I want to build an attached garage onto my semi detached house.

I live on the courner of two roads and have a largish tree on the
pavement about 6ft away from the planned garage wall.

As I would like to have the garage wall act as a boundary against the
pavement I will have to build the wall on the edge of the footings.

Also I have a high water table and clay soil.

I beleive I will require a piled foundation.

Who do I need to speak to to get an estimate/design of the foundation.

Would anyone have any idea of the cost of this foundation for a 7m x 3m
foundation (only 2 sides required)


--
Posted via Mailgate.ORG Server - http://www.Mailgate.ORG

Lawrence Zarb wrote:
I want to build an attached garage onto my semi detached house.

I live on the corner of two roads and have a largish tree on the
pavement about 6ft away from the planned garage wall.

As I would like to have the garage wall act as a boundary against the
pavement I will have to build the wall on the edge of the footings.

Also I have a high water table and clay soil.

I believe I will require a piled foundation.

Who do I need to speak to to get an estimate/design of the foundation.

Would anyone have any idea of the cost of this foundation for a 7m x 3m
foundation (only 2 sides required)

Start with whoever it was that told you about piled foundations.

You have three major obstacles: the tree, the soil and the traffic.
Search the net for resolutions to these individually:

Nearby trees and foundations

Foundations traffic

Foundations in clay.

Weatherlawyer wrote:
Lawrence Zarb wrote:
I want to build an attached garage onto my semi detached house.

I live on the corner of two roads and have a largish tree on the
pavement about 6ft away from the planned garage wall.

As I would like to have the garage wall act as a boundary against the
pavement I will have to build the wall on the edge of the footings.

Also I have a high water table and clay soil.

I believe I will require a piled foundation.

Who do I need to speak to to get an estimate/design of the
foundation.

Would anyone have any idea of the cost of this foundation for a 7m x
3m foundation (only 2 sides required)

Start with whoever it was that told you about piled foundations.

You have three major obstacles: the tree, the soil and the traffic.
Search the net for resolutions to these individually:

Nearby trees and foundations

Foundations traffic

Foundations in clay.

Foundations in clay are perfectly acceptable, we live in an area of clay and
everything is built on it.

To the OP:
Piles are much more expensive than strip footings, so don't go down this
route unless it's impossible to avoid, you can apply to have the tree
removed, although success is not garuanteed.

The first thing you need to do is get some plans drawn up and submitted,
then dig some test holes for the BCO to decide whether you can build on
strips or not, if he says it has to go on piles then your plans will need to
be altered and accepted by BC.

I've never known the water table to affect footings whether they are on
strips, piles or a raft, nor traffic.

Phil L wrote:
Weatherlawyer wrote:
Lawrence Zarb wrote:
I want to build an attached garage onto my semi detached house.

I live on the corner of two roads and have a largish tree on the
pavement about 6ft away from the planned garage wall.

As I would like to have the garage wall act as a boundary against the
pavement I will have to build the wall on the edge of the footings.

Also I have a high water table and clay soil.

I believe I will require a piled foundation.

Who do I need to speak to to get an estimate/design of the
foundation.

Would anyone have any idea of the cost of this foundation for a 7m x
3m foundation (only 2 sides required)
Start with whoever it was that told you about piled foundations.

You have three major obstacles: the tree, the soil and the traffic.
Search the net for resolutions to these individually:

Nearby trees and foundations

Foundations traffic

Foundations in clay.

Foundations in clay are perfectly acceptable, we live in an area of clay and
everything is built on it.

To the OP:
Piles are much more expensive than strip footings, so don't go down this
route unless it's impossible to avoid, you can apply to have the tree
removed, although success is not garuanteed.

Agreed. I was looking at those, but in the end a man with a digger going
down over 2meters was enough to cope with some serious trees.

A raised floor to account for any heave underneath teh site coped with
slight movement.



The first thing you need to do is get some plans drawn up and submitted,
then dig some test holes for the BCO to decide whether you can build on
strips or not, if he says it has to go on piles then your plans will need to
be altered and accepted by BC.

I've never known the water table to affect footings whether they are on
strips, piles or a raft, nor traffic.



Its an advantage with clay..the biggest problem is massive shrinkage,
followed by heave after rain. Permanently soggy is better.

The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Phil L wrote:
Weatherlawyer wrote:
Lawrence Zarb wrote:
I want to build an attached garage onto my semi detached house.

I live on the corner of two roads and have a largish tree on the
pavement about 6ft away from the planned garage wall.

