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Posts Tagged ‘Construction’

Building a self build conservatory is actually quite a straight-forward task and if you are a competent DIY enthusiast you will find adding a new conservatory to your home is relatively easy and not as daunting as it may first appear.

The following is designed to provide a general guide to the process of installing a new DIY conservatory and whilst not intended to be a detailed construction guide should provide you with the basics.

1) CONSERVATORY BASE

You have two choices with regard to the type of conservatory base. You can either select a traditional excavated base or you can use a pre-fabricated steel base which will speed up the installation process.

Traditional Base

If you choose the traditional base route you may prefer to employ a local builder to build the base for you as the accuracy of the brickwork is vital in ensuring that your new conservatory can be installed easily and efficiently. Your DIY conservatory supplier will provide you with the base plans to suit your selected conservatory and the base must be constructed exactly to these plans. Using an experienced builder to build the base should ensure that the base is built square, to the correct dimensions and that the footings are excavated correctly. If drains need to be re-routed your builder will have the necessary experience to do this for you during the course of construction. Always agree the cost before work commences and ensure you check the base yourself when the builder has finished to make sure you are happy with the finished result. It can be difficult to get a builder back on site once he has moved onto his next job and any discrepancies in the brickwork could cause problems during the conservatory installation.

Of course you can construct the traditional base yourself and many of our customers have done so but it is time-consuming and very hard work so the savings you will make here by doing-it-yourself will need to be justified against the amount of free time you have to do the job and your expertise in building the foundations and laying bricks.

Steel Base

Installing a pre-fabricated steel base is much quicker and easier than constructing a traditional base as there are no large excavations to undertake so there is minimum disruption to your garden and no need to move any drains. These bases are normally made to order, delivered in kit form and are quite straight-forward to install by two persons over a couple of days or so. If your conservatory features dwarf walls, these will normally be provided as steel cassettes with a variety of external finishes including brick tiles or alternatively, supplied ready for rendering. The base itself is fixed to the wall of the house and sits on adjustable legs that are seated onto concrete pads making it very easy to level the floor which will normally be supplied with insulation and often comes complete with flooring. A steel base can be a cost effective alternative base for your new self build conservatory, especially when you compare construction times and the fact that there is little disruption to your garden. Once completed, these factory built conservatory bases are often very difficult to tell apart from a traditional constructed base. You could even take the conservatory with you when you move house!

2) INSTALLING YOUR NEW DIY CONSERVATORY

Most DIY conservatories are supplied complete with installation instructions that are designed for the novice installer and will cover fixing the walls of the conservatory, installing the conservatory roof and glazing the conservatory structure.

In general terms these instructions will walk you through fixing the French door, the welded cill, the conservatory windows, the corner posts and the conservatory roof. The most important factor to continually check when installing any conservatory is to ensure the frames and cill remain plumb and level throughout the construction. All screw fixings and their positions should be in accordance with the guidelines provided by the DIY conservatory supplier.

The roof structure will include an eaves beam that will sit on top of the window and door frames, a ridge beam or wall plate that will be fixed to your house wall and glazing bars that will connect between the ridge or wall plate and eaves beam. All components should be supplied factory cut, marked and pre-drilled ready for fitting and apart from trimming the guttering to size there should be no need for you to cut any of the roof components. The roof layout plan will enable you to identify which component and which glazing panel should be fitted in which position. Where the conservatory joins the house you will need to fit lead flashing to form a weatherproof seal.

3) FINISHING THE CONSERVATORY INSTALLATION

With the conservatory walls and roof installed your next task will be to glaze the roof. If you have chosen polycarbonate roof glazing this is a relatively simple task and involves placing the glazing into position and knocking on the PVCu cappings to form a weather tight seal. The roof plan will indicate the required position of each panel. If you have chosen a glass roof the process will take longer due to the additional weight and nature of the material.

Budget DIY conservatories may be supplied with the windows and door factory glazed but made to order conservatories are generally supplied with windows and doors unglazed. Not only does this help to ensure that glass is not broken during the installation process but the windows are generally supplied much longer to provide slimmer sightlines and there could be health and safety issues if the frames were supplied glazed due to the considerable weight of a glazed window.

Most windows and doors are now internally beaded using a “knock-in” glazing bead and the glazing process should become relatively easy once you have glazed a couple of apertures. Glazing packers are used to support and pack the glass so it is square in the aperture and the glazing bead is knocked into place using a rubber mallet. If you are glazing during cold weather it is a good idea to emerse the glazing bead in warm water which will help make the bead more flexible and easier to position. Your installation guide will detail the exact process used.

