Can We Learn From Buildings in Belgium?
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- Опубликовано: 5 май 2024
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Roger looks at a new build in Waregem, Belgium, to see how they do things.
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Building techniques reflect the practices, materials, and methods employed in the construction of buildings.
These techniques vary significantly across countries due to climate, available resources, cultural influences, and technological advancements.
Construction Materials
Belgium's construction materials have historically included brick and stone, similar to the UK. However, the use of local natural stone is more prevalent in Belgium, especially in regions with rich stone quarries. In recent years, Belgium has seen a significant rise in the use of glass and steel, particularly in urban areas, facilitating the design of buildings with more natural light and innovative forms.
Construction Methods
In Belgium, traditional masonry remains a standard construction method, strongly emphasising craftsmanship and detail. However, Belgium is also at the forefront of adopting passive house standards, which require highly efficient construction methods that minimize thermal bridges, ensure airtightness, and incorporate super-insulation to reduce energy consumption.
Architectural Styles and Influences
The architectural styles in the UK are diverse, ranging from the medieval Gothic to the modernist and contemporary. British building techniques have adapted to accommodate these varied styles, focusing on preserving the historical character of buildings while integrating modern amenities and efficiency standards.
Belgium boasts a rich architectural tapestry that includes Romanesque, Gothic, Baroque, Art Nouveau, and Modernist styles. Belgian building techniques have evolved to support this diversity, with a particular emphasis on integrating modern construction technologies without compromising their architecture's aesthetic and historical integrity.
Innovations in Sustainable Building
The UK is actively exploring innovative building techniques that promote sustainability, such as green roofs, living walls, and sustainable materials like bamboo and recycled plastics. These techniques aim to reduce buildings' environmental impact, enhance energy efficiency, and support biodiversity in urban areas.
Similarly, Belgium is pioneering sustainable building techniques focusing on energy efficiency, renewable energy integration, and water management. Innovations include using phase change materials for temperature regulation, rainwater harvesting systems, and geothermal heating and cooling systems, reflecting a commitment to building in harmony with the environment.
While there are similarities in the building techniques used in Belgium and the UK, reflecting shared European architectural traditions and challenges, the differences underscore each country's unique response to its specific environmental, cultural, and technological contexts.
From the materials they favour to the construction methods they employ and their innovative approaches to sustainability, these differences highlight the dynamic and evolving nature of the construction industry in both countries, driven by a continuous quest for efficiency, durability, and harmony with the natural and built environment.
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#construction #belgium #building
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Man goes on his holidays and looks at damp proof courses. Top bloke
How else do you pay for a holiday?
Man returns home to empty house 😂
Once upon a time, that was known as a " busman's holiday " ! :-)
Lol
He put his holiday as a business expense. Went to do a bit of work
I'm an architect from Belgium. This is a very standard example of all details that are important in our trade.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
Thanks, I would like to record a Zoom call with you to talk about the way you build.
@@SkillBuilder Sure!
@@albex8484 How are level access thresholds done in Belgium? All the doors look about 150mm above external levels.
why is the block work not bonded half bond?
@@cherrytreegoats3409Mu guess: it's decorative. Modern masonry uses a double wall separated by an isolated spigot avoiding cold bridges (so metal binding hooks are no longer used): an inside wall of prefab elements or half-bonded large quick-laying blocks (typically cemented rather than mortared) and an outside wall of decorative bricks, sometimes layed in decorative patterns (the more complicated the more expensive) or prefab brick-patterned plates.
Been saying this for years .should also have a manual for the house .where every cable pipes etc can be located.with add modifications added.
In engineering we have drawings That should be the same in the building industry and amended at the completion of the job
@@leehotspur9679Drawings are not the same as how they are exactly laid down. Won't be the first time a pipe being a meter off.
But that is why in the last couple years i have seen construction companies adding a 'House Portfolio' to new house projects, with photo's from start to finish.
Need accurate information about a cable or tube, look into the house's portfolio with the images.
As built drawings and other BIM stuff is standard in factory new builds.
@Eledore it is mandatory that the pipes are placed exactly like how it is on the drawing.
The system of Traceability is only as good as the person who is responsible for the input of information Be it the Owner or Builders representative @@Eledore
This was a good example of not letting something go to waste. Throw on a voice over and it actually turned out quite interesting. It is a lesson in itself.
Which is where? I guess, from your surname, that it is, possibly, Netherlands? They are doing a lot of great things there, especially on the railways. All trains are electric, unlike Britain with its preponderance of diesel. And the removal of level crossings, replacing them with underpasses or bridges over the railways, so not impeding any motorist, and making train/vehicle collisions a thing of the past.
The management of the excess water, and flooding, is light-years ahead of the rest of the world.
Running the electric through plastic pipes is also normal over here and it’s a great thing , especially when you want to re-wire
conduits
Isn't that the norm for brick/block buildings?
Too easy. No profit in a simple job. Now some hacking out and fussing around, with a plasterer mate on standby, is a great way to confuse and screw the client.
When rebuilding on my old cottage I ran electrics through pipes where I could ( whilst doing a bit DIY plastering ) Now my electrics are playing up elsewhere and I wish I had asked the electrician to do it on other areas - but when it’s not current practice you are reluctant to ask as a client.
@@girlsdrinkfeck The web is international and indeed this post is about belgium. I find it best to use the simplest language that gets the point across.
Hi, great piece. We lived in Belgium for 5 years. I was particularly impressed by each new building having a “grey water” system. All water falling on the roof was capturered and stored then recycled by using it to flush loos, water the garden and wash the car. I have always been amazed how much it must cost us in the UK to purify all water for drinking then we use it to flush the loo etc.. we need to change our building regs. and collect our grey water.
