Retrofit Site Visit, Appledore 13/08/10

External render

Draught lobby porches are being constructed and will be rendered with a brick affect to match the external cladding on the rest of the dwelling and the street. The render will be a lighter colour so prevent the absorption of too much sunlight and therefore heat as this has potential to damage the insulation.
The external insulation will be extended down below the DPC and finished with a damp proof render in order to prevent cold bridging at this junction.
A disabled ramp is also to be retrofitted to the elderly resident’s property whilst building the porch.

Ground Floor

Vacuum insulated panels to be installed on the ground floor using standard sizes where possible. Any remaining floor areas around the edges will be in-filled with high quality insulation. This would have negligible affect on the overall u-value and could potentially have a positive affect should bespoke VIPs panels be manufactured and then found to not fit properly due to inaccuracies in measurements, thus leaving gaps in the floor where no insulation would lie. This solution will also be much more cost-effective than having expensive bespoke panels made. It also seemed a much more practical solution on site as it is easy to cut and re-use pieces of phenolic insulation. Finally, it was thought a safer solution should carpet layers attempt to nail through the floor and potentially burst a VIP in the future. If no VIPs lie at the edges of the floor, there is no chance that this can happen.

Covered Way

It was decided that the covered way, which covers the area between the kitchen and outer shed, where the hot water cylinder will be kept, will be blocked at each end to prevent additional heat loss. It would, in effect, act as another draft lobby in addition to that at the front of the house. On observing the residents’ behaviour, it was decided that this was important as the kitchen door was constantly being opened, therefore letting heat out.

Windows

We were advised that the windows most probably sit on a steel frame due to the year they were built. Therefore, to minimise cold bridging across the sill, 40mm insulation across the reveal would be required.

Retrofit Site Visit, Appledore 3/08/10

As we move closer to our site commencement date planned for this Thursday, we visited the site to make contact with the residents to bring them up to speed with our plans going forward, and to make a start on the additional survey information that was urgently required. The areas of interest were the existing PVC window and how they are fabricated to suit the existing internal steel frame. The existing external wall mounted services and how we plan to move them, remount them and at what stage of the retrofit works this would take place. It was noted in our conversation with Mr. & Mrs. Waters that the new porch extension would require a wheelchair ramped access with a handrail for further support. This initially was not on the original scope, but through contacting Giles at Ashford Borough Council we intent to make this addition one of our priorities.

All the existing services were located to enable the site compound and welfare facilities to be utilised, and the proposed compound area marked out.

Existing Window Surround Survey

To enable us to perform the intrusive survey, a window surround masonry brick had to be carefully cut and removed so as not to destroy the integrity of the brick or cavity insulation.



It was clear that once the brick was removed we could determine how the existing window was fixed to the internal steel frame. This will ensure that the measure and order of the new high efficient triple glazed window, no problems will arise and also provide a smooth transition with the installation.


Again by this photo you can clearly see the existing internal face of the window is fitted to the external face of the steel frame.




Existing PVC Window Survey


This survey was conducted to identify any cold bridging areas to the existing window structure itself. Following this survey we was able to determine that where the existing window structure meets the existing internal steel frame, two 50mm x 50mm voids were identified with only 2 nr 2mm thick PVC covers with no insulation seals, this we found was the only partition construction between the internal heat and the external cold. We found this to be a very useful exercise, as on fabricating the new high efficient triple glazed window, measures can be taken to avoid this cold bridging for the new installation.

External Services

Here shows a typical example of the existing services to be repositioned, all service pipe work penetrating the property wall will need a 100mm section of brick surrounding the pipe broken out to enable the cutting and extending for the new pipe location. Once made good, this then will allow the new pipe work to sit on the outside face of the proposed external insulation and plaster.

2nd August 2010: Update

Ashford Borough Council are trying to compromise with regard to the extent of the Retrofit works to be undertaken at the elderly couple's property. We're hoping this is resolved within the next day or two. All specialist subcontracts are ready to go forward with placing our orders, we’re just awaiting confirmation to secure quantities.

Daniel Ready
Project Manager
B Ball Contractors Ltd