HOW TO CHOOSE CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS
When it comes to embracing new construction technologies, self-builders have long enjoyed a reputation as early adopters, keen to pioneer the latest products and materials. At the other end of the spectrum, builders of home extensions are sometimes reluctant to venture too far beyond the old school ways of doing things. Of course there are often perfectly valid reasons for sticking to the tried and tested. Call me old-fashioned, but I’d rather pole vault over a nest of vipers than shout, “Hey Siri, switch the lights on,” every time I set foot in our extension. But where modern methods and materials are now routinely employed on site by budget-conscious corporate housing developers you can be certain it’s because there are tangible benefits in terms of cost, quality or both. So to find out whether home extenders are missing out, I’ve assessed five key stages in a typical extension project where prefabrication and technology can potentially make the job quicker and easier as well as achieving better results.
• TRUSSED RAFTER ROOFS
Prefabricated timber trusses (often with characteristic W-shaped webbing) have long been the standard method of roof construction in new housing, having replaced traditional ‘cut timber’ roofs hand-built on site as far back as the 1970s. The main advantage is their ability to span from one side of the building to the other without