We never had a water shortage even during a summer we had 40+ degrees.
But in the UK, aren't we just all chipping in for this to be done on a greater scale of economics?
I am not convinced by lots of small vs. one large system. A good example would be solar panels retrofitted on hundreds of roofs vs. a purpose built solar farm.
Interesting. I think solar is a different issue. But I think we have an issue with our drainage system in some areas. I will never be convinced that watering gardens, washing cars and flushing toilets with potable water is good economics.
@@snapdragogon69 Good job GB does not have cheapskate developers, shoddy builders, heavy rainfall, poorly maintained drainage, continual flooding problems, continual road problems from the substrate being washed away, etc !!!
Most European countries require rain water to be collected this way on new construction as part of the obvious need to be prepared for climate change.
@@Andrew-vx2ls what climate change...
@@snapdragogon69we don't purify the rain water that much. There's like 2-3 filters to get rid of odour and colour from leaves getting into the storage tank. The water is only used for the toilet, garden and some use it for their washing machine.
I built my (off-grid) log house here in Finland. Pipe in pipe is common here and also in my place, and similarly, all electric wiring is in conduit. The house has underfloor radiant, but as it is a log house (with lots of windows) the walls don't have a high U value (even with triple glazed argon gas filled windows) compared to a regular wall. The ceiling and floor however are very well insulated. You may expect it takes a lot of energy to heat a place with essentially no insulation in the walls in a cold climate, but that's actually not the case. It's also fully off-grid, so I make all my own energy. Yes, a wood gasification burner and masonry fireplace is used, but the total amount of wood used is around 35kg per day when it's -30C outside. Outside of extreme cold weather, I make a fire every two days and this provides all the heating and hot water for four people - and the wife likes to keep the house at 23C or higher. Spring and early autumn is when a heat pump is used because at those times I generate enough electricity, while it is still very cold outside.
What do you use for electricity generation from Nov-Jan? Finland's sunshine percentages (even of the small available sunshine) at that time of year are quite dismal
@@kaptinkeiff I make biodiesel in summer which I use in a generator (about once a week or so) to charge the batteries in winter.
@@upnorthandpersonal Fair play, how many kWh? Is that allowed - I'd looked up biodiesel/vegetable oil as road fuel before, but that needs duty paid! Nuts compared to the UK, we have it so easy
@@kaptinkeiff Yes, allowed - at least to use in a generator - not allowed to use in a car In winter I tend to use at most 5kWh per day, so I run the generator for half a day once a week to recharge the battery. Overall, it's not a lot of fuel for a winter. It helps of course tremendously that this house was designed to be off grid with minimal power use in mind.
Wood is a very poor conductor of heat , the heat you generate remains in the home . Put your arm to a concrete wall, it's cold . It will remove the heat from your body until it heats the entire wall , which can not happen. Put your arm to a wooden wall , it is instantly hot . It doesn't take any heat from the body, it can conduct it .
Hi Roger, thank you very much for taking the time and trouble to investigate building methods in a different country with different expectations and standards.
The first thing I notice on the one you show us is the height of the internal floor above the ground outside, that alone will mitigate the rising damp issues, much of which has always been cold wet external masonry draining heat form inside causing cold patches where condensation forms.
What is most abundantly clear is that the erosion of standards in this country has lead to severe degradation of standards and quality, what little innovation that has come through has been entirely related to reducing costs to boost short term profits.
Fifty years ago i was doing the roofs on a new build site near where I live that was run by an establish and well respected small company, the houses they built always sold at a premium both new and after a few years. The first ones I did had proper built roofs made with good quality sawn timber and the kitchens were all installed on asphalt floors that were throughout the whole ground floor. Over the next few months on of the bigger building companies took over and the next one I did had typical modern flimsy gang nail trusses and the floors were all just cement screed, the houses still looked the same when finished but under the skin were dreadful!. Still on sale at the same old price of course.
Cheers, Richard.
very good point - in UK flooding areas a high floor can't be a bad idea if (un)developers really have to build there - and it must be a selling point.
@@gurglejug627 We can't have high floors above the outside ground levels because of disabled access regulations. Causes us a few issues from time to time.
Also, when building a house in an already developed area, we have roof height restrictions to match exisiting.
@@SilverTrowel631thanks for the explanation. Strange though that some kind of ramp entrance cannot be made, and exceptions for a higher roof - and I know it's extra time and costs but it would offset the flooding risk so much. My personal preference is for lower ceilings anyway - not sure why we don't have them in the UK - far better for energy saving, and I've built quite a few here in Scandinavia like that - but for my own/friends' use mostly - they work well.
@@gurglejug627 We do ramps to doorways but they can be problematic too. Sometimes they can become trip hazards and sometimes there's simply not the space. We don't have the land to build as in some countries.
Our health and safety rules here are bloody insane at times.
And btw, our standard ceiling height is 2.4m on new builds.
@@SilverTrowel631 yes, some rules in UK are plain daft. German companies are literally refusing to business with the UK sometimes because there are too many regs. I did listen to an interview by the man who drafted access legislation who said it was being over applied where for example word went around that shops had to have physical wheelchair access where what he had actually written was reasonable possibility of access which could include a member of staff pushing a wheelchair up a step. The courts don't help, what with their sue for any sum mentality - who's going to try to push some dietorally challenged person up a step these days? I ran a roofing business in the UK for some years - lost the lot due to a women lying her t**s off in court - thing is, it was easily provable she was lying and the police even saw it repeatedly but wouldn't touch it - gave up with the UK totally after seeing incredible, blatant ineptitude and corruption in police and courts. You never think it will happen to you till it does... bit still interesting to know what's going on there, esp in the building trade. Flood plane issues in UK are always good for a laugh ;)
Another thing I have seen done in Belgium, is to use swimming pool mortar on the first few rows of bricks off the concrete (in addition to the membrane etc).
