why do you say thatIt sounds as if your engineer did not do much to earn his or her fee!
I strongly disagree. lets recap on what your saying here. there is NO DPC so the every junction of floor and wall will need invasive remedial works or an electro osmosis system (in a new house!) AND NO thats riduclous to suggest that1. You need a damp-proof membrane (which can be heavy-gauge plastic sheet) under your subfloors. I'd be concerned if that was absent. A layer of insulating material is also good, but almost all the heat that goes into concrete flooring comes back into the house eventually. That's why I say the absence of insulation is not necessarily a disaster.
ridiculousalmost all the heat that goes into concrete flooring comes back into the house eventually.
agreed but then you go on to say2. It is important to ascertain if the house is built with cavity blocks, or if it has a cavity wall (essentially, a double wall with a gap between the two leaves). You can not reasonably put insulation in cavity blocks, and in my opinion they are quite inferior to cavity walls.
insulation in a block built cavity CAN NOT be provide by AIR!! thats a mental misleading statement to make. current cavity wall are generall 150mm fill full bond bead and can be wider 200-300mmThe insulation in cavity walls can be provided either by air or a manufactured insulating material, or both (both can be achieved by having a 100mm cavity with 40mm styrofoam and 60mm air).
air-tightness is now generally considered as important as insulation. the OP will need more than a book to rectify this property IMHO3. Gaps in the wall are an annoyance, but can (and should) be rectified at very little cost.
this is not generally an eng's remitYes I know absolutely nothing about building - only what I am told. Got structural engineer in already - he did not open anything up and could not comment on wall or floor insulation. Had plumbers in yesterday who noticed the wall insulation low - a bit disappointed with the engineer that he did not point it out as it is fairly obvious - there are areas in the wall that are open (around plumbing connections) where insulation can be see.
in many new builds, I try to express the need for good insulation levels, reduce any thermal bridges and achieving high levels of air-tightness etc,. here you dont even have a RADON BARRIER & SUMP! IMHO walk awayRe. floor insulation - the guys who did pyrite testing said that there is no insulation and that there should be ne between the infill and the concrete - may be they meant dump membrane? Basically there is nothing between the infill and concrete.
if you cant afford external wall insulation then you cant begin BEGIN to bring this property upto current building regulationsWe have not bought the house yet just have a deposit and already spent a fortune on planning investigations, engineer etc so I am looking for free opinions here if you wishPyrate tests might yet to turn positive so not going to spend any more money until we get the results of the test. Any opinions re. insulation questions welcome.
fundamental in that your builders cannot be trusted. modern houses are now putting at least 100mm if not 200mm in the floorthere is no insulation in the concrete at all i.e. there is about 9 inches concrete and infill underneath - nothing in between. How bad is it?
IMHO yes, unless your buying it for the siteIs this house a loss cause with such foundation?
min ceiling height should be 2.4 meters or 8ftAnything we can do now, for example put insulation on top of concrete and then flooring? I assume this will reduce the ceiling high somewhat.
RUN awayOn top of that the house is built of concrete blocks (possibly hollow?)
run run awayand there is only 40 mm styro foam insulation and standard plaster board.
generally its more than this, and drylining to that thickness is no longer considered good practiceI believe this is also below current requirements (of 100mm)
from what you have stated above YES. who is going to certify that it complys with building regs? and are you sure the bank will lend for such a substandard house?so any opinion on how bad this insulation is is welcome. We don't really have a budget for external insulation. Will it be a very cold house then that would be impossible to keep heat in?
We got a compliance with building regulations letter and completion letter from the architect who was involved in building the house. The leter states though that he did not oversee every part of the build so not responsible for work covered up. Banks seems to be happy. Clearly the letter is just a fiddle and done up just so the house can be sold.from what you have stated above YES. who is going to certify that it complys with building regs? and are you sure the bank will lend for such a substandard house?
Is it doable?
