Maximum Window to Wall Ratio?

MeSeeksAnswers

I've just poured the slab for a kitchen extension, and it's going to be curing for the next 6 weeks or so before I put anything on it. (In the context of another thread here, there's plenty of steel reinforcement in the slap, and my other half has been laughing her ass off at me since Tuesday morning for watering it every 45 minutes during waking hours whenever it's not been raining )

The extension will be timber frame: 2x4 studs, OSB externally, pitched roof etc etc blah blah blah. Fairly standard construction except the cladding will be timber not masonry. External dimensions excluding the exterior cladding will be 3600 x 2600 (internal 3400 x 2400).

Aside from gaining more space, the purpose of the extension is to have as much glass & light as possible, as the wall perpendicular to the house will be the only south facing window in my semi-d. This is the 3600 mm wall.

Current plan is to have 2x windows approx 1500 x 1500 in the 3600 wall and 1650 wide patio doors in the 2600 mm wall. (Or 1 window in each wall and the patio doors in the long wall).

On current plans, there'll be about 150 mm from the current external wall to the first window, from there to the second window, and then 100mm to the internal corner on the long edge.

The question is, will having two large-ish windows in the long wall weaken it to the extent that my extension will more or less fall over? And if so is there anything I can do to make it feasible?

Follow-up question if the two 2 1500 x 1500 windows are just too large, what should I be looking at maximum dimensions for the long wall?

I haven't bought the windows yet, and I'm not married to any particular number or size of windows- I do however want to maximise the south facing glass.

Similar question on the short wall: is a 1650 opening for doors in a 2400 (internal) timber frame wall just too much?

(Please please please, just assume that I know about DPC, airtightness, insulation, ventilation, the importance of being earnest etc; I'm trying to build a glorified lean to shed— not a space shuttle).

Thanks

muffler

Technical Guidance Document A. - Download it and have a read particularly page 17


.

MeSeeksAnswers

That's exactly what I was looking for, thanks!

Also, FYI that link you posted seems to be to the download folder on your hard drive

MeSeeksAnswers

I need to look at different window sizes so....

muffler

Sh!t, you'll find the porn

Calahonda52

MeSeeksAnswers wrote: »

(Please please please, just assume that I know about DPC, airtightness, insulation, ventilation, the importance of being earnest etc; I'm trying to build a glorified lean to shed— not a space shuttle).

So a SA after 1 or 2 posts, ignore list beckons

MeSeeksAnswers

Calahonda52 wrote: »

So a SA after 1 or 2 posts, ignore list beckons

Thanks, I'd appreciate that.

kadman

Give him a chance Cal:)

He is new and does not realise that a newbie cannot antagonise the natives,
with such a low post count.

Otherwise he is going to end up on a lot of ignore lists;)

MeSeeksAnswers

I was reading lurking in this forum for long enough before I registered to realise that often, unfortunately, when someone asks a question the result is a pile-on of answers to totally different questions.

One I've seen repeatedly is someone asking a question on internal dry-lining— presumably because they're on a budget and want to improve their homes efficiency & comfort for the minimum cost. And 20 people start telling them that dry-lining is worse than useless and they should instead of spending a couple of grand on insulated plasterboard they drop at least 15 grand on getting a specialist contractor in to do external dry-lining.

Telling someone on a budget who asks a question to help them apply that limited budget with the greates efficiency that they should instead go for the most expensive gold-plated option is, in my opinion, somewhat less than helpful. Certain members take the approach that the solution to every one of life's problems is to wrap a house in exterior wall insulation. Great, thanks, but that tells me nothing about what I should use to paint my fence which is the question I actually asked.

Just because a person is a hammer does not mean that every problem is a nail.

I wanted to avoid that. And I did, successfully— I asked one very specific question and received one very specific answer. Hurray, job done.

As a bonus, I now know boards has an ignore list. Ideally the forum hammers will all add me to theirs....

If a mod could close the thread please as Muffler kindly answered my exact question with surgical precision as desired.

tDw6u1bj

MeSeeksAnswers wrote: »

Certain members take the approach that the solution to every one of life's problems is to wrap a house in exterior wall insulation. Great, thanks, but that tells me nothing about what I should use to paint my fence

I mean...did you try painting your fence with exterior wall insulation or not?

kadman

I think you need to have a thick skin to post on any forum, and boards is no different to any other.

If we take offense at every answer to our posted questions on threads, then

more often that not we will be pissed off well before we get the golden nugget we are seeking.

Take a chill pill, its part of forum activity:)

MeSeeksAnswers

kadman wrote: »

....
If we take offense at every answer to our posted questions on threads, then

more often that not we will be pissed off well before we get the golden nugget we are seeking....

You may have noted that it took precisely one response to get the properly referenced answer to my question— which rewarded my question's phrasing

MeSeeksAnswers

tDw6u1bj wrote: »

I mean...did you try painting your fence with exterior wall insulation or not?

Nope, drylined it

kadman

MeSeeksAnswers wrote: »

You may have noted that it took precisely one response to get the properly referenced answer to my question— which rewarded my question's phrasing

Ah young grasshopper............it was not the response that was the issue;)

tDw6u1bj

MeSeeksAnswers wrote: »

Nope, drylined it

Well there's your problem

policarp

MeSeeksAnswers wrote: »

I was reading lurking in this forum for long enough before I registered to realise that often, unfortunately, when someone asks a question the result is a pile-on of answers to totally different questions.

One I've seen repeatedly is someone asking a question on internal dry-lining— presumably because they're on a budget and want to improve their homes efficiency & comfort for the minimum cost. And 20 people start telling them that dry-lining is worse than useless and they should instead of spending a couple of grand on insulated plasterboard they drop at least 15 grand on getting a specialist contractor in to do external dry-lining.

Telling someone on a budget who asks a question to help them apply that limited budget with the greates efficiency that they should instead go for the most expensive gold-plated option is, in my opinion, somewhat less than helpful. Certain members take the approach that the solution to every one of life's problems is to wrap a house in exterior wall insulation. Great, thanks, but that tells me nothing about what I should use to paint my fence which is the question I actually asked.

Just because a person is a hammer does not mean that every problem is a nail.

I wanted to avoid that. And I did, successfully— I asked one very specific question and received one very specific answer. Hurray, job done.

As a bonus, I now know boards has an ignore list. Ideally the forum hammers will all add me to theirs....

If a mod could close the thread please as Muffler kindly answered my exact question with surgical precision as desired.

Most answers in this forum are helpful.