Those white blocks are special kind of ytong block that is hydrophobic as well
The stones under the windows and below the outside doors aren't concrete but natural bluestone. Belgium has been using its own bluestones since forever and Vietnam also has a good export of it, but of lesser quality (meaning easier to crack under stress). I work in construction in Belgium and currently have one that's soon to finish. I am the owner and also the builder so if you have questions I can always answer. And yes, my construction looks very similar to this too except a few minor details.
One day I'll do a self-build so some I'm making a note of lots of these methods.
I'm British but live in France. One thing I like is the pipe-in-pipe method, to individual shut-off valves. Also the separate fuses. We have a "Technical Room", basically a semi-external utility room, where the shut-off valves come to and all the electrical circuits as well.
If only Building Regs would insist on Solar panels, a battery, and rainwater recovery storage (for flushing loos). All those things are cheap at the time of construction but prohibitive afterwards.
'A battery' - you need loads of batteries to come anywhere near having the electrical capacity to run a 'normal' household. Less where you are of course in France than in many places, but remember that no matter how good your charging system and inverter, they will degrade. I do think water heating solar panels should be standard (or at least the house built for an easy retro fit at any point) as well as a double-coil heat exchange boiler: The issue is probably possible liability for Legionnaire's disease.
We can even get houses built plumb, level, square etc in this country - what hope do we have of this 😂
I love Belgium. Spend five years there. I'm a spark. Worked on all sorts. Very meticulous. We used to be in UK but not now. The things that we are instructed to do is ridiculous. As an apprentice I'd never get away with what is "normal" now. I'm sick and tired of not fabricating my own trunking/conduit/tray work...it's my craft..eventually they are phasing out skilled people who have done their work at college and on site
to earn a trade to be able to (flat pack ikea style) basically do things on the cheap. Subbed.
Lots of things are done a bit different here on the continent, but strangely enough the Poroton blocks also didn't take off in the Netherlands, instead like the UK aerated concrete is mostly used for the inner leaf. Dutch houses in general have more details in common with the UK than in other continental countries.
But we do the damp courses and pipe in pipe/wire in pipe like in Belgium and others.
Raked out courses and separate pointing is the standard all over here, always wondered why it's done in one go in the UK.
The building you are in isn't a flat, it's a 2 story house, at 6:00 you can see the opening for stairs in the ceiling, concrete first story floors is standard here, timber isn't used anymore for floors because concrete offers better fire safety. Older houses pre 1960 often do have timber floors still. Mine from 1932 does.
So its not the fire that will kill you, it be falling down the ridiculously narrow stairs.
I think it has to do with the dimension of the bricks? because the height of the bricks is bigger in the UK they use a pointed london style trowel to apply mortar in the upright joints, whereas I see in NL the mortar is applied with a rounded trowel and not specifically to the uprights.
@@David-bi6lf The opening you see is not the whole opening, it extends behind the wall, also the stairs are not fitted yet.
Isn't it quicker to do the pointing in one go?
The blocks are actually only used in small projects. If they do a series of (connected) homes the inner walls will be concrete. For me the amazing part is the city heat pipe running over the ground floor to the distribution point inside the house. Guess that must mean that it is a low temp system. In The Netherlands you will usually see these pipes running through the crawl space underneath the floor, carrying temperatures exceeding 70⁰C.
Pipe in pipe! That's what I did for the pipes I laid in our current house, including the pipe from the pavement stopcock into the house and water and central heating pipes to our outbuilding. Wish I'd thought about it and asked my builder and plumber to do it for the house itself. Electric and data cables all in conduit or, when outside, inside barrier pipe. So much easier for modifications
Nice to see the windows sit in line with the cavity insulation to avoid cold bridging. Even in new builds in the uk I often see the windows set in the external wall
We use cavity closers in the UK to prevent cold bridging when fitting windows to the external skin.
Bs code's of practice are used in a lot of the developed world these days and places that don't use them,well 😂. Anything in this video from Belgium doesn't make the end product anymore efficient eg. Pipe in pipe sounds cleaver but it don't make any difference really because you are not going to apply that method on underfloor heating system and that is the most likely place to have a leak.usually plumbers avoid having connection under concrete when it comes to mains supply and domestic hot and cold if possible and ducting has also been used aswell for many years also air tests are carried out on all pipe work. Can he show us a house that the proper codes of practice has been applied and failed . Dpc up the back of sill standard practice, Dpc draped over top of sill nonsense the only reason that's there is because the brickey couldn't be arsed to get the proper width one out of the container.I would like to see what the guys with the windows will do with the DPC when they eventually arrive, they will cut it out of the way if it's still there, it will more than likely have tripped someone by then and the foreman got some fool to cut it out of there before the guys from health and safety see it. Even if you tried that idiots method you would still have problems with the seal under the threshold in the long term. Look If it's not broken don't fix it.
in some parts of the Netherlands rising damp is very severe - the parts which were reclaimed from the sea hundreds of years ago are notorious
Digging a hole (kruipruimte) almost down to water table is not helpful either.
In Belgium they use a strong 3/1 mortar mix to lay the bricks. At the end of the day, they rake/scrape the joints out for the pointing which is always done afterwards with a stronger (dryer) mix and a colour to choice. Therefore you don’t have any water absorption in your joints/pointing (because a a weak mix), your cavity stays dry and you don’t have any frost damage as water can’t penetrate through the joints. Unlike in the UK - a weak 5/1 mortar mix, damp cavity and every 10/15years repairing frost damaged bricks & repoint.
But if the mortar is harder than the bricks, the bricks may crack over time and when frost or icy conditions gets into the wall, the bricks will deteriorate before the mortar over time.
