Recent content by andrew54

Yes, well done.

Oh no, read my contributions above and mine were a minimum of 150. Yes I agree the trench will not be level, hence 150 or a bit more of concrete.

Well the Building Inspector didn't agree with you. He was friendly and made suggestions on other things, but was quite happy with 150mm. No I do not always do things to the minimum, I would happily have gone thicker if anyone had suggested it.

So for going by the book I get called 'amateurish'.

The inspector was very fussy about the trench and what sort of clay we had come to, but no quibble at all about the specified 150mm of concrete in the bottom of a 1,000 deep trench.

I can't be happy with trench-fill using so much concrete. It might make sense economically, but environmentally it is bad. The cement for concrete uses huge amounts of energy to manufacture.

It is what the text books specified. It was approved by the Building Control inspectors. Was it not normal in those days? Is anything more just a waste of concrete? After 22 years there are no problems.

The old rule of thumb 30 years ago was to use a beam of half an inch depth for every foot of span. So yours works out at eleven inch high beam.

I'm puzzled by the quantity of concrete you have used. How thick did the concrete end up in the trenches? When I built an extension bigger than this and two storey I laid the foundations 150mm thick, or a bit more in places. Building inspector was happy, that seemed to be the standard then...

This seems to be about Building Regs. What about Planning Regulations? Which way did the appeal go? Was 25mm deemed to still be attached? Or was it enough for it to be 'detached'?

You have failed to explain any of this to me because I knew all of this already! I have never said you can't build a trailer. I have never mentioned anything 'Eoropean'. But before I contributed the thread seemed to be saying you could build a trailer so long as it was built properly - and...

Exactly. That was my point when I wrote "I can't see what stops you building a new one that you (wink wink) built ten years ago before this legislation came in." I feel the legislation can probably be ignored, but it's best we are aware of the legislation.

It's all in here, for trailers.. http://www.dft.gov.uk/vca/vehicletype/trailers.asp

mattylad, I agree yes we can build trailers, trikes, cars, etc and we do! but to stay legal every one of those has to be tested, and the test is neither simple nor cheap. Even if the car you build is entirely for your own use it has to go through a type-approval test. It is a different...

mattylad, you seem to be ignoring the readily available facts. Any new trailer has to be Type Approved. There is a system of Type Approval for on-off trailers, but it is still a rigmorole that has to be followed, and an expense. At the moment they don't seem to quote a price. See here...