Question:
About to do this very soon on a late 60s built house with enclosed
garage.
I'm going to get a UPVC window to fit totally across the top half, to
existing brick, and use new bricks/blocks below, which will be rendered
with concrete.
Do I need to do anything else with the DPC and can I lay brick straight
onto the concrete floor with mortar or should I prepare it some other
way?
Answer:
The foundations shouldn't be too much of a problem. There probably aren't
any across the doorway - but there won't be much to support anyway - just
the brickwork in the lower part of the doorway and the window. The concrete
floor will support that ok. Everything higher up is supported by the lintel
which, in turn is supported by the brickwork and foundations either side of
the door.
The garage floor is almost certainly several inches lower than that of the
adjoining rooms, and will need to be made up to house level - so there is
plenty of scope for installing a DPM and insulation if required.
If you are changing the use of the garage to a dwelling area, then planning
and/or building control will need to know, they'll also want to see the
foundations which will mean diging some test holes outside, they'll want to
know if there's any DPM underneath the existing floor and if there's not you
may have to dig it out and get one in and probably insulation under the
floor too, and also the walls and ceiling.
If it's not becoming a dwelling then you can disregard all of the above, but
if it is and you don't do the above, then you will have problems when you
sell the house, unless you turn it back into a garage.
