I've posed this question to my Structural Engineer, just awaiting feedback. In the meantime, I would be curious to hear opinions....
The pipe is at the very BOTTOM of the foundations. So essentially, the concrete fill goes around each side of it and cures, creating a bridge. Logic dictates to me that this is essentially one huge concrete lintel around the pipe.
However, the building inspector is saying that you’re supposed to put a lintel on top of my foundations before the brickwork goes on top of it, to stop any load on the pipe. Again, that doesn’t sit well logically to me, as the concrete is already a huge load around it, so can’t see what’s the gain.
Does sitting a lintel on top of 1000mm deep concrete makes any sense at all. I’ve also taken a few photos of the shuttered pipes at the bottom of the trench.
He also wants to know if I should put a compressible heaving material inside. I’m doing a block and beam floor, raised off the ground by a fair amount, so don’t see what a heaving material is going to gain. any slight heave, the ground will just go up into my under floor space that I’ve left. It all sounds extremely over engineered to me, considering I have a huge 3 story building that’s been there for 125 years, with foundations of lower spec that what is required for my single story extension.
The pipe is at the very BOTTOM of the foundations. So essentially, the concrete fill goes around each side of it and cures, creating a bridge. Logic dictates to me that this is essentially one huge concrete lintel around the pipe.
However, the building inspector is saying that you’re supposed to put a lintel on top of my foundations before the brickwork goes on top of it, to stop any load on the pipe. Again, that doesn’t sit well logically to me, as the concrete is already a huge load around it, so can’t see what’s the gain.
Does sitting a lintel on top of 1000mm deep concrete makes any sense at all. I’ve also taken a few photos of the shuttered pipes at the bottom of the trench.
He also wants to know if I should put a compressible heaving material inside. I’m doing a block and beam floor, raised off the ground by a fair amount, so don’t see what a heaving material is going to gain. any slight heave, the ground will just go up into my under floor space that I’ve left. It all sounds extremely over engineered to me, considering I have a huge 3 story building that’s been there for 125 years, with foundations of lower spec that what is required for my single story extension.