Does it make sense?
Does it make sense to try and insulate the walls or is it the case that we might as well knock the house down and build it from scratch again (very extreme I know but just brain storming here?
the fiddle is by the seller/ developer/ builder. the architect has just provided an opinion on complaince - s/he has no remit in written such a cert to open-up floors or walls..We got a compliance with building regulations letter and completion letter from the architect who was involved in building the house. The leter states though that he did not oversee every part of the build so not responsible for work covered up. Banks seems to be happy. Clearly the letter is just a fiddle and done up just so the house can be sold.
how much are we taking? can you justify this purchase based on the site alone?At this stage we understand that it is a bad buy as is.
well that would be the nail in the cofin - you WOULD BE KNOCKING IT, forget renovating of a floor if there's pyrite. think about the foundations! I live in Cork City and there is huge issues with subsidence. this cost major bucks, I mean you could be talking 50g easy. and that's not counting the floors you may have to lift..Also the guys who did the pyrite test said that it looks like there is actually pyrite in the fill as it was shiny when they took it out - it is yet to be confirmed by the lab.
so bring all your correlated evidence to the sellers representative and tell them 'this house needs to be knocked! but I'm interested in buying the site, how much?'The thing is that we really liked the house and the location and site is great and suits us down to the ground.
you can budget for that and not EWI, I'm starting to think, your having a laugh here, and wasting our time..So my question now is if we were to get a really really good price i.e. essentially paying for the site, we then could deal with Pyrite/insulation issue by taking out concrete, infill etc and putting in proper foundation - I know very expensive but we will be budgeting for it.
tell us where in the country you are and someone will recommend a good architect/technologist to consult on your disaster areaHow would we then deal with wall insulation?
no but given what you've told us above, It would be my preferred oneIs external insulation our only option?
not adviseable and not good practiceOr since the house will be in a mess anyway, should we just remove plaster boards and put in more insulation internally?
yee, sure why not, the rest of your potential house is so .... what will a bit of condenstion, mould, and few more carcinogen's do to you..Is it doable?
no, this thread stopped making sense when you said there was no insulation in the concrete floorDoes it make sense?
there you go..Does it make sense to try and insulate the walls or is it the case that we might as well knock the house down and build it from scratch again
I know that it is pricey but if we get the house/site for the price of a site we would have the money to fix it.you WOULD BE KNOCKING IT, forget renovating of a floor if there's pyrite. think about the foundations! I live in Cork City and there is huge issues with subsidence. this cost major bucks, I mean you could be talking 50g easy. and that's not counting the floors you may have to lift..
Not having a laugh a all - I asked this question on the basis that we get a better price i.e. significantly lower than what we have sale agreed now hence the new "available" funds.So my question now is if we were to get a really really good price i.e. essentially paying for the site, we then could deal with Pyrite/insulation issue by taking out concrete, infill etc and putting in proper foundation - I know very expensive but we will be budgeting for it.
you can budget for that and not EWI, I'm starting to think, your having a laugh here, and wasting our time..
I was wondering so myself. If pyrite reports comes back positive I would be very tempted to put an address up there for all to see with the report attached. I fear the receiver might put the property up for an auction without disclosing all information and then someone else will be in trouble. It is my belief that a lot of dodgy houses are salt at auctions.just an aside note/question - what are the potential legal ramifications of the OP (or any person in a similar situation) making such reports (evidence of non-compliance with building regulations) on such a property to the public attention - ie to save similar persons having to fork out for their own consultant reports or worse not cop it till they've moved in..
To get a compliant building, yes, it would be cheaper.Those who suggest demolition, do you think that it is cheaper to demolish and rebuild than to redo foundation and fix the walls?
you are on a public forum, and I cannot see the building in question. I have been as honest and frank as I can be, and can do no more. good luck with itSo, what I am trying to figure out here is whether or not it is fixable.............. I am genuinely clueless
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