Your guide to successful home improvements

Published 24th Nov 2006

Nearly half of us have undertaken some sort of home improvement in the past year and upgrading your home is on the agenda for over a third of us throughout 2007.

However, when barking upon DIY projects it is essential to make sure that all the necessary procedures, rules and regulations have been followed, so that your grand designs don’t come back to bite you at a later date.

In the first of a three part series on home improvements and regulations, we give you all the information you need to get your home ready for winter, including central heating repairs, fitting double glazing and finishing that electrical work.

Central heating and heating appliances
If you want to install, replace or alter the position of any type of furl burning appliance, including a boiler, then building regulations will apply.

However, if you use a contractor registered with an industry body, such as CORGI, for the works you will not need to involve a building control service.

The easiest way to check whether your contractor is registered with Corgi is to visit their website.

If you are having a new boiler installed, your contractor should leave you with a completed installation record, a commissioning certificate and a user instruction manual.

Double glazing or replacement windows
A good way to keep your home cosy and warm during those harsh winter months is to make sure there are no nasty drafts because of old rotting windows.

But, as with everything, upgrading those old windows with double glazing is a tough job, and can be very costly if you don’t follow the rules and regulations.

If you are replacing the whole of the fixed frame and opening to put in double glazing or replacement windows, this will have to comply with building regulations.
However, if you use a FENSA (Fenestration Self- Assessment Scheme) registered installer you will not need to involve the building control service.

Your installer will give your local authority a certificate that the work complies and you will then be sent a certificate of compliance for your records.

Electrical work
A new law which came into force in January 2005 means that most electrical work in the home must now be carried out by a 'competent' person and building regulations apply to all electrical work carried out in dwellings.

However, if you employ a registered contractor, the registration scheme operator will send you a building regulations compliance certificate when the work is complete.

If your contractor is unregistered, the building control service will need to inspect the work to check that it complies with regulations before issuing a completion certificate.

Self-certification schemes for competent persons authorised to carry our electrical works include: BRE Certification, British Standards Institution, ELECSA Ltd, NAPIT Certification Ltd and NICEIC Certification Services Ltd.

It is also worthwhile checking that any work carried out on your home is up to standard and complies with all the necessary rules and regulations. Otherwise what should be a home improvement could turn into a costly calamity.
By Jennifer Lowe

Source: ' What Mortgage '

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