UK houses do not get repointed or need bricks replacing every 10/15 years! Also, if softer bricks are used, mortar should definitely not be 3:1.
In the UK we adjust the mortar mix ratio in relation to the strength/ density of the bricks
@@user-ho8uo8ew6o our buildings have stood lifetimes and they never needed any mortar or brickwork (exept for one that was built in 1901 but i don't know why you'd think we'd have to replace our bricks?
@@istoppedcaring6209 Er, I don't; that's what I said. Think you replied to the wrong person.
Of course the building will get pointed by a color of choice. Pointing one house like this will take 2-3 days. The cavities in the brick work is to let the space between exterior wall and interior wall breathe. There is no contact between the two walls. There's about 10cm (or more) PIR insulation and an air cavity of a couple of cm's between the two. The black plastics will be taken out once the pointing is done. This is just to make sure the holes don't get filled with mortar. These are houses, not apartments. There's a water barrier in the brickwork and also underneath the complete concrete slab. The screed you are talking about is not screed but the concrete slab/foundations on which they put piping and electricity. Screed will be put on afterwards, then a final floor. 90% of the houses have concrete (first and second) floors since the sixties. Cheers from... Belgium!
Good information, I could have done with a guided tour. I looked them up and found they were houses today but I had voiced the video by then.
They are going to point the brickwork after removing the scaffolding?
Do you think this is a good idea? Is this normal practice in Belgium?
@@johnnyrowley970 Yes because this allows the walls to to dry out faster. Best practice is to leave it that way at least 1 year before finishing it
how is the brick facade tied to the main structure?
@@Foz1 google "spouwanker", metal rods go through the PUR insolation, screwed in the main structure and put in between the bricks
Look at that finish !!!! beautiful where the brick texture meets those amazing windows
Those exterior window sills are probably Belgian Blue Stone. Very common and popular there.
It looks lovely
Looks like precast concrete to me
We call it “arduin” in Flemish, or bluestone in English. So it’s definitely not concrete. That’s used only in very low cost or temporary buildings here.
@@HighWealder because it has been sanded
@@alphonsepipo1948 Water cut.
We, the Dutch, take our hats off to the Belgian builders. I think it has to do with their urge to build their own home. Not renting it. Every time I visit Belgium, I'm amazed by the level of finish. A trick: a few years back, a company built an annexe to our house. I bought a teachers' blackboard ruler (the large white/red ones) from the internet and every evening when the builders went home, I took tons of pics of their work: the plumbing, electrics etc with the ruler next to it and a reference point that would still be visible when the floor and walls would be finished. In a way: mapping out the routing.
Wtf, so you're saying other countries don't always build damp proof? That's crazy. I'm from Belgium btw, just found your channel and this video. Finally someone who talks about stuff that's actually useful. Cheers!
They've got it all sussed out haven't they. That's a lovely build. Great content Roger. Thank you mate.
Pipe in pipe seems a bloody good idea.
The brickwork looks like a Dutch Wild Bond. After the war there were thousands of second hand and broken bricks due to the bombing. They rebuilt with what they had, hence the random pattern.
Nice three centred arch over the front door, vary rare to see one new these days, probable the prettiest of all arches.
first thing i noticed about he arch is that whoever placed that brick on the right of the center should get his eyes fixed. they can still fix it with a grinder before they put in the joints. but comon, fix that
I have a CLT house here (belgium) and the builders did waterproof the whole foundation blocks before the wood was put on top. On top of that they put a membrane over the insolation and they taped the joints between the wood panels. The joints between the bricks are often done at a later stage.
Nice idea re the manifolds for the domestic water supply (both hot and cold). I did some work (chlorination) at a fast food restaurant in New Brighton, the Wirral, around 5 years ago. The plumber told me the manifold was so all the pipes could be run in plastic to each area, so if there was a leak in one area, the water could be isolated at the manifold and then repaired or replaced. This also minimised the amount of joints needed in each area, joints which invariably end up causing leaks. The manifolds for the domestic hot and cold water supplies were located in an accessible cupboard near the incoming water main.
The systems (water pipes red/blue in conduits and damp proof courses, internal brick block walls and many others ) you talk about albeit unusual in the UK are quite common in several EU countries in some cases going on for decades. Insulation is a different matter and typically the south worries less about thermal insulation albeit they should worry a bit more as it is warranted. Thank you for posting another interesting video
when I worked in Germany in the 90s we had to rake the joints back and a team would come in and joint with a dry sand and cement mix would do a few houses in 1 day and the finish was good without any colour differences
The porotherm blocks have a capacity to carry between 10 and 20 Newton.
So yes, you can just lay a concrete floor on top of them.
These blocks are produced in Belgium. Putting that local clay to good use.
These blocks also allow for 100% machine produced prefab walls. Produced on monday, loaded on tuesday, arrive for installation on the building site on wednesday. Takes about a day to install 1 floor (of your average house) They are prefab produced incl damp proofing, dooropenings, windowsopenings, isolating block in the bottom row, etc...
2:56 @SkillBuilder I hear you say “district heat system” which I don’t think we have anywhere in Belgium. These are definitely pipes of the heat pump, which every new building being built is obligated to install.
Yes I use the term very losely to mean several dwellings supplied by one heat source.
Yes Belgium isn't a former communist country we don't have that AFAIK especially not on newer houses definitely pipes for a heatpump since that's required now.
Britain used to lead the world in so many things. Have to say I'd be much happier paying for and living in a house built to these Belgian standards than our piiful excuses for a home.
Well thought through and cost-effective, with a good dose of future-proofing. What's not to like?
Thanks for shining a light on this.
