About Walls, Doors, Windows and floors.

About Walls, Doors, Windows and Floors 

1. What are Outside or Adjoining or interior walls

2. What is Chasing or Chopping a Wall?

3. Different Wall Material explained.

4. About Scaffolding.

5. Building Footings?

6. RSJ or Lintel

7. What is Cavity Wall Insulation?

8. What is Tanking and Damp Treatment?

9. Why are Air Bricks Needed?

10. What is Skimming?

11. What is Tricky to Plaster?

12. What is Rendering?

13. What is a tiling edging Strip?

14. How should a wall be prepped for tiling?

15. What will be considered when laying Tiles?

16. What should be considered when buying new windows?

17. Help with measuring up.

 

What are Outside or Adjoining or Interior Walls?

1. Outside wall. Is a wall between the inside of a house and the outside of the house.
2. Adjoining wall. Is the wall between two houses (the wall between 2 semidetached houses).
3. Interior wall. The wall separating 2 rooms within a house (the wall between the living room and dining room).

What is Chasing or Chopping a Wall?

1. To take the plaster off the wall. In a neat as possible line, depending on the quality of plastered wall. Old Plastering can fall off in big clumps and is impossible to keep neat.
2. You will need to patch/fill in the chase with Plaster after the cable or pipe has been installed.
3. Dust will go through the house. When chopping into walls, a lot of dust is made so make sure furniture is covered with dust sheets or old bed sheets. Completely removing all furniture out of rooms being worked in is the Ideal area for Trade People to Work.
4. Be aware of damage to the coving  dado rail, skirting. Make sure the tradeperson is aware that you have no intention of installing new coving to avoid unnecessary damage. Sometimes coving and skirting do get caught and might need a little filling after; this can be unavoidable.

Different Wall Material explained.

• Brick.  Which is very good to fix to but can be very hard to drill into or cut into. Normally in brown or terracotta (dark orange)
• Breeze block. Grey in colour, normally good to fix to but some types of breeze do need better fixings. Breeze is good to cut or drill if dry.
• Gap fill concrete. Is made by pouring concrete into a mould and strengthening with steel rods. Very hard to fix to and cut into.
• hollow studded wall is an interior wall only (dividing a space into 2 room), which has a wooden frame covered with plasterboard. If you knock on the wall, you can hear that it is hollow. Good to fix to and cut into, although if there is a lot of weight it will need reinforcing.
• Studded straw filled Interior wall are walls made of compacted straw in the middle of plasterboards, which is very hard to cut into although good to fix to if using the correct fixings, which are a little more expensive.
• Egg box type Interior walls are reinforced with cardboard in the middle of the plaster board. Easy to get pipes through.

About Scaffolding

Scaffolding Information;

1. Use The Work at Height Regulations 2005 if planning to use your own equipment.
2. IF a job is for a short duration, ladders are okay to use if it is safe to do so, i.e., replace a few tiles on a roof.
3. Scaffolding must be used for higher-risk jobs, i.e. lifting heavy equipment to a high place.
4. Scaffolding may be used to get to an awkward place for ladders to get to, even though it may be a small job.

The Regulations apply to all work at height where there is risk of a fall that is liable to cause personal injury. They place duties on employers, the self-employed and any person who controls the work of others (such as facilities managers or building owners who may contract others to work at height).

Those with duties under the Regulations must ensure that:

• all work at height is properly planned and organised.
• those involved in work at height are competent.
• the risks from work at height are assessed, and appropriate work equipment is selected and used.
• the risks of working on or near fragile surfaces are properly managed.
• the equipment used for work at height is properly inspected and maintained.

 

For managing work at height and selecting the most appropriate equipment, duty holders must:

• avoid work at height where possible, for example, doing the work from ground level using extending equipment.
• use work equipment or other measures to prevent falls where work at height cannot be avoided, for example, cherry pickers or scaffolding.
• Use work equipment or other measures to minimise the distance and consequences of potential falls where the risk cannot be eliminated, for example, nets or bean bags
• Short-duration work means tasks that are measured in minutes rather than hours, e.g., replacing a few of broken tiles on a roof or adjusting a television aerial

 

  Are ladders banned?

