There are statutory regulations and guideline codes, which all consulting civil and structural engineers must follow in design work regardless of the size of the project.  I will try here to provide clarity on understanding the codes and bring you up to date with changes.  If you ever need to employ an engineer, surveyor or architect to perform services for you, this article may help explain the rules and perhaps even correct the occasional error in coding.  The Building Regulations 2000 require buildings to be stable, loadings assessed and structurally sound.   This may appear rather obvious and even flippant but in reality it is a very serious statement.  Read the rest…

Part 1 discussed tree and soil characteristics. Part 2 will provide examples of the effects of trees on buildings with some guidance on defects and how to spot them. The subject of trees, soil and their influence on properties is complex with much engineering research having been done over the years and still continuing. Let’s look at soil first. The soils, which will not affect foundations within the vicinity of trees, are rocks (igneous) and sands (sedimentary). Rocks can be hard like granite or limestone or soft such as sandstone or chalk. Trees can split rocks but realistically in terms of the average house in UK, this is not a problem. Chalk is an exception because it is generally a soft rock but if a trench is dug in it and it rains, for example, the chalk will dissolve into a clay-like soil. So trees in any of the above soils will not normally affect foundations. Read the rest…

The subject of trees, shrubs and other greenery and their effects on buildings is large. This technical note will therefore be split into two parts. Part 1 will discuss selected tree types while Part 2 will look at some of the effects of trees.

Trees on the whole split into two categories, namely Broad-leaf or Deciduous trees and Conifer or Evergreen trees. The distinction is clear in the winter because the Evergreen does not lose its leaves, pines, cones, needles and colour. Deciduous trees lose their leaves every year and change the Read the rest…

There are numerous brick wall bonds in residential and commercial properties. All of them have certain characteristics and purposes. A brick bond can be described as the jointing mechanism of brick walls, i.e. the manner or way in which bricks are joined, for the purpose in hand. Read the rest…