I absolutely LOVE Belgian brick buildings, the houses you see on the outskirts of Leuven, absolutely stunning. The variation in brick colour/texture is just beautiful. I've been lucky to visit the area for work a few times and have hired a bike for some exploring in my spare time, and no matter where you go you'll see it. I don't know if I'm just luckily always in premium areas or if they just generally have better design.
Belgians are "born with a brick in the stomach". The saying "een baksteen in de maag hebben" is often used in a humorous way, but it also reflects the deep-seated desire of many Belgians to own their own home. Greetings from Leuven!
area around leuven is rich, we have plenty of old shitty houses aswell.
Top video. I’d love more of these. It amazes me how much construction materials and methods can differ, even among areas of Western European with similar climates
It's worth remembering that damp also will track along horizontally... from a neighbouring wall 🧱 or yard wall etc. Into a wall that has a " rising " dampproof membrane below it.
Another thing is many times rising damp is confused with condensing moisture from a warm atmosphere onto a cold North facing wall , especially in cupboards or units
We can learn alot from Europe, please do show what they do in Switzerland, their detailing is incredible.
their council flats from 60 years ago, all with underfloor heating and amazing quality:)))
Around the world with Skillbuilder ❤ Thank you
I am thinking about it, seriously, it is time.
Why do we in the UK use plastic gutters! It looks crap and fails!
They can always be changed
My parents plastic guttering has been up for 40 years, that's about 15 years longer than the metal guttering that it replaced.
Price is why
If you used metal the pikeys would nick it!
Mother’s house had flat backed ogee cast iron gutters. Horrible things that rotted at the back. Plastic went up in 1970s. It’s still there.
Such a great channel Roger ❤
Thanks Roger! Very interesting. I think a lot of people could be interested in a detailed comparison of building techniques between different countries. In Europe it seems to be big differences. Partly due to national traditions and partly due to the circumstances. Here in Northern Sweden the cold is dictating a lot of things and demands a lot of the building resources. Many new houses are built on concrete slabs on top of eps insulation and a layer of macadam gravel. Only some factory produced module houses are built with crawl spaces. Crawl space is cheaper but moisture problems are extensive, problably due to cold ground under the houses causing condensation in the summer. So the building techniques have evolved and I think that they will continue to evolve since modern living standards with central heating and inside plumbing have not existed for that long. For many people only about 70 years, And that is only 2 generations to evaluate the building techniques if you consider that it takes 30 to 50 years to really know what is working well and what the advantages and drawbacks are. I am now working with replacing septic systems in the countryside, some you could say are 1st generation and some are 2nd generation. And from what we know now, and the procedure that we follow when selecting new systems, it is very clear why some of the older systems do not work anymore, and some stopped working very early on.
A nice insight into how others build. Thanks Roger.
I added DPC to a home aged over 120yrs . I added the DPC in sections of five feet each day at various locations of the home . Two days after adding a section water would run from the wall onto the floor. I would have to wipe it up every day . When you stop the walls sucking up the water it falls resulting in puddles. It's a wonderful sight to see .
Great look around, thanks
Really fascinating. Nice one, thanks
Glad you enjoyed it
District hearing is basically piping hot water coming to your house and you have heat exhanger in your home to reduce it to hot water and forvthe radiators. Charged by volume and temperature delta over your heat exhange(used kWh). Plus monthly basic fee to cover the upkeep of the district heat grid.
more used in the Netherlands than in Belgium, there are only a few projects using it so far.
It's actually not even luke warm (waste) water which is used by the heatpump to condense into Hot water. I don't mean sewage water but water from industrial processes etc which produce excessive heat.
Roger please do a deep dive on the question of “why”. It’s not as simple as “we could learn a lot” because everyone wants to adopt newer, faster, better, and cheaper way of doing things. So why don’t we? It’s not a question of learning, all the answers are there right in front of our eyes and fingertips.
Really like the voice over the video, albeit it unintended. Works well for this type of presentation, cheers.
Hello I'm North Italian. My apartment is built similar to this. Pipe in pipe and the pipe for water is multilayer (pholiethylene/cupper/pholiethylene/cupper and so on for 8 layers total). The electrical wires are separated: a circuit for lights and another circuit for sockets. Furthemore, every sockets in the kitchen is covered by forniture has a dedicate thermal switch.
I have a house in France that has copper pipe in plastic tube similar to what you are showing here. It is buried in a concrete screed over the floor similar (I think) that will happen in this house in Belgium. The copper pipe is impossible to replace without digging up the floor! Also since the evidence of a leak only shows at the end of the outer tubing, you have no idea where the actual leak occurs and where to start digging. In general I think that not sufficient consideration is given to future maintenance requirements, access etc. It's cheaper just to bury everything.
The pipework in this video is plastic in plastic, so possible to drag through (might need to pre-lube the outer pipe though). Obviously rigid copper can't be pulled out of a buried plastic sleeve. Perhaps copper in plastic is to offer a small amount of protection from rough treatment during construction.
Hi, Thanks for your interest in my comment. However while there is some plastic pipe used I think there is a lot of copper. Also if it were plastic in plastic you would never pull it through the tortuous bendy routes that they have used even if it was lubricated. Look at the following; 1:56 you can just see the copper appearing out of the outer red tube, also there seems to be some brazing on the red pipe, much favoured on the continent where they do not use flow solder joints (how this coexists with the adjacent white piece of plastic I do not know); 2:26 look at the bends you could never pull plastic through these, pre-lubed or not, also on the left hand side going up the wall there is uncovered copper: 3:26 here you can see some plastic pipe, pretty stiff not for pulling through any of the routes I refer to earlier; 6:46 look at the bend on the yellow pipe, I think copper with a taped covering. I have always thought that the use of an outer tubing or tape is to protect the copper from the covering concrete/mortar as a corrosion preventer, they do not co-exist well with each other. Also on the underfloor heating which is plastic there is no outer tube (normal) and is buried directly in the concrete screed. No corrosion problems but a repair nightmare!@@stephen-boddy
@@John-dp8ohDo a Google image search for "pex pip blansol" you will see pipe-in-pipe where the inner "red" is distinctly copper coloured. It looks an exact match for this stuff. The white bit looks like something similar to a sharkbite or push-fit fitting, although I don't recognise the exact brand.
