building a garage next to trees

[pippo]

Hi all,

I am currently digging (slowly) the strip founds for my single leaf detached garage. This is being built near the boundary (replacing an old timber garage) and it never clicked before that my neighbour has 2 trees just the other side of the fence probably less than a meter from where im digging.I have not come accross any roots yet however these trees are not mature at the moment and im not down too deep yet.

It is the only place I have room to build the garage as I have a small garden.

I presume that these trees will disturb the garage at some point. Is there any way that I can continue to build this (I doubt my neighbor will want to chop his trees down which is fair enough) and protect it from the trees or will I have to give up on my garage altogether ?

thanks for any help

pippo

 

[amwc]

Hi
its all depends on what the trees are and what type of soil your digging into. If, for example, there apple trees and your digging through coarse gravel then you can get away with quite shallow founds.On the other hand if there fir trees and your into clay, you may have to go very deep to avoid any trouble.

 

[pippo]

Thanks for the reply AMWC

I have just spoken to my neighbour regarding the trees, he says that one is a type of willow which he recons wont get much bigger and one is a type of pam tree which also wont get much bigger, he says that they havnt grown for a couple of years. (I know nothing about trees and I thought they were still young)

The soil that I am into now along this side is very compact/solid earth and im only around 400mm down so far and no sign of any roots. I phoned building control at the local council office when i started digging and they told me to go down a min 450 so I am guessing that the soil is good in the area as I was advised to go down 1m on this forum.

My original plan based on what BC said was to go down 675mm, and fill with 150mm depth concrete (possibly with rebar) and then 3 courses of blocks up to DPC (150 above GL) This is because the area slopes slightly and I wanted it to be more than 450 depth even at the low side.

Now that I have these 2 trees to think about along one of the lengths I am wondering if this will be enough.

Thanks for any help/advice

Pippo

 

[amwc]

Hi,

Willow are one of the worst trees to buld near if the ground is clay, as it has a high water demand. It might be worth the £100 or so to get a structural eng. point of veiw. At least then its insured, if a little over the top.

 

[Shytalkz]

It'll cost more than £100 for SE input.

 

[pippo]

Thanks for the help so far folks, I may phone around some SE's and see how much they are charging at the moment. Phoned building control again at the council but they couldnt really give a monkeys what I do as long as Im within the 30sq/m 4m high rules.

Would a reinforced raft foundation be better for this application or will it still have problems?

I am likely to be moving within 5 years so as long as it lasts that long lol.

pippo