Day 2 - Groundworks

Ok, so not a great start to the morning. Wet. Cold. Windy.
Still, at least it's not snowing.

Darran arrived ahead of Callum and Steve as he wanted to discuss the re-location of the soil stack which had been sited by our architect on the side of the extension. For the uninitiated, the soil stack is the large plastic pipe which takes away "black water" waste from your bathroom and into the sewer system. Our architect had cleverly designed for the new downstairs WC, utility room, new fmily bathroom and new en-suite bathroom all to be located in the new side extension.
Unfortunately, current planning regulations require any extensions above the ground floor to be at least 1 metre from the party wall (boundary between your property and your neighbours). In our case it means that we aren't able to go straight up above the garage but instead have to come in approximately 600mm. As a result, the soil stack would be coming through the flat roof part of the  new garage and then affixed to the exterior wall of the 1st floor. On the face of it, it's no big deal, but this would become a "weak spot" for any potential leaks and the ingress of water into the ceiling cavity of the garage/WC/utility room. So after consulting with Darran, we've decided to have the soil stack sited within the main bathroom and boxed in. Panic over.

Callum and Steve arrived shortly afterwards armed with mini excavator and dumpster which would speed up the work of digging out the hole for the soakaway. What's a soakaway you ask? A soakaway can be as simple as a hole in the ground filled with rubble and coarse stone with a drainage pipe laid to it in order to disperse the rainwater. Its not rocket science, and again, it will be constructed to the specifications laid down by the Building Inspector.



Digging out the soakaway

 The soakaway will take up the rainwater from the roofs of the rear extension and that of the side extension. Thankfully, the rain stopped after a couple of hours, averting our back garden from resembling the trenches of WW1.
Tomorrow the Building Inspector will come to give his approval for the soakaway and also look at the foundations of the existing ground floor extension to see if they are sufficient to support the additional 1st floor.