As to the ability to pull through? Have you tried it? To quote the Blansol manufacturer website:
"Besides, the corrugated duct allows an easy substitution of the pipe if needed. Thanks to the use of corrugated pipes you will just take out the damaged pipe by pulling it out and introduce a new pipe with no need of major work."
You mention the copper going up the wall. The pipe-in-pipe is for pipe that runs under a screed. They wouldn't need the ability to pull through on a pipe that isn't encased in concrete. That length of copper looks like it's a feed between two parts of a manifold system - one half feeding the cold supplies downstairs, the other feeding cold supplies upstairs, and the copper linking them.
For the UFH, yeah, that stuff pops and you're in a world of hurt. It can't use pip, or you'll be waiting twice as long for a warm floor.
The yellow pipe is completely different. Here in the UK that is for mains gas, and I'm pretty sure that is an internationally used colour coding, and that you must also use copper for gas (at least in the UK), not pex. So no, that one is not pipe-in-pipe, nor is it easily replaceable.
@@John-dp8oh the pipes used here in Belgium are called multi layered pipe and indeed contain both metal and plastic, replacing them is not easy and the outer tubing is more for insulation or expansion and contraction purposes. these pipes will never fail if placed correctly, any leaks will always present at couplings, wich should always remain accessible and in the floor only straight, uninterrupted runs should be used.
As someone with years of experience designing buildings like this on the continent, and quite a bit knowledge with water proofing these type of particular, I can confirm that extra bit of DPC hanging over there is a cover protecting the door where the mice can get in and out.
A mouse or rat will chew through plastic
Great stuff Roger .👍
OUTSTANDINGLY good information .... well done sir ...
very interesting and thanks for making it...Seán from Dingle, Ireland
Thanks, a very interesting and thought provoking video.
Thanks Roger, always interesting to see how our continental neighbours differ from our techniques, I've always liked those Porotherm blocks, lighter to handle than concrete blocks for sure, and quicker to set too ! Pipe in pipe seems like a great idea !
Ah, in the UK you got a Roger too? Nice.
Great video Roger, thanks
Great to see “ continental “ building methods . Looks like a quality build . Thanks for sharing
"Looks like a quality build" Nowadays standard in most northern European countries.
@@hoWa3920
Belgium has a big self-build culture, so quality is driven by a huge choice of materials from all over Europe, high training standards and smaller family builders. The basements and lofts that come as standard in Belgium, need adopting in the UK, but UK is the opposite, dominated by greedy cheap corporates and unskilled workers.
Very interesting, thanks for sharing. I built a house with my dad in RSA, and was very surprised at the lack of effort put into UK housing when I came here. They seem to be built to function without anything not required by regulations added. I'm talking about the general housing, I'm sure the more expensive properties have better fittings, etc.
hi Roger
the we have some great systems we can use the only reason we do not is cost simple as that the big builders lead the way and profit is king
when we build we build like this ref ( bi -fold doors ) and membrane always will but look at new builds cheap shoddy in general mate , great vlog mate keep it up
Wow thx for this interesting video. Love to see more vids on differences im countries
In Germany, we used a wet cement-like dpc that we put on with a trowel. the 1980s
Wow so many great ideas highlighted thanks ( again) . Why are we knuckle dragging in the building still ?
My brother lives in Aubange and in a newly built property and i have to say credit to Thomas Piron in the sense the way they build properties unlike UK builders trying to cut cost in every single way and step of the build. No snags, house is energy efficient and triple glaze, external roller shutters/blinds to name a few. And bear in mind, im talking something that was built 10yrs ago!
Belgium houses had wooden roller shutters going back to at least WW2 ! Now PVC of course. Windows opening inwards and large strong doors with no bottom brace.
Nice description and there is actually even more layers underground. Unfortunately good builders are needed in combination with good techniques and we still see a lot of failures in new builds. Just one info about the tablets under the windows these are made of Belgian bluestone - Pierre blue du Hainaut a product we Belgians are very proud about and a stone you will find in a lot of heritage buildings also used for flooring, kitchen tops, bathrooms.
The pipe-in-a-pipe idea got me, that's the first time I've ever heard of the concept (and so inexpensive?). Here in Australia we have high construction standards with ventilation to the cavity via terracotta bricks that are double the height of a regular brick about the same length each with 15 square holes in it: but that lets insects into the cavity which can be stopped by buying industrial size "scotch-bright pot scourers" from the larger hardware stores cleaning sections, the industrial size allows essentially identical airflow but totally obstructs cockroaches and other bugs. This is a great channel definitely worth a tick and subscribe :)
It's called alpex
The pre insulated pipe cannot be altered/replaced once installed, we usually buy it dual red/blue on 50 or 100 m roll in DYI. Still pretty handy though. The non insulated version is indeed two separate pipes but it would be very hard to replace if there are curbs and bents. I think it is there to protect the actual waterpipe from chemicals and frictions when it expands and retracts due to hot and cold water
All houses as well as apartments here in Belgium have been built for decades with concrete floors between storeys to keep noise down & for underfloor heating. Standard practice!
Interesting! This is actually a house, I thought they were flats but that is not the case.