• No, ladders are not banned. They can be used for low-risk, short-duration work where a risk assessment shows that other, more suitable work equipment cannot be used due to the layout of the work area. Schedule 6 of the Work at Height Regulations deals with the requirements for ladders. There is no maximum height for using a ladder. However, where a ladder rises 9 metres or more above its base, landing areas or rest platforms should be provided at suitable intervals.

Building Footings?

The most important thing when building a home is sighting the foundation, and no matter what type of foundation you end up using, they all begin the same way — with the footings.

What Is a Footing?

A footing is typically concrete and typically reinforced with steel. The footing is the bottom part of the foundation. It is the base — sometimes called a spread footings because it is spread wide—and it spreads the vertical loads that are coming down in the building.

In a foundation, that is a slab (all slabs in general have a footing that goes around the perimeter of the building).

How deep the excavation contractor needs to dig will depend upon the soil. The depth is usually designated by the structural engineer. They will tell you, based on the strength of the soil. The width gets into spreading those loads, and if the soil is not really that strong, then what you will need typically is a larger footer to help spread the load out a little bit more.

RSJ or Lintel

When you are making an alteration to a property that involves creating a new opening in the building (such as a door or window), it is essential that you ensure the integrity of the brickwork above the opening by means of a lintel.

Typically, on a domestic single leaf knock through with a gap larger than a door or window in a load-bearing wall, a steel RSJ would be put in place to take the load above.

Prior to any structural modification, you must have the load calculated by either a capable builder or preferably a structural engineer. Each job is different and may warrant a different set of rules to accommodate different loads of the structure, which will be inspected by the building control to make sure it is to the building  regulations.

What is Cavity Wall Insulation?

Wall insulation

Did you know that around a third of all the heat lost in an uninsulated home goes through the walls? Heat will always flow from a warm area to a cold one. In winter, the colder it is outside, the faster heat from your home will escape into the surrounding air.

Most houses built from the 1990s onwards were built with insulation in the walls to keep the heat in, but if your house is older than that, it may not have any wall insulation at all. If this is the case, then you are paying good money to heat the outside air instead of just heating your home. Luckily, most types of walls can be insulated in one way or another.

The first thing you need to find out is what sort of walls you have.

Cavity walls and solid walls

Houses in the UK mostly have either solid walls or cavity walls.

• a cavity wall is actually made up of two walls with a gap in between, known as the cavity; the outer leaf is usually made of brick, and the inner layer of brick or concrete block.
• a solid wall has no cavity; each wall is a single solid wall, usually made of brick or stone.

Working out what sort of walls you have

If your house was built after the 1920s, it is likely to have cavity walls. Older houses are more likely to have solid walls.

If you can see the brickwork on the outside of the house, look at the pattern of the bricks. If your home has cavity walls, the bricks will usually have a regular pattern.

If your home has solid walls, the bricks will have an alternating pattern.

If the brickwork has been covered, you can also tell by measuring the width of the wall. Go to a window or door on one of your external walls. If a brick wall is more than 260 mm thick, then it probably has a cavity; a narrower wall is probably solid. Stone walls can be thicker still but are usually solid.

Other types of walls

Some houses are not made from brick or stone at all, and so do not fit neatly into these two categories—for example, steel-frame and timber-frame buildings, and houses made from pre-fabricated concrete.

Generally, these houses do not have a cavity to fill, but it may be possible to insulate them in the same way as a solid wall.

Is cavity wall insulation suitable for your home?

Your home will usually be suitable for cavity wall insulation if:

• its external walls are unfilled cavity walls
• your cavity is at least 50mm wide
• the masonry or brickwork of your property is in good condition
• it is more than twenty years old (most newer houses will have insulation already)
• the walls are not exposed to driving rain.

Are your cavity walls unfilled?

