Your Questions About Cost Of Brick Wall Construction

Neighbour refuses to agree to newly built wall?

I have a property which at the front has a wall that extendingthe full width of the house and continues across the entire width of the neighbours property.

The wall on my side is in a state of disrepair and was like this when I purchased the property 2 years ago. The face of the bricks have crumbled, the wall is not secure and is over 100 years old. However, the neighbours side is in a much better state as it has been looked after over the years and is of sound construction and they have painted the top coping stones, although it still looks aged.

I need to demolish and rebuild my half (repair is out of the question), but of course at some point is has to tie in to the neighbours side. Where the wall joins in the middle, there is a short section which runs between the wall and the 2 properties approx (2 bricks wide), 1 metre in length. For me to complete the job and reinstate the original wrought iron railings as it used to have when originally built, I would need to demolish this small 1 metre section.

I have asked the neighbours if they are interested in going ahead and thye said no, they like their wall as it is. I personally think that they don’t want the cost implication. So I offered to pay 100% of the cost of wall construction on the party section and of course my own side (naturally) plus 100% of the cost of wrought iron railings (which they said they like the thought of). But they have now refused to have the middle section of the wall knocked down.

The only other option I can think of is to have the middle section of the wall physically cut in half with a Stihl Saw and pieced in, but then they are likely to refuse permission for the railings to be fitted, plus it would look pretty stupid.

Does anyone know where I would stand legally in a situation like this?

Thanks

For info. I live in the UK

Party wall use for extension – UK?

Situation: I wish to construct a small single storey extension to the rear of a mid-terraced property. It will be a lean-to construction using the existing rear of the house as the back wall, the existing kitchen structure for the right hand side wall, with french doors at the front. But, the left hand wall is a 7 feet high double brick wall which runs the length of the rear yard and divides my property and next doors. The wall has semi-circular rounded brick on the top.

I wish to use this wall to form the left hand side of the extension, but to do this it would mean removing the top layer of rounded bricks and utilising one brick width to build on approx 60cm high.

For information, the next door neighbour already has a wooden conservatory exactly the same size as my proposed extension.

Does anybody know what my rights are if the guy refuses permission to remove the top layer of bricks and build?

I don’t have a bad relationship with him, in fact I have very little if anything to do with him, but I remember when I asked him if I could rebuild the crumbling front wall on my side and replace the party bit at the front at my cost and he immediately said no.

Thanks

Is it worth reinsulating my attic?

We live in an older home. Double brick construction. Bungalow about 1000 sq ft. No insulation in the walls. Heating is gas fired hot water with old style cast iron radiators. Windows are single pane leaded with storm windows on the outside. Our attic currently has some sort of blown in insulation. My wife opens the bedroom window everynight all year round. We live in Southern Ontario where winter temperatures are definitely subzero.
I suspect we could save on heating costs by keeping the window closed. My wife would rather leave the window open and reinsulate the attic…. How much impact could an open window have on our heating bill? How effective is redoing the attic insulation with an open window in the house.

Are You Sick of illegal Mexicans Taking our Jobs?

I am getting really sick of the Mexican Invasion costing so many jobs in the Southwest Virginia- East Tennessee area. My husband is a brickmason. He is the 5th generation mason in his family- our son is the 6th. Up until just a couple of years ago brickmasons had contractors ringing their phones off of the wall wanting them to do work for them. My husband had to turn down dozens of callers because he couldn’t do it all. Things have sure changed . Now, a lot of contractors in this area have gotten dollar signs in their eyes and all that they can see are cheap Mexican workers. My husband has actually had a contractor (real builders that know how to actually build a house are really scarce around here anymore) pull Mexicans on the job that he was working on because he was in such a hurry to get it finished that he couldn’t wait the 2 weeks that it would have taken to do the whole job. They will pull in a huge crew and wipe the job out real quick. They waste a lot of brick though (they get paid by the 1000 brick). My husband is a very good, fast mason. His speed and quality is not the issue here. Most of these workers cannot even speak English. It is really aggravating to have lived in a place your entire life and have your livlihood seriously threatened by people that are not supposed to be here in the first place. How do we get rid of this problem? Also, on another related note: It was announced today that there are hundreds of jobs being cut in ANOTHER local factory, Bristol Compressors. I was told several months ago that a construction site in Mexico was marked with a sign that read:” Future site of Bristol Compressors” Is this a coincidence or is there another company by the name of Bristol Compressors?

Technical advice on building an Anderson Shelter please?

hello

I am looking at building something similar to an Anderson Shelter for use as a residential house. I had been looking into making an Earthship, but it seems the UK law is so backwards, that it is not possible without bribing the environment agency with a huge wad of cash (due to tyre use), so I am adapting my plans to build without the use of the tyres (but still on the same principal of using compacted earth and thermal mass.
I have designs to negate the cold and damp that was a previous problem with this design, but I am unsure of the legality of building in the UK in a way that does not need to use a single brick. I calculate I can build a single storey house for less than £10,000 (for the building construction) plus services costs.
The design will incorporate water collection, food growth, grey water usage, solar PV and wind electric, solar water heating and heat storage within the dense mass of the walls.

Can anyone advise please on whether they think that this might be a legal way to build… especially when the UK government authenticated the construction of this type of build in the 1940′s.

Thank you if you are able to help
UPDATE:

I have been building different types of low impact buildings for over 20 years, so I think I have experience.

I will also be going below frost level (3 foot deep), which means my external walls will be less than 6 foot high. Planning permission is only needed on walls that exceed 6 foot high when the walls are 150 mm wide (which my design will meet this requirement).

The local council is also willing to help as I am doing this as a community interest company and using the building to teach about low impact living and for social cohesion.

There are windows equaling about 1/4 of the total external area, 2 external doors, adequate ventilation and will meet fire regulations.

The only part I am unsure of, is the legality of building such a home for residential use, and it is this that I seek advice on, as it is not mobile, not temporary and although as a technicality meets the requirements of not needing planning permission for actual construction, there could be laws that
… I will need to navigate around to obtain permission for residential use.