Fascinating how others do it , we could all learn and improve our own building practices to reduce waste ,time and increase efficiency and liveability
Very interesting video. Always useful to consider practices in other countries as this is a good way to learn from one another. The pipe in pipe appears to be a win win situation. Having a raised floor level is also highly desirable as this both prevents rain splash-back striking the wall above DPC level and also allows any damp that is rising to be able to freely evaporate sideways at low level. Disabled access can and is accommodated by designing in ramps, mini-bridges and other forms of appropriate landscaping, which just needs a touch of imagination and a good designer.
I cant recall anyone suggesting that new buildings should not be provided with DPC'S myself as such buildings by design incorporate barriers to moisture (eg cavities, DPCs, cavity trays, sealants etc). The debate about rising damp and the go-to fix of injecting chemical damp-proof courses and applying brittle cement rich impermeable renders revolve around old lime based solid walls- water always takes the line of least resistance and will therefore evaporate sideways, rather than rise, if it can freely do so. I do not wish to rule out the option of introducing a retrospective DPC in older walls but this must be one which will provide the required degree of long-term protection and any remedy should of course follow a reliable diagnosis - damp is a symptom. Always wise to keep an open mind when investigating building defects of course.
Fascinating video!...interesting to see how things are done on the Continent. My Victorian ancestor was a property developer from Brussels, and settled in South London. The brickwork is stunning...I'm guessing that pattern of bricklaying is Flemish Bond? Loving the general heritage look of this new build and the perfect window proportions (we so often end up with tiny non-descript windows in UK new builds).
A lot of british bricklayers who are older have worked in europe and are familiar with this style of brickwork in Germany, Luxembourg, Holland, Belgium....we used to call it German Wild Bond and doesn't have a set pattern as per normal bonds ....the joints are always raked out and the finished product is done by the fugelmann with a semi dry mix and a flatiron ...the finish is far superior to anything the uk turns out
Walls are cheaper than windows hence the push for "mews" houses in the UK with tiny windows, which I agree is a great shame. I live in a 30s semi because they (in my opinion) got the layout right and the proportions of windows right too.
What a great video, so much can be learned from seeing what other countries do. The NHS managers need to see how other countries run better services than ours.
Belgian tax rates are some of the highest in the world as the Belgian government uses tax revenues to fund their world-class healthcare etc, it is about funding and demand, not about management .
The NHS is hammered by an aging population who require a lot of care, and not enough cash in the system to cover it. Staff are worked hard, as are managers. Any fat in the system went a long, long time ago.We prefer to spend our money on HS2, and PPE fraud.
Or perhaps we could stop the Tory's asset stripping the UK and our taxes going to rich buggers as dividends etc rather than on services
The way you should build with these blocks is to install a concrete ring beam at the top course before you put the precast floor slabs, if the blocks are not structural - numerous benefits
I've built in the Netherlands and Germany too. Damp proofing is critical in these places. As are details to shed water from the cavity.
thats brilliant pipe in pipe easy fix
In Belgium and the Netherlands as well, the briscks are lais and at the end of the day they are scraped out. At the end, a specific separate craftsman sill do all the poinying in one go with a sepate mix, which can be adjusted in hardness, colour, depth etc. It's ver important not to have the pointing too hard or the bricks will freeze to pieces. If the pointing ever goes bad it can be more easily replaced as well, without damaging the bricks. The mortar is meant for building, the pointing for protection.
Having lived in Germany for 25 yrs and having moving over to Flemish Belgium in the past 10yrs. German domestic building code n standards are at least 10 yrs ahead of Belgium. In Belgium they are catching up but still lag behind.
We spent about 12 months looking at houses prior to buying and some of the gerry built constructs we viewed made UK building std look state of the art and that takes some doing!!!
So how many years ahead of the UK are German standards? And does anyone in the UK build to those higher standards?
A solid exaggeration right there, love it
30-40 years ahead. not many I would say. there are specialist in passive house in IRE/UK,but nowhere near german standards@@sukotu23
You were probably looking at pre war houses. If you look in the basement the early houses had bricks under the hard floors or sometimes poured concrete. Now they use prefab 'Welfsels' Belgium has a great education system for tradesmen and uses German materials and innovation as they come out. Self-build is a huge part of the Belgian economy. You can't own a business there without a degree in your subject + business studies. Rainwater harvesting + pumped fresh air ventilation were part of building regs about 15 years ago, but maybe have been relaxed off.
@@sukotu23
German windows as used in Belgium since forever, are bolted to solid interior walls and open inwards. The windows are more secure, look sleeker and have that recess that allows the nice stone ledges. In the UK the interior wall are too weak to take these windows and doors, hence UK doors often have the bar at the bottom for strength.
Belgium has much higher standards due to the education system plus encourages smaller qualified builders and wont let the greedy big corporates take over like in he UK with a lot of failed education and sometimes rogues.
Is there a video on this channel, where you explain the damp proof course for the bifold doors that you mentioned?
The reason the audio is out of sync is because you are filming so far away in Belgium and sound travels slower than light. Simples😉
Good to know!
If you are interested in rising damp, come to Central and northern Portugal. It rains more than in the UK, that rain happens in half a year and many houses have no dpc or damp prevention of any kind. Concrete floors were often poured straight on gravel on soil.
Traditionally, downstairs was for storage and the family lived upstairs.
We keep being told about Portugese damp so maybe I will take a look.
I think that new build, the brickwork is done that way to give a old building look appearance feel.
The way they do cavity insulation and dpc is similar to Ireland... we don't have window formers in Ireland...
In Naples I saw walls made from 'tufo' a volcanic rock. I'm told it is lightweight with great thermal properties. Trouble is, if you don't render it, the weather erodes it. I saw a lot of crumbly walls there.
good job
Very nice build, should be done always and everywhere.