If your house was built in the last twenty years or so, its walls are probably insulated already. To find out whether they are:

• ask a registered installer for a boroscope inspection. They will drill a small hole in your external wall to see if your walls are hollow or filled.
• check with your local authority building control department; they might know if your cavity walls have been filled already.

Are your external walls easy to access?

Cavity wall insulation is blown into the cavity from the outside of a house. Every part of the wall must be filled with insulation, so it is important that the installer can reach all your external walls.

If your home's external walls are joined to another house, the installer will need to insert a cavity barrier to contain the insulation, so your neighbours are not affected.

What if there is damp?

If you have any damp patches on your internal walls, then they should not be insulated until the problem is sorted out. You should speak to a builder who specialises in damp prevention.

How is insulation installed?

To insulate your cavity walls, the installer drills small holes around 22 mm in size at intervals of around 1 m in the outside wall of your home. With specially designed equipment, they then blow insulation into the cavity. Once all the insulation is in, the installer fills the holes in the brickwork so you will barely notice them.

Filling cavity walls is not a job you can do yourself; you will need to find a registered installer. A professional can do the job in around two hours for an average house with easily accessible walls; it should be simple, quick, and make no mess.

Insulating your solid walls could cut your heating costs considerably because solid walls let through twice as much heat as cavity walls do. The good news is they can be insulated—from the inside or the outside.

How much could you save?

Internal or external insulation?

Keeping the costs down

Regulations

If your home was built before 1920, its external walls are probably solid rather than cavity walls. Cavity walls are made of two layers with a small gap or ‘cavity’ between them. Solid walls have no such gap, so they let more heat through. Solid walls can be insulated—either from the inside or the outside. This will cost more than insulating a standard cavity wall, but the savings on your heating bills will be bigger too.

Not sure whether your walls are solid or cavity? Work out what sort of walls you have.

You might be able to reduce costs by carrying out the work at the same time as other home improvements. And you could spread the cost by not tackling all the house at once.

Internal or external insulation?

Internal wall insulation is done by fitting rigid insulation boards to the wall or by building a stud wall filled in with mineral wool fibre.

External wall insulation involves fixing a layer of insulation material to the wall, then covering it with a special type of render (plasterwork) or cladding. The finish can be smooth, textured, painted, tiled, panelled, pebble-dashed, or finished with brick slips.

There are advantages and disadvantages to both.

Internal wall insulation:

• is generally cheaper to install than external wall insulation
• will slightly reduce the floor area of any rooms in which it is applied (the thickness of the insulation is around 100 mm)
• is disruptive but can be done room by room
• requires skirting boards, door frames and external fittings to be removed and reattached
• can make it hard to fix heavy items to inside walls, although special fixings are available
• needs any problems with penetrating or rising damp to be fixed first.

Find out more about choosing internal wall insulation.

External wall insulation:

• can be applied without disruption to the household
• does not reduce the floor area of your home
• renews the appearance of outer walls
• improves weatherproofing and sound resistance.
• fills cracks and gaps in the brickwork, which will reduce drafts
• increases the life of your walls by protecting the brickwork
• Reduces condensation on internal walls and can help prevent damp (but will not solve rising or penetration damp)
• is best installed at the same time as external refurbishment work to reduce the cost
• may need planning permission; check with your local council
• requires good access to the outer walls
• is not recommended if the outer walls are structurally unsound and cannot be repaired.

Find out more about choosing external wall insulation.

Keeping the costs down

The costs we quote for installing solid wall insulation are for paying a company to come in, insulate your whole house in one go, fully redecorate and replace everything just as it was. Some people want exactly this, but it does cost a lot of money. If you are looking for a cheaper option, the best thing to do is to insulate a wall whenever you are doing something else to it anyway. Fitting the insulation work in with your other home improvements not only saves money on the job, it also spreads the cost of the insulation as you work your way around the house.