As I would like to have the garage wall act as a boundary against
the pavement I will have to build the wall on the edge of the
footings. Also I have a high water table and clay soil.

I believe I will require a piled foundation.

Who do I need to speak to to get an estimate/design of the
foundation.

Would anyone have any idea of the cost of this foundation for a 7m
x 3m foundation (only 2 sides required)
Start with whoever it was that told you about piled foundations.

You have three major obstacles: the tree, the soil and the traffic.
Search the net for resolutions to these individually:

Nearby trees and foundations

Foundations traffic

Foundations in clay.

Foundations in clay are perfectly acceptable, we live in an area of
clay and everything is built on it.

To the OP:
Piles are much more expensive than strip footings, so don't go down
this route unless it's impossible to avoid, you can apply to have
the tree removed, although success is not garuanteed.

Agreed. I was looking at those, but in the end a man with a digger
going down over 2meters was enough to cope with some serious trees.

A raised floor to account for any heave underneath teh site coped with
slight movement.



The first thing you need to do is get some plans drawn up and
submitted, then dig some test holes for the BCO to decide whether
you can build on strips or not, if he says it has to go on piles
then your plans will need to be altered and accepted by BC.

I've never known the water table to affect footings whether they are
on strips, piles or a raft, nor traffic.



Its an advantage with clay..the biggest problem is massive shrinkage,
followed by heave after rain. Permanently soggy is better.

Shrinkage often occurs after tree removal, although I'm not sure why, some
say it's the mass of smaller roots rotting away and leaving voids, some say
it's the clay's water content changing...either way, tree removal is best
left to the profesionals, I know of one bloke who recently cleared a row of
Lleylandii from his boundary in order to build an extension...the removal
partially destroyed the main sewer under the road adjacent to his property,
end result, £36K to get it repaired and no extension.

The message
from "Phil L" contains these words:

Foundations in clay are perfectly acceptable,

*******s to dig though. Clay isn't the nice soft stuff you get in
nursery, it's hard as nails.

--
Skipweasel
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

I want to keep the inital costs down, just in case its not practicle to
have this built.

If I dug the test holes wood the BCO attend site without any formal
applications to advise what is acceptable?


--
Posted via Mailgate.ORG Server - http://www.Mailgate.ORG

Guy King wrote:
The message
from "Phil L" contains these words:

Foundations in clay are perfectly acceptable,

*******s to dig though. Clay isn't the nice soft stuff you get in
nursery, it's hard as nails.

I prefer clay :-p
I dug out about 12m3 of sandy soil for an extension in a nearby town a few
months ago...it wasn't too bad lower down where it was compacted, but higher
up where it was loose it was a PITA, it kept caving in - the trench was
supposed to be 600mm wide but at the top it was nearer to a metre...the last
one was in clay but the trench was 23m long, 1.2m deep and 600mm wide :-(
the digger man did it in 2.5 days :-)

On Tue, 05 Dec 2006 12:59:21 GMT Phil L wrote :
Piles are much more expensive than strip footings, so don't go
down this route unless it's impossible to avoid, you can apply
to have the tree removed, although success is not garuanteed.

It's a street tree, and I would doubt that the average Council
would be willing to remove it so as to make constructing the OP's
extension easier. And given that we are presumably talking about
fairly deep excavations along the back of the pavement, there may
be issues of maintaining support etc, which make me think that
piling may be easiest in this case.

--
Tony Bryer SDA UK 'Software to build on' http://www.sda.co.uk

Phil L wrote:
The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Phil L wrote:
Weatherlawyer wrote:
Lawrence Zarb wrote:
I want to build an attached garage onto my semi detached house.

I live on the corner of two roads and have a largish tree on the
pavement about 6ft away from the planned garage wall.

As I would like to have the garage wall act as a boundary against
the pavement I will have to build the wall on the edge of the
footings. Also I have a high water table and clay soil.

I believe I will require a piled foundation.

Who do I need to speak to to get an estimate/design of the
foundation.

Would anyone have any idea of the cost of this foundation for a 7m
x 3m foundation (only 2 sides required)
Start with whoever it was that told you about piled foundations.

You have three major obstacles: the tree, the soil and the traffic.
Search the net for resolutions to these individually:

Nearby trees and foundations

Foundations traffic

Foundations in clay.
Foundations in clay are perfectly acceptable, we live in an area of
clay and everything is built on it.