In South Africa all floors and stairs are done with concrete, they use scaffolding forms to lay the concrete over the scaffolding forms to lay the floors. Much better construction for sound proofing, they even use that in duplex construction, not just flats.
Same in Belgium, but we lay premade concrete slabs first, and top that off with a concrete poor.
Some ways to get ground water out of your old building : sometimes ive seen in Belgium : every foot they drill a horizontal hole into the walls a bit above ground level and inject some kind of fluid , that creates a water repelling barrier . Another way but more costly :. Piece by piece they dig some stones at or even below ground level and underbild. It with a concrete layer + a moist screen . 3: I used to live in an old cottage , end of 18 century . Hardly no foundation , floor tiles one sand floor . The entrance silt was only half an inch high , and the street side of the house was actually a foot under street level ! One time there was a severe rain and flood warning . So I picked up some sandbags at the town fire department to be shure . I never got flooded . Maybe the only thing my landlord did good for the house , was to Fill the whole backyard up with stone building rubbish .so the whole garden collected the rain up very quickly … I discovered it because at some places in the garden the grass grew very little ..
I think we can all learn from looking at Best Practice in different countries. It would be great if there was a system to look at and recommend changes based on efficacy and cost.
I love it - no plastic drinking straws allowed but entire floors of plastic matting are fine ;) My contention is that with energy prices and the drive for minimum wastage, buildings should be planned so as to have minimum redundancy in pipes, keeping energy waste low and materials used to the least necessary - bathroom and kitchen walls should be adjacent and/or above one another.
When I fit pipes or cables I always put them in old water pipe so they can be replaced at any time or new extra cables/pipes drawn alongside - they cost peanuts and sometimes one can even get hold of insulated ones form district heating systems (here in Sweden, at least).
It would be really nice if you'd explain more about the cavity/threshold damp-coursing with a diagram or two of right and wrong so people who aren't builders can follow it and know what to look for etc.
Thanks for another really good video.
The plastic hot water tubes aren't single use disposable items are they? Those will be in use for decades, whereas the old plastic straws were used once and never recycled. Hence the microplastics being found in seafood, and entering the food chain no doubt.
@@CuriousCrow-mp4cxthat's a nonsensical reply - the volume of plastic in thin straws is minute and one would have to use tens of thousands to make up that in one floor, plus there is no reason they should not be disposed of properly at all, or even reused a few times with sterilisation. When a floor is taken up - because of accidental damage or wear/freezing or change of house structure/rooms the cost will be vast and the plastic will likely be mixed with concrete and all manner of all other crud and hard to recycle or to burn. The micro plastics entering the food chain are because governments introduced laws to say that polymers had to break up in sunlight so as to not leave visible litter - something usually easy enough to clear up manually: Not exclusively of course, but generally they needn't exist in the quantities they do. Either way, micro plastics will come from manufacture and use of all manner of goods - if you dislike them so then I assume you wear no clothes made of polyesters or synthetics, wear no shoes made with plastics, use no car built with them, use no railways which use them all over, fly not, eat not (packaging) and never leave the house. The reality of micro plastics is our standard of living will be back to middle age peasant if we don't endure them, but what we can do is manage our use of them and thus our manufacture quantities of them. Underfloor heating can be achieved in many ways and it is anyway essentially not necessary whatsoever - nor are straws. But I think you missed my point - go so far as to ban one then go so far as to ban the other, in essence.
Excellent video Roger. We can always learn from how other countries do things. Good methods and bad. Keep it up!
Wish you’d come to NZ and sort it out, standards here are shocking.
All wood is better in earthquakes? Just that wood rots in the ground, need expensive oak or lots of toxic chemicals?
The wood thing is ok, especially on the old villas which were build to last. You are definitely thankful when it flexes nicely in an earthquake rather than falling down on your head.
Anything that does away with gypsum plaster board is a good thing.
Why? Forgive my ignorance. I am not a builder
That manifold and pipe in pipe system is sheer brilliance, they even do that in Morocco
Really interesting!
as a belgian loss adjuster for insurance companies: yes rising damp very much exists in belgium. it's one of the big exclusions of insurance policies so we're always checking if the cause of the water damage is rising damp in order to deny damage claims... older buildings or add-ons against old existing garden walls don't have the damp foil in them, they always cause trouble with rising damp.
The best solution for rising damp is ventilation under the flooring so plenty of air bricks allowing the air to circulate and keeping the brickwork dry under the floor. What I have found with most properties that are struggling with damp is lack of ventilation or blocked vents due to driveways going in and covering the vents and not being 6inch 150mm below damp proofing to prevent splash back, then you have broken drains leaking water under the house or even leaking gutters dripping rain water and not draining off.
In Belgium we start with a foil on the ground before we start building. Then you have the layer between the bricks (above ground level) and the first layer above ground is an insulation block. New houses never should have problems with moist when build properly. It is up to the architect to guard proper installation as he will be held responsible for 10 years.
Ah Roger if I’d have know I would have asked you to come and have a look at my basement in Antwerp pal! Might have to do one of those ask a builder videos. It’s an original 1936 basement, damp as a swamp. Enjoy your holidays!
Excellent
Jay Puyenbrock is a brilliant Belgian builder on RUclips 🧱🧱🧱👍🏽
I have watched him. What do you think of their brickwork. It is a different way of doing it for sure.
We really need to learn new stuff like this in uk. And train builders better
That house will be a single family home; nice home with a garage.
Greetings from Belgium.
Pipe in pipe is the best way to go. The outside pipe needs to be a bit larger for pulling through, while reinstalling I.e. pulling through another wire or pex pipe
Brick or block is good. Easy to chase through & plaster
The outside red and blue lines are for the R290 heatpump monoblock.