Construction equipment is much like any other equipment in one sense; if you take care of it, it performs better than if it is abused. However, construction equipment typically tends to be used harder than similar equipment would be used if not on a construction site.

Another generality which can be made regarding construction equipment is its size. When we think of construction, we think of the giant earth moving machines, the oversize cranes, the trucks which haul materials and supplies to and from the construction location.

Construction equipment tends to be specialized for one purpose only. Although dump trucks collect and transport dirt and rocks, there is a great deal of difference between hauling a huge load of boulders to be used as road bed base for a interstate highway and hauling a load of paving stones from the local Home Depot outlet to the patio behind one’s home.

Important features to consider when viewing the subject of construction equipment repairs are the cost, accessibility, speed and useful life of the equipment.

The cost of the repair can vary based on who is doing the repair. Some companies find it more cost effective to hire and train their own mechanics to deal with construction equipment repairs and maintenance. Others will pay the cost of a factory trained mechanic or a qualified service provider.

Depending on where the construction equipment is sited, getting the equipment to the repair facility, or bringing repair personnel to the equipment can be a major undertaking.

The length of time required to complete the repair can be a crucial factor when down time on a job can have a snowball effect on the capability of completing an entire project on time and on budget. Sometimes even minutes of downtime because of needed construction equipment repairs can jeopardize the financial success of the project.

One final factor which is important to consider regarding repairs of construction equipment is the useful life of the equipment. Ordinarily, from an accounting standpoint, equipment is depreciated over some period of time and then discarded, either through sales or junking of the item. Putting repair money into equipment which has already reached the end of its useful life may not be cost effective.

Construction bond is a form of surety bond which is a mandatory for financial investors for large construction and federal construction projects. The principal has given the written statement that he will complete the entire contract according to the norms. He will complete the contract at no additional cost, in case the contractor fails to perform his obligation. Since construction bond is a risk management bond, it is not guaranteed that it will complete the construction projects. This bond will protect interest of the individual and other structure that the construction has been taken place as per contract.

Generally construction contractors are well known with the concept of securing surety bonds, but they do not know that they will create a relationship between the principal, the obligee, the surety. Constrution lawyers, are aware of the legal rules and act of the principal, obligee, and surety, but they are not aware of knowledge of obtaining bonds. This article directs both contractors and lawyers.

A construction surety bond is a written statement that the contractor will perform
His obligation as per bond. It guarantee that the principal will perform his obligation .if he fails the contract becomes void and he will sued in the court for further actions.constrution bond is otherwise called “condition bond”. If the principal fails to perform his obligation, both the principal and the surety will be asked to pay penalty amount.constrution surety bond are of different types like bid bond, performance bond, payment bond.

Bid bond:
A bid bond is a written statement which guarantees to the obligee that the principal will offer his bid, as awarded in the contract. In this type of bid, both principal and the surety are sued, in failure of their contract. They have to pay the additional expenses incurred by the obligee for breaking of contract. The penalty amount will be ten to twenty percent of the contract. If the principal refuses to bid the surety has to undergone the risk.

Performance bond:
This bond guarantees the obligee that the contractor will finish his contract as per terms and condition relating to time and price. The obligee is the owner of the contract and he may sue the principal and the surety, in failure of the contract. If the principal fails, he may ask the surety to perform or complete the contract. The surety has his choices of completing the contract, either with his own construction contractor or selecting another contractor to complete the contract or paying the additional cost to the owner, to complete his contract. The penalty amount paid by the principal and the surety will be amount of construction contract. If the surety himself constructs the contract with his own contractor then the penalty amount will be nullified. Here the surety has to take the full risk of constructing the contract without loss of time and money of the obligee, I.e the owner. Performance bond usually protect the interest of the owner against any fraud or misrepresentation.

Payment bond:
In this type of bid, the obligee i.e the owner will give a written statement to the principal that he/she will pay the contract amount has mentioned in the bond without fail. This bond protect the principal against risk, incase of failure of the contract by the owner. It also ensures that the subcontractor and the suppliers also act as per contract. Incase of failure of contract the principal may sue against the obligee or he may Break the contract.

Supply bond:
It is a bond created between the principal and the suppliers or subcontractors, that they will supply the material or completes the contract with in stated period as mentioned in the contract. It protects the principal against loss of time and value.

Construction bond has its merits and demerit.

Merit of construction bond:
• It ensures the obligee that the contract will be completed within stated period.
• The principal ensures that he will finish the contract as per norms.
• It improves the reputation of the constructor or the contractor.
• It improves the quality & quantity of work

Demerits of construction bond:
• If contractor fail, the accountability of completing the contract, belongs to the surety.
• Once contract has been signed, then no one can break the contract, though the contract not taken place under legal procedure.