It is currently 29 Mar 2024, 10:58
9fingers wrote:Hi BT
Welcome to the forum.
Mike G will probably be along in a minute to comment as "Mr Shed"
My 2p is that your idea seems plausible. There will be an obvious trade off between the number of piles and the depth of the joists to spread the load. Might need to cost that out against a 150mm slab and all the effort digging for the piles.
You might be able to get cardboard tube formers cheaper than plastic tube and I've no real idea on pile depth but with 200mm or so sitting in loose gravel you might need to go deeper for good lateral support.
I think someone on UKW built on piles - might have been "bluekingfisher" or some such user name.
You might need to think about suppressing weed growth under the shed. An annual "nuking" with glyphosate perhaps to maintain air flow under and get continued dryness in the shed. Maybe a trap door to access the area?
Bob
Hi Malc,Malc2098 wrote:Hi there, BT,
Welcome to the forum. The Mods will ask you to go over to the welcome page and introduce yourself and give a couple of replies so that the forum software knows you're not a bot, I think.
There have been times in my life when I had always wished I was taller than 5'9", except when I've been in an out of an old, now demolished, shed. So I've felt your pain!
There is a wealth of knowledge and experience on this site, which has given me the confidence to go ahead and build a proper workshop in my garden.
There will be replies to your plea, so hang in there and wait for them to come, and then work your way through, ask anything you're not sure of and then work your way towards a design that suits your needs.
You will get there. I can assure you.
Good Luck.
Hi Andy,Andyp wrote:Hi BT and welcome to the forum. I have no experiance only watched others with a mixture of awe and envy.
Have you read Mike’s thread on shed building without concrete?
See here
http://www.thewoodhaven2.co.uk/viewtopi ... =35&t=3308
Hi Mike,Mike G wrote:Welcome to the forum, BT.
There is no fundamental problem with piles, but it is the connection details, and what happens between the bottom of the walls and the ground, which count. If you could produce a sketch section of that detail, as you envisage it, I'll be able to comment more fully. Also, if you dig a hole a couple of spade-depths deep, what do you hit?
Perfect thanks AndyAndyp wrote:I think butyl might be a bit OTT for weed suppression. The weed matting available from the diy sheds will do the job and it is free draining.
Right got you - in all fairness I don't know however there is a substantial block wall 6 courses high all around the property so I can't imagine the ground is too poor, the chap was a builder (I think he died c. 8 years before the lady who we bought the house from sold up) so it's hard to work out what was his work and what's been bodged since he passed - there is lots of uneven slabs laid in random selections and a lot of the concrete drive is breaking up and thin. Then again there is a really well formed ramp to the front door (concrete) and the existing shed looks self built to a good standard too.RogerS wrote:Hi BT and welcome to the forum.
I think the reasoning behind Mike's question was not so much the likelihood of hitting pipes or cables (a valid thought nevertheless) but the type of soil, rock etc which might put the mockers on your plan if you've got to dig down 30 ft before hitting anything substantial to support the piles !
brokentechie wrote:........
The boundary walls are reasonable so I guess the foundations are good and I suspect not too deep.
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brokentechie wrote:Perfect thanks AndyAndyp wrote:I think butyl might be a bit OTT for weed suppression. The weed matting available from the diy sheds will do the job and it is free draining.
As you can see I'm on a steep learning curve!
BT
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Assuming I use a ladder type arrangement for the floor frame then do I need to worry about rodents? It'll be fairly open and easy enough for the local cat population to get underneath - that way they can have a rat snack after they've used our plot as a toilet!Andyp wrote:brokentechie wrote:Perfect thanks AndyAndyp wrote:I think butyl might be a bit OTT for weed suppression. The weed matting available from the diy sheds will do the job and it is free draining.
As you can see I'm on a steep learning curve!
BT
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Oh and some chicken wire to stop rodents etc getting underneath.
Right ok - thanks Mike. As you can tell I have no building design experience whatsoever (Oh how I wish I'd tried harder at school!)Mike G wrote:You seem to be suggesting a reduced ground level under the building. This is just a sump, unless you have an active drainage system, so that in heavy rain or a snow melt you would have water pooling in there to the depth of the surrounding ground. A six inch gap under the building is not a great plan, as said, because rats, badgers and foxes love gaps like that.
There are lots of ways of achieving the principle of having the lowest timber raised 6 inches above the ground level, with building on a slab. Broken up paving slabs as a dry stone wall. Used car tyres filled with crushed hardcore, ballast, or shingle. Gabions. Your imagination is the limit. But avoiding an accessible void and creating a sump are fundamental.
Excellent stuff thanks Mike.Mike G wrote:I've no idea. If you have a whole lot of paving slabs, then that would be cheapest. If you can get hold of some free car tyres, then you'd only need a few bags of ballast, or similar. I've seen heavy duty interlocking cellular plastic paving (you know the stuff, which they fill with soil and plant grass in, to allow car parking in fields) which strike me as a possible decent shed foundation. This one seems to have some sort of approval for use as a shed base). If you can get hold of some heavy duty sand-bags, fill them with sand or shingle, and pound them with a big tamper, then that would do nicely (you need bags which are rot and UV resistant). As I said, sticking to the principles then your imagination is your only limit.
Before you get too far with your design, though, go out and dig a hole 2 feet deep. Report on what you find.
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