If you are planning a new kitchen or bathroom, this is an obvious time to fit internal insulation. But for all the other rooms, why not factor it in when you are next redecorating? You will be clearing the room and making a mess anyway, so why not take the opportunity to improve your insulation while you are in there?

External insulation will also cost less if you do it when you are having other work done to the outside. If you are having a new roof, painting the windows, or even having solar PV panels fitted, then you will probably have scaffolding up already, which can save a bit on the costs. And if you have rendered walls with damaged render or brick walls that need re-pointing, external insulation may not cost you much more than you would need to pay for the repairs.

Lots of older houses have an attractive frontage which would not be suitable for external insulation but a much less impressive rear where external insulation could be just the thing. The front wall can then be insulated internally, one room at a time.

Regulations

If you insulate a solid wall, you have to make sure it complies with the current Building Regulations. The main condition to meet is the thermal performance of the insulated wall; if you live in England or Wales, then it must have a U-value of no more than 0.30 W/m2K. The U-value is a measure of how quickly heat will pass through the wall; as a rough guide, you will need around 60mm to 120mm of insulation to achieve this, depending on what insulation material you use.

Normally your installer will ensure that the insulation is up to standard and will arrange approval from the local Building Control Office for you. If they are not going to do this, you should contact Building Control at an early stage to make sure you comply.

If you are planning to remove and replace more than half of the internal plaster or external render of a wall, or if you are dry-lining a wall, then you have to insulate to this standard, whether you were planning to insulate or not.

If you live in Northern Ireland or Scotland, you should contact your local building control office for information on what you need to do to comply with the regulations.

What is Tanking and Damp Treatment?

The four most common kinds of damp problems are rising damp, penetrating damp, condensation and below ground level damp proofing. To work out the best way to treat the damp in your home, you will need to work out which of these you have a problem with.

1. Rising damp is caused by ground water moving up through a wall. Most walls allow some water in, but it’s usually stopped from causing damage by a barrier called a damp-proof course. This is usually a horizontal plastic or slate strip in the wall. If this is missing or ineffectual, your wall may suffer from rising damp. This type of damp can also happen when the level of the ground outside your home is higher than your damp-proof course, allowing water to get above it. If you have rising damp, you may notice damaged skirting boards and floorboards, crumbling or salt-stained plaster, and peeling paint and wallpaper. There may also be a tide mark along the wall.
2. Penetrating damp is caused by water leaking through walls. This type of damp may move around within a building, but this is through horizontal movement rather than by travelling up walls (as is the case with rising damp). Penetrating damp is usually caused by structural problems in a building, such as faulty guttering or roofing.Penetrating damp often shows up through damp patches on walls, ceilings, or floors, which may darken when it rains. You’re more likely to get penetrating damp if you live in an older building with solid walls, as cavity walls provide some protection.
3. Condensation is the most common kind of damp and is caused by moist air condensing on walls. It is mainly a winter problem, as at this time of year walls are much colder than the air inside. Condensation can be exacerbated by poor ventilation and heating that comes on and off, as this allows warm, damp air to condense.You may notice water droplets on windows or walls, see dark mould appearing, and/or notice an unpleasant smell. If left untreated, condensation can damage paint and plaster and cause window frames to decay.
4. Waterproofing below ground level, often referred to as tanking, is the application of a layer of waterproof material directly to the structure. This is usually a cementitious waterproof render system on the walls, typically applied in several layers, linked to a waterproof screed on the floor. Tanking can also involve a sheet membrane, asphalt, or other liquid-applied waterproofing material. Tanking is also required to withstand the external water pressure around the cellar (hydrostatic pressure). The pressure from the water table around a basement can be enormous and unless the tanking is very securely fixed to the substrate, it can fail. Hydrostatic pressure will force water through the tiniest fault very rapidly and once a leak occurs, it can be very difficult to isolate and repair. Cavity drain membranes are an alternative. The membranes are used to create an inner waterproof structure in the basement or cellar, behind which is a cavity (created by the membranes studded profile) that is fully drained, so any tiny leaks in the outer structure are diverted harmlessly away via a drain. By constantly draining away any small leaks, there is never any water pressure against the inner structure. Several reports consider cavity membranes to be the most reliable way to waterproof a basement.

