What are the Building Regs for our timber cladding?
We are self building a timber frame Passivhaus bungalow using the PH15 template, for our retirement. We’d like to clad the entire building in timber but have been told we cannot do this near to the boundary line.
The boundary is a rendered masonry wall and is at least 2,000mm from the house. I have looked up what I can, and I believe if it is more than 1m from the boundary and less than 18m high – our bungalow measures 6.2m – I should be able to use timber cladding, without needing to add any fire-retardant chemicals. Is this correct?
is is a tricky part of the Building Regulations and any answer given on the basis of the limited information in your query could end up misleading. You need to speak to your system provider or designer. ey should also be considering the risk of fire during construction – advice provided by the Structural Timber Association (STA) is especially helpful; visit www.structural timber.co.uk for more info. I am not certain if the PH15 system is covered by the STA guidance, so a bespoke radiant heat flux assessment may be needed depending on site specific features.
Also, be aware that wholly timber-clad timber frame buildings can be tricky to mortgage and secure insurance on. is can be particularly important when the property is being sold on later.