To the OP:
Piles are much more expensive than strip footings, so don't go down
this route unless it's impossible to avoid, you can apply to have
the tree removed, although success is not garuanteed.
Agreed. I was looking at those, but in the end a man with a digger
going down over 2meters was enough to cope with some serious trees.

A raised floor to account for any heave underneath teh site coped with
slight movement.


The first thing you need to do is get some plans drawn up and
submitted, then dig some test holes for the BCO to decide whether
you can build on strips or not, if he says it has to go on piles
then your plans will need to be altered and accepted by BC.

I've never known the water table to affect footings whether they are
on strips, piles or a raft, nor traffic.


Its an advantage with clay..the biggest problem is massive shrinkage,
followed by heave after rain. Permanently soggy is better.

Shrinkage often occurs after tree removal,

No. *Heave* occurs after tree removal..at any distance..The lack of
water drawn allows the moisture content to increase.

Shrinkage is the issue only where the bulk root mass is.

although I'm not sure why, some
say it's the mass of smaller roots rotting away and leaving voids, some say
it's the clay's water content changing...either way, tree removal is best
left to the profesionals, I know of one bloke who recently cleared a row of
Lleylandii from his boundary in order to build an extension...the removal
partially destroyed the main sewer under the road adjacent to his property,
end result, £36K to get it repaired and no extension.

Guy King wrote:
The message
from "Phil L" contains these words:

Foundations in clay are perfectly acceptable,

*******s to dig though. Clay isn't the nice soft stuff you get in
nursery, it's hard as nails.

Not at any depth its not.

Lawrence Zarb wrote:
I want to keep the inital costs down, just in case its not practicle to
have this built.

If I dug the test holes wood the BCO attend site without any formal
applications to advise what is acceptable?


He might,or get a structural engineer in - the BCO is not actually that
qualified - best is to contact a firm of engineers,or ask BCO who he
analysed samples ate depth to establish root hair content. They went
down 1.5 meters so 2 meters it was...

Tony Bryer wrote:
On Tue, 05 Dec 2006 12:59:21 GMT Phil L wrote :
Piles are much more expensive than strip footings, so don't go
down this route unless it's impossible to avoid, you can apply
to have the tree removed, although success is not garuanteed.

It's a street tree, and I would doubt that the average Council
would be willing to remove it so as to make constructing the OP's
extension easier. And given that we are presumably talking about
fairly deep excavations along the back of the pavement, there may
be issues of maintaining support etc, which make me think that
piling may be easiest in this case.

Its usually a straight cost benefit analysis.
Sometimes piles are cheaper, but mostly when access is good, in clay,
they are not.

What sort of money are we taling about to get a structual engineer to
take a look?


--
Posted via Mailgate.ORG Server - http://www.Mailgate.ORG

Lawrence Zarb wrote:
What sort of money are we taling about to get a structual engineer to
take a look?

The first thing you need to do is get plans drawn up and submitted...you
/can/ do it on a building notice but it's not advisable, having plans draw
will probably cost around £400 - £600 but this will probably include
submitting them as well, which is around £150...look in local rag for 'plans
drawn'.
If you do it on a building notice (without plans) and you come across
problems like piles being required, it throws it all to cock, whereas plans
can simply be amended and work can continue, the person who draws the plans
will probably indicate strip footings etc, but be aware that you probably
won't be allowed to build right up to the boundary, because the foundations
will be 600mm wide and the wall sits in the middle of this, meaning you will
be digging under the pavement.

Lawrence Zarb wrote:
What sort of money are we taling about to get a structual engineer to
take a look?


couple of hundred.

On Tue, 05 Dec 2006 14:23:29 GMT, Tony Bryer
wrote:

On Tue, 05 Dec 2006 12:59:21 GMT Phil L wrote :
Piles are much more expensive than strip footings, so don't go
down this route unless it's impossible to avoid, you can apply
to have the tree removed, although success is not garuanteed.

It's a street tree, and I would doubt that the average Council
would be willing to remove it so as to make constructing the OP's
extension easier. And given that we are presumably talking about
fairly deep excavations along the back of the pavement, there may
be issues of maintaining support etc, which make me think that
piling may be easiest in this case.


Stripping the bark off round the full circumference and a few feet
high will ensure rapid removal by the council.


--

In article , Matt wrote:
Stripping the bark off round the full circumference and a few feet
high will ensure rapid removal by the council.

And potentially a criminal record, as well as the cost of
replacing the tree.

--
Aidan
Aberdeen, Scotland
Written at Wed, 06 Dec 2006 20:06 GMT, but posted later.