Why are Air Bricks Needed?

Air needs to flow in and out of your house, so it stays fresh, dry, and healthy. Make sure you don’t block or seal any intentional ventilation, as this causes mold.

• extractor fans—these take out damp air quickly in rooms where lots of moisture is produced (kitchens, bathrooms, and utility rooms)
• under-floor grilles or airbricks—these help keep wooden beams and floors dry
• wall vents—these let small amounts of fresh air into rooms
• trickle vents—modern windows often have small vents above them to let fresh air trickle in.

What is Skimming?

Skimming is done over the browning layer (base layer) of plaster or over plaster board. Skimming is the final coat of plaster which will be painted over, so must be very smooth.

When work has been done, like having a new socket fitted or the wall has cracks in it, having the wall skimmed will make the wall look like new.

What is Tricky to Plaster?

Anywhere it is hard to get a trowel in is hard to plaster, such as narrow gaps in the area to be skimmed. Any place which is higher than a hop-up (a small bench), which is about 2 steps on normal step ladders, is considered more time-consuming.

What is Rendering?

Rendering is a covering for walls to make them look better or to make weather resistant.  Depending on the look required, rendering can be fine or coarse, textured or smooth, natural or coloured, pigmented or painted.

Traditional cement rendering is the application of a premixed layer of sand and cement to brick, cement, stone or mud brick. It is generally used on exterior walls but can also be used to feature an interior wall.

Acrylic premixed renders have superior water resistance and strength. They can be used on a wider variety of surfaces, including concrete, cement blocks, and AAC concrete panelling.  Acrylic renders take only 2 days to dry and cure much faster than the 28 days for traditional cement render.

Most premixed acrylic renders have a smoother complexion than traditional cement renders. There are also a wide variety of acrylic-bound pigmented finishing coats that can be applied over acrylic render. Various finishes, patterns and textures are possible, such as sand, sandstone, marble, stone, stone chip, lime wash or clay-like finishes. There are stipple, glistening finishes, and those with enhanced water resistance and antifungal properties.

What is a tiling edging Strip?

Edging strips are used to finish the end of the tiled area or to make an exterior corner look good, for example, round a window reveal.  On the picture, the tiling goes halfway up the wall, so it has white edging strip to finish off, also used on the tiled area around the sides and bottom of the window area.

How should a wall be prepped for tiling?

Walls should be flat and their surface should be good enough for tiles to stick permanently onto, so remove wallpaper any paint which is flaky (test by putting stick tape on the wall in different areas and pulling off), and fill any depressions or holes with general-purpose interior filler. Make sure that your old tiles are firmly fixed if tiling over old tiles with new tiles. If the wall is in bad condition when you have removed old tiles or wall paper, the wall will have to be re-plastered or plaster boarded.

What will be considered when laying Tiles?

The things to consider when buying and before laying tiles are:

1. The size. Large tiles in a small room will make the room look smaller.
2. The shape, If they are square, should they be laid square or as a diamond. If the tiles are rectangle, are they being laid portrait, landscape, or landscape pattern?
3. The design; The color; If there are patterned tiles, how many are needed.
4. If there is a border, how is it to be used? They don’t just have to go round the centre of the room. For example, some people use border tiles to do a vertical line behind the shower as a feature.

What should be considered when buying new windows?

• Material to have: UPVC, Wood, Aluminium.
• Energy Efficiency: different windows have different energy efficiency ratings.
• Style will the windows need to open? if so, to the left, right or up, or is there a particular requirement. Will it be a fire escape?
• Noise Reduction: if your close to a road, noise-reducing windows can be fitted.
• What type of glass is to be installed standard or frosted, tinted or stained with a pattern.
• What type of handles are to be fitted.

Help with measuring up.

Learn about how to use a tape measure correctly and get an accurate measurement. Contains how to work out meters squared and cubed