I’m thinking of converting a thin strip of my garden which runs between the side of my house and the external boundary wall (which I own) into a covered brick ‘side extension’.
The strip is currently a narrow, brick pathway 4 metres long and 0.9 metres wide and runs from the front of my property (which is gated) along the side of my house to my garden.
(I know it’s a very narrow area but at the moment it’s completely wasted so I’d like to cover it up and use it for storage).
At the moment my garden fence is ~ 2 m high and made of concrete fencing slabs laid between H posts so I’ve thought about simply laying a wooden baton along the side of my house (~ 2.5 m high) and to lay some corrugated plastic between this baton and the top of the current fence to give a pitched plastic roof. The obvious advantage of this is that it would be very cheap but maybe not that aesthetic, secure or weatherproof. The other option which I was thinking about was taking down the current fencing, digging up the path and laying foundations, building a brick wall to 2 metres high and then as before, fixing a wooden baton along the side of the house before making a pitched roof and tiling it.
My questions are:
How deep would the foundations need to be? Would it be a single brick wall or should there also be breeze blocks involved? Would I need to damp proof course?
I’m quite good at DIY and have laid a brick wall before but never undertaken such a project and don't know about the ins and outs and what's required in terms of the aforementioned points i.e. foundations, damp proof etc). Would this project be feasible for me or should I consider getting professionals in? (If so, very approximately how much would such a project cost, I’m based in North London. I wouldn’t need any internal fixtures or fittings just to pull an electrical light from the adjoining house).
Thanks for any help and advice.
The strip is currently a narrow, brick pathway 4 metres long and 0.9 metres wide and runs from the front of my property (which is gated) along the side of my house to my garden.
(I know it’s a very narrow area but at the moment it’s completely wasted so I’d like to cover it up and use it for storage).
At the moment my garden fence is ~