I've got a cabin ready to be built and just need the concrete base doing. Before I book in someone to make the base for me, I just want to check something.
Our garden is just over 5m wide, and the cabin will be 4.5m x 3.5m. It'll be under 2.5m in height (closer to 2.3m I think). If it were that simple, I know I can just go ahead.
But the location where we're putting the cabin is at the back of the garden, which is higher than the rest of the garden. I've dug a lot out to lower it but it was originally between 40cm and 50cm higher than the rest of the garden. It's now about 20cm higher than the rest of the garden, retained by sleepers 30cm high. On to the now only 20cm high soil behind the sleepers, is where a 10cm concrete base is going to go.
I wasn't expecting this to be an issue and an architect friend of ours we've hired for a separate extension took one look at it and just said go-ahead. But one neighbour is complaining that the area at the back is a raised platform. I said it's not - it's natural land held back by a 'retaining wall' of sleepers. But their garden doesn't have that raised area at the back, which is why they're arguing it's a raised platform. We previously had a massive sycamore on the raised bit (trunk over 1m diameter) and the area was even higher but I've brought it down quite a bit. I think it's likely it's been that high for at least 20 years but I can't be sure - would that classify as natural land or has someone created a raised platform a few decades ago? I've not idea and suspect we'll never be able to prove it one way or the other.
Anyway, the neighbour claiming it's a raised platform is why I've dug the higher ground where the cabin is going down to be only 20cm above the rest of the garden. With the 10cm concrete base, it'll be just under 30cm height difference. Which means even if it were to be classed as a raised platform, we'd be okay. My question is, if it is a 30cm raised platform (20cm soil + 10cm concrete base) and I put a 2.3m high cabin on top of it, is the total height of the cabin:
a) 2.6m (2.3m cabin + 10cm concrete + 20cm soil)
b) 2.4m (2.3m cabin + 10cm concrete)
c) 2.3m (2.3 cabin and the concrete and soil doesn't count?)
Our architect wasn't aware that our neighbour's garden is lower than ours and he's been caught out by several planning decisions in the past so I'm after some opinions while I get his advice as well. Any ideas? I know I could continue digging out more soil but don't want to unless I absolutely have to.
Our garden is just over 5m wide, and the cabin will be 4.5m x 3.5m. It'll be under 2.5m in height (closer to 2.3m I think). If it were that simple, I know I can just go ahead.
But the location where we're putting the cabin is at the back of the garden, which is higher than the rest of the garden. I've dug a lot out to lower it but it was originally between 40cm and 50cm higher than the rest of the garden. It's now about 20cm higher than the rest of the garden, retained by sleepers 30cm high. On to the now only 20cm high soil behind the sleepers, is where a 10cm concrete base is going to go.
I wasn't expecting this to be an issue and an architect friend of ours we've hired for a separate extension took one look at it and just said go-ahead. But one neighbour is complaining that the area at the back is a raised platform. I said it's not - it's natural land held back by a 'retaining wall' of sleepers. But their garden doesn't have that raised area at the back, which is why they're arguing it's a raised platform. We previously had a massive sycamore on the raised bit (trunk over 1m diameter) and the area was even higher but I've brought it down quite a bit. I think it's likely it's been that high for at least 20 years but I can't be sure - would that classify as natural land or has someone created a raised platform a few decades ago? I've not idea and suspect we'll never be able to prove it one way or the other.
Anyway, the neighbour claiming it's a raised platform is why I've dug the higher ground where the cabin is going down to be only 20cm above the rest of the garden. With the 10cm concrete base, it'll be just under 30cm height difference. Which means even if it were to be classed as a raised platform, we'd be okay. My question is, if it is a 30cm raised platform (20cm soil + 10cm concrete base) and I put a 2.3m high cabin on top of it, is the total height of the cabin:
a) 2.6m (2.3m cabin + 10cm concrete + 20cm soil)
b) 2.4m (2.3m cabin + 10cm concrete)
c) 2.3m (2.3 cabin and the concrete and soil doesn't count?)
Our architect wasn't aware that our neighbour's garden is lower than ours and he's been caught out by several planning decisions in the past so I'm after some opinions while I get his advice as well. Any ideas? I know I could continue digging out more soil but don't want to unless I absolutely have to.