get sued by someone because 'you told me it was built like this, but when we actually broke it out to add our extension, we found that it's actually built like that and it cost us £XX thousand pounds in redesign and delays to the contract'.
Even if the company was organised enough to have a Group-wide package of 'standard detail drawings', these tend to get re-drawn on a frequent basis to take account of changes in the Building Regulations, variation in the price of materials, etc., so the chances of finding someone who can say definitely 'we will have built it this way, using these materials', without referring to the drawings, is slim to nil.
On top of that, one of the reasons we don't release drawings is that what's shown on the drawing isn't always exactly the way it was built on site, and we don't want to get sued by someone because 'you told me it was built like this, but when we actually broke it out to add our extension, we found that it's actually built like that and it cost us £XX thousand pounds in redesign and delays to the contract'.
I was told by a neighbour that they built a concrete dam behind each house and then built the house in front of it. Got a good mind to break out the mattock and start digging to find it.
Someone showed time team as a reply, wonder if those geo phys guys could use that radar to suss out what is below ground. Anyone know if you can hire that sort of person to survey the ground for what is below?
Someone showed time team as a reply, wonder if those geo phys guys could use that radar to suss out what is below ground. Anyone know if you can hire that sort of person to survey the ground for what is below?
miniman said:
Sam_68 - which builder do you work for?
I'd rather not disclose on a public forum: 'views expressed do not necessarily represent...' and all that...I'm head of design for one of the biggest housebuilders in the country (and not Bovis, obviously!), but I'd rather leave it at that, if you don't mind.
SLacKer said:
Someone showed time team as a reply, wonder if those geo phys guys could use that radar to suss out what is below ground. Anyone know if you can hire that sort of person to survey the ground for what is below?
That was indeed my reasoning, but I have no idea where you'd get a ground radar jobbie from. Possibly if you ring Time Team's office and say you're sure that King Alfred's castle is under your house and that yes, possibly the burnt cake could still be there, they'll be round, complete with real ale and cheese...?You've already spoken to a neighbour - maybe one of them could help more?
I bought a place in 1994 that was built like yours in 1984; mine was one of a block of 4 built on the site.
I bought mine from the original owner who had watched it being built so knew what was done - and took photos for his records of his first new house.
A while after I moved in one of the houses was bought buy an older guy who had lived in the area all his life and knew the old house that used to be on the site.
Between the two I got a good idea of the house construction and the site history - maybe you have near neighbours with similar knowledge?
When I dug down in the garden I came across an engineering brick wall - the old boiler house according to my elderly neighbour!
Good luck,
Steve
PS - if you're like me, the reason you bought is because mine had a 27 foot long garage going back into the hill with bench space, power, WC, etc.? There were a couple of bedrooms, kitchen etc. somewhere upstairs, but that's just incidental!
I bought a place in 1994 that was built like yours in 1984; mine was one of a block of 4 built on the site.
I bought mine from the original owner who had watched it being built so knew what was done - and took photos for his records of his first new house.
A while after I moved in one of the houses was bought buy an older guy who had lived in the area all his life and knew the old house that used to be on the site.
Between the two I got a good idea of the house construction and the site history - maybe you have near neighbours with similar knowledge?
When I dug down in the garden I came across an engineering brick wall - the old boiler house according to my elderly neighbour!
Good luck,
Steve
PS - if you're like me, the reason you bought is because mine had a 27 foot long garage going back into the hill with bench space, power, WC, etc.? There were a couple of bedrooms, kitchen etc. somewhere upstairs, but that's just incidental!
Steve_W said:
You've already spoken to a neighbour - maybe one of them could help more?
I bought a place in 1994 that was built like yours in 1984; mine was one of a block of 4 built on the site.
I bought mine from the original owner who had watched it being built so knew what was done - and took photos for his records of his first new house.
A while after I moved in one of the houses was bought buy an older guy who had lived in the area all his life and knew the old house that used to be on the site.
Between the two I got a good idea of the house construction and the site history - maybe you have near neighbours with similar knowledge?
When I dug down in the garden I came across an engineering brick wall - the old boiler house according to my elderly neighbour!
Good luck,
Steve
PS - if you're like me, the reason you bought is because mine had a 27 foot long garage going back into the hill with bench space, power, WC, etc.? There were a couple of bedrooms, kitchen etc. somewhere upstairs, but that's just incidental!
Thanks for that Steve. The guy who I spoke to has since moved but I will ask around and see if anyone knows any more.I bought a place in 1994 that was built like yours in 1984; mine was one of a block of 4 built on the site.
I bought mine from the original owner who had watched it being built so knew what was done - and took photos for his records of his first new house.
A while after I moved in one of the houses was bought buy an older guy who had lived in the area all his life and knew the old house that used to be on the site.
Between the two I got a good idea of the house construction and the site history - maybe you have near neighbours with similar knowledge?
When I dug down in the garden I came across an engineering brick wall - the old boiler house according to my elderly neighbour!
Good luck,
Steve
PS - if you're like me, the reason you bought is because mine had a 27 foot long garage going back into the hill with bench space, power, WC, etc.? There were a couple of bedrooms, kitchen etc. somewhere upstairs, but that's just incidental!
I must say the large garage was a winner for me as up to then I had spent my time with narrow single garages. Now I can put a car in the middle and work on it with the door shut with no issues of hitting walls etc. Our garage is not built into the hill but into a slope so the back is buried by around 4 foot which makes clearing the guttering out real easy.
Just had a call from the Technical Services Director at Bovis Homes and he would have no problem with me seeing any drawing I could find. He did advise though as indeed some on here have that the best course of action is a structural engineer survey to check exactly how it was done on site as my house would have been different to others in the close.
So I have it from 2 independent sources and my builder also recommended that course of action they just said if I could find some drawings that would give them some idea of the approach then it may help in the overall evaluation.
So onwards and upwards and top marks to Bovis both for the director taking the time to call me and the help desk for caring enough about a 14 year old house they built to help me find the man to talk to.
I will be very interested in the survey and the report as it would be nice to know how it was done and I can add that information to the house documents.
So I have it from 2 independent sources and my builder also recommended that course of action they just said if I could find some drawings that would give them some idea of the approach then it may help in the overall evaluation.
So onwards and upwards and top marks to Bovis both for the director taking the time to call me and the help desk for caring enough about a 14 year old house they built to help me find the man to talk to.
I will be very interested in the survey and the report as it would be nice to know how it was done and I can add that information to the house documents.
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