Foundations - is my house built on a pad, gurt deep foundations, or am I in deep do-do?

[oakysmokyjoky]

Hello. We have a split level house half of which is built over a double garage. For the right hand bit of the house we have 90 degree concrete/stone steps up to the front door which go round a 2.5m deep pit of soil and rubble with no DPC to any wall. This is causing damp to our garage and all sorts of damp/frost issues to anything put on the walls like bricks and render. I'm in the middle of removing facing bricks and rubble and I've made right mess.

I'm in a slight panic as to what to do next. Part of me is thinking of ripping it all away and having a nice steel/composite platform and steps from the front door (I could then put a side door into the garage too. I don't want to do this if the RHS of the house is going to then drop down on me. The underlying soil is greensand with zero structural strength. See 2nd photo - there a concrete pad (with void/gravel under it!) holding up the wall and paving to the front door....is this holding the rest of teh house up or just the path?

Should I assume they just dug into the hillside to leave a big hole and built up the whole house from full foundations? I can see that for the bit where the garage is but for the right hand part of the house (to right of the front door) its not so clear-cut. I reckon its about 3m from ground level to front door. Thinking about it, if it did go to ground level they probably would have just built it as a proper house and added some sq feet wouldn't they? They skimped on everything else in the early 80s for this house so I can't imagine they went belt and braces.

Where can I get a firm to undertake trial pit/borehole surveys down here in south Wiltshire please? or firms that can sort this out once I stopped kango'ing everything in site (its like a can of Pringles)

Thanks....

 

[Ricke21]

I'm not sure what you're really asking. The house would of been built on foundations. Everything else around it would of been built on made up ground i.e steps, paving, garden wall etc

 

[DAZB]

If it was built in the 80's you should be able to go on your local council Planning Dept web site and search for the address which may give you the planning application details with the drawings etc. While that may not give you full structural details it will give you the applicants name and assuming it was a large company who are responsible for nearby homes too then it would be possible to chase them for details or at least research any further docs lodged at the time such as Building Control etc.....

 

[oakysmokyjoky]

I'm not sure what you're really asking. The house would of been built on foundations. Everything else around it would of been built on made up ground i.e steps, paving, garden wall etc

Thanks. its was about the half of the house on the right of the garage. One person who came round thought it may have been built from the same foundation level as the garage and the steps and bank backfilled......but it doesn't appear that's the case as the that part of the house's foundations are build on a pad...which sits on the original greensand. See sketch - the red is the foundation of the right side of the house.

 

[oakysmokyjoky]

If it was built in the 80's you should be able to go on your local council Planning Dept web site and search for the address which may give you the planning application details with the drawings etc. While that may not give you full structural details it will give you the applicants name and assuming it was a large company who are responsible for nearby homes too then it would be possible to chase them for details or at least research any further docs lodged at the time such as Building Control etc.....

did this, got the 1979 app plans from fiche but architect and builder no longer around (issues with NHBC and poor quality bricks in the 80s). I think I'm done with the big plans now

 

[Old Salt]

The backfill to the left of the steps wont help the damp in the garage.

 

[oakysmokyjoky]

The backfill to the left of the steps wont help the damp in the garage.

I know! I'm in the process of hand digging most of it out (for the 3rd "cussing" time). I will search and ask on another thread about drainage holes, backfill and maybe external tanking etc (and probably get a chap in)- as all the render and bricks on the facing layer got wet/frosted/blown/and I really can't be doing this again....all this without the damp issues inside the garage.

 

[cdbe]

I'm no expert, but without expensive engineers and investigations I think it's fairly obvious that the garage and right hand wall will provide sufficient buttressing to the house to allow you to remove the front wall and empty the chamber. I don't really know what you intend to do after that? If you want to retain the path at the top you should probably aim to underpin the wall retaining the front edge of the path - reasonably heavy going for a diyer but doable. I'm not familiar with Greensand but I'm assuming it's not something that will literally spill out when exposed.

 

[oakysmokyjoky]

The backfill to the left of the steps wont help the damp in the garage.

I know! I'm in the process of hand digging most of it out (for the 3rd "cussing" time). I will search and ask on another thread about drainage holes, backfill and maybe external tanking etc (and probably get a chap in)- as all the render and bricks on the facing layer got wet/frosted/blown/and I really can't be doing this again....all this without the damp issues inside the garage.

I'm no expert, but without expensive engineers and investigations I think it's fairly obvious that the garage and right hand wall will provide sufficient buttressing to the house to allow you to remove the front wall and empty the chamber. I don't really know what you intend to do after that? If you want to retain the path at the top you should probably aim to underpin the wall retaining the front edge of the path - reasonably heavy going for a diyer but doable. I'm not familiar with Greensand but I'm assuming it's not something that will literally spill out when exposed.

I did have half a plan to chop out the front pit including the concrete steps, build a retaining wall up from garage level to the front path, put a side door into the garage, and then get a steel/composite steps and deck to the front door...getting rid of the crap damp, paving, crud bricks/blocks etc to the front of the house. As that's probably a wee bit mad I think we'll repurpose the chamber depending on how much I dig out - probably get a rainwater harvesting tank craned in there. I'll then put a deck on top of it as its a good place to hang out in a heatwave.

 

[Old Salt]

You could always leave it open for some undercover storage or even whack some doors on and make it secure storage. I would be getting a structural engineer in to advise on the platform, retaining walls and foundations I think.

 

[oakysmokyjoky]

You could always leave it open for some undercover storage or even whack some doors on and make it secure storage. I would be getting a structural engineer in to advise on the platform, retaining walls and foundations I think.

Thanks. I will. although the first chap I had round was the one that said the foundations for the right hand bit of the house prob go down to same level as garage.