Hi
I'm just starting out on a project in the garden to try and build a studio/garden room. To give you an idea of scale I would like it to be 4m wide by 3m deep and will probably construct it out of SIPs, so it will be reasonable size. My first obstacle is regarding foundations. The area at the back of the garden where I want the building to go is raised but is essentially "made ground" so not particularly firm. To add to that there is a sycamore tree growing in the corner of the plot and I am concerned about roots disturbing the studio. Here's a picture to give you an idea:
I suppose in an ideal world I would remove all this earth but there is an awful lot of it, plus the ground behind that fence is higher than my garden. I have cut the roots of the tree that are heading in the direction of the planned site and I would rather not cut the thing down. I have a bunch of very hefty reclaimed oak railway sleepers and my plan was to build a retaining wall creating a raised area for the building. I was also wondering if I could use them to sit the building on acting as foundations? Saving me the expense of a concrete base or piles. Something like this:
I guess my questions are: do you think the sleepers will support the building sufficiently? And is that tree going to cause me problems?
Any other ideas would be welcome.
Thanks
Dave
I'm just starting out on a project in the garden to try and build a studio/garden room. To give you an idea of scale I would like it to be 4m wide by 3m deep and will probably construct it out of SIPs, so it will be reasonable size. My first obstacle is regarding foundations. The area at the back of the garden where I want the building to go is raised but is essentially "made ground" so not particularly firm. To add to that there is a sycamore tree growing in the corner of the plot and I am concerned about roots disturbing the studio. Here's a picture to give you an idea:
I suppose in an ideal world I would remove all this earth but there is an awful lot of it, plus the ground behind that fence is higher than my garden. I have cut the roots of the tree that are heading in the direction of the planned site and I would rather not cut the thing down. I have a bunch of very hefty reclaimed oak railway sleepers and my plan was to build a retaining wall creating a raised area for the building. I was also wondering if I could use them to sit the building on acting as foundations? Saving me the expense of a concrete base or piles. Something like this:
I guess my questions are: do you think the sleepers will support the building sufficiently? And is that tree going to cause me problems?
Any other ideas would be welcome.
Thanks
Dave
