Garden room base help

sx_turbo

sx_turbo

sx_turbo

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I've taken over a bit of land that was once a farm ditch at the end of my garden, it's all above board paid the farmer the money, and he has sold the fields to a developer, and the developer has created a new system for ground water run off.

My neighbour has done the same and had a container put in its place with type 1 installed and concrete piles for it done by the builders that bought the land for a cheap rate.

At the time I didn't have the money and wasn't sure what we wanted to put at the bottom of the garden (shed, garden room, container), so just paid for the ditch to be filled in with type 1 mot, and compacted.

Problem is I really didn't think about exactly how I was going to proceed with things.

Now I'm at the point Im ready to move on with the project but feel I've screwed my self over.

The size of the garden room is to be circa 6x3.5 meters. The base needs levelling somewhat to suit the rest of the garden.

The access to the area is a bit of a sod, 140 ft from the road, with a very narrow side access garden over 2 levels with steep steps.

I thought the cheapest option would be ground screws, but pretty certain having had the type 1 laid I've screwed this option up.

Concrete over it, the shuttering should be ok, but should it be insulated and have a Dpm? Or just put dpm in and make an insulated timber frame? Pretty certain it will also require rebar, and it starts getting very expensive.

I could place blocks and have a wooden frame, but I'm concerned about movement,

I'm stuck what to do,
 
Minipiles from a rig narrow enough to access your narrow side garden, probably 150mm diameter cased through the MOT fill and augured to depth. Central rebar and concreted. Possibly six piles on a 3m x 3m grid to support your base frame.
 
danlightbulb said:
I dont see the issue. A garden room is not massively heavy and its perfectly fine for it to sit on a 100mm concrete base over compacted type 1. This sounds like a standard concrete pad base to me.
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i'm feeling like this is my only real option.

the side access is only 800mm (next door built a wooden shed -before we moved in, running the length of their house right upto the boundary), then gotta small step onto my decking, then a small step down then down a steep set of steps to the lower garden.
 
sx_turbo said:
i'm feeling like this is my only real option.

the side access is only 800mm (next door built a wooden shed -before we moved in, running the length of their house right upto the boundary), then gotta small step onto my decking, then a small step down then down a steep set of steps to the lower garden.
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Gravel grids might be a good option for you. Have a look at some youtube videos on the topic. Im going to use gravel grids for mine, albeit mine will be more of a shed and less of a garden room but there probably isn't too much of a difference in weight.
 
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danlightbulb said:
Gravel grids might be a good option for you. Have a look at some youtube videos on the topic. Im going to use gravel grids for mine, albeit mine will be more of a shed and less of a garden room but there probably isn't too much of a difference in weight.
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its just getting the gravel down there. my old neighbour done a gravel grid driveway was all right, though he didnt do it properly lol
 
How serious are you going with the garden room? I almost started one before Christmas but accepted I'd never finish it before freezing temperatures kick in. So I'll start in spring.

I've since joined the Facebook group run by The Garden Room Guru, and bought a build pack (materials list plus plans). It's a brilliant resource as there's discussion and examples every day of the best ways to do stuff, but also the variety of methods available.

The main issue IMO with base selection is height. It's hard to fit proper floor and roof insulation within the 2.5m permitted development height. However if your build is more than 2 metres from any boundary, you can go up to 3m in height. This will allow a good 100mm insulation in floor and roof, and still get you nicely over 2 metres headroom inside.

In terms of construction, as you have hard standing I'd probably do a concrete pour and start from there.
 
LuckyBenski said:
How serious are you going with the garden room? I almost started one before Christmas but accepted I'd never finish it before freezing temperatures kick in. So I'll start in spring.

I've since joined the Facebook group run by The Garden Room Guru, and bought a build pack (materials list plus plans). It's a brilliant resource as there's discussion and examples every day of the best ways to do stuff, but also the variety of methods available.

The main issue IMO with base selection is height. It's hard to fit proper floor and roof insulation within the 2.5m permitted development height. However if your build is more than 2 metres from any boundary, you can go up to 3m in height. This will allow a good 100mm insulation in floor and roof, and still get you nicely over 2 metres headroom inside.

In terms of construction, as you have hard standing I'd probably do a concrete pour and start from there.
Click to expand...

Cheers, yeah I'm going to start in spring aswell (hopefully)

I'm speaking to ground screws company who reckon they can help, if not looks like concrete pumped base is the way forward.

I've also joined that group and got my build pack today. The build pack is good, but not as detailed as I'd hoped lol (I was looking for more technical drawings for the front wall), but it's certainly a starting base. I've binge watched his videos, and think I'll have another watch as I'm building it.

The only thing that's putting me off really is cost, I've found a company that will provide what I want delivered and fitted with uPVC doors for £7k, then I've got to insulate it and board it, and I'd probably re-clad it also as it doesn't look quite as classy. Doing the self build looks like I'm going to be in for minimum 10k plus my time. Downside is I need to make my decision by end of the month to get the discount of the ready made one.

Lucky I'm building 2 meters away from my boundary so I've got a bit of room to play with. As we are going 4 meters deep it would be better if I went for 6x2 cl24 roof joists, rather than garden room gurus 2x5 c16 bolted as pairs, so should be able to save a bit of money there.

I'm toying with the idea if I go self build to buy myself a nail gun, watching his videos it's so much quicker to nail everything, but I don't feel I can trust the 2nd hand units on the market and it's quite an expense to buy new.
 
I'm not sure how useful this will be, but when we built our cabin on a sloping site, we excavated deep holes then built piers using paving slab pieces and cement (not relevant to you, I know), but then we cemented these adjustable base pads to the top of the piers then rested the cabin base frame on that. For our purposes it meant we could adjust each one and ensure the base was level, but they also have the advantage of not allowing moisture to be transmitted to the wooden base. So might work on concrete base to combat moisture ingress; on pillars if going the augur route.

(two sizes)
www.tuin.co.uk

Timber Frame Base Pads 30 x 60mm | Adjustable Foundation Supports for Log Cabins & Decking | Tuin UK

Create a level, durable foundation for your log cabin or timber garden building with our adjustable timber frame base pads.
www.tuin.co.uk www.tuin.co.uk
www.tuin.co.uk

Timber Frame Base Pads 60 x 140mm | Adjustable Foundation Supports for Log Cabins & Decking | Tuin UK

Level and support your log cabin or decking with our adjustable timber frame base pads. Easy to install for any garden building DIY project.
www.tuin.co.uk www.tuin.co.uk

I'm not familiar with these build-packs, but when building a log cabin, the timbers can warp prior to build and we overcame this with G-clamps and human brute force to twist the timbers back into their original form to pound/coax them into the slot.
 
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