Building Regs --extension

karltimber

see the attached jpg for a better idea of my question.

my neighbours ext is 3.5 inches away from the boundary line between 2 semi-d's.
I am putting a new ext onto my property soon.
how close to the boundary line can I build.
Does there have to be an air circulation gap --ie 2 foot ??

should their property be that close to the boundary-according to the reqs ?
the 2 ext will not be connected in any way !!

thx

where can I read the building reqs on-line

Lex Luthor

a friend of mines next door neighbour extended out their back last year and removed the dividing wall and used their new extension external wall as the new dividing wall.
Friend now intends to build his extension and use his extenal wall as the division and plans not to have any gap between the properties..

Litcagral

Try

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/ZZSI497Y1997.html

awishawash

I think its all about the foundations. If the neighbours ext is right up to your wall, or is your wall, then his foundations are probably not sufficient enough. Youll need to get your wall built in the centre of a foundation around a metre wide i think, cant remember, but I think that may be the restriction. You might be able to tie into his foundation and go right to the wall, but not sure if the settlement of your new ext would damage his ext, there you are, a muddle but some food for thought.

karltimber

awishawash wrote:

I think its all about the foundations. If the neighbours ext is right up to your wall, or is your wall, then his foundations are probably not sufficient enough. Youll need to get your wall built in the centre of a foundation around a metre wide i think, cant remember, but I think that may be the restriction. You might be able to tie into his foundation and go right to the wall, but not sure if the settlement of your new ext would damage his ext, there you are, a muddle but some food for thought.

Their foundations come onto my property by about 1 foot.
I was told that there are steel bars into the earth for a connection to be made ie a new foundation to connect onto theirs.

Any ideas folks on the gap that is required between the two walls.
Or how to combat dampness in the area between the two -- put a sloped darin to the edge of the extension???

rooferPete

Hi Karl,

The rules used to be that a clear space for ventilation existed between the two party walls, it had to be vented at the top and bottom but the roof had to cover the void, this was often achieved using a flashing detail.

That detail prevented your dampness problem.

Common sense prevailed and the rules were changed especially for building in tight locations like inner city properties, the party wall had to be built using 4" solids on flat making the party wall fire proof or as near as possible.

While it has been a while since I built extensions I can see no reason why you can't build a single leaf wall on your side of the boundry or check if you can use your neighbours wall as the party wall.

There are a lot of extensions built in terraced houses where both neighbours built extensions and the one in the middle just needed a front wall.

Even if you must stay on your side of the boundry it should not be a problem attaching to your neighbours foundation, it has always been good building practice to build in the middle of your foundation.

The cavity between the two buildings will be dictated by good building practice which at best would mean that you either tie on to the adjoining foundation and step your foundation above or below your neighbours leaving a space equal to the width of your wall between the properties.

There is very little point in referring to the building regs at this time if you have an issue with the neighbours extension, however if the extension was built in the Greater Dublin Area you may have recourse to the Building Bye Laws in place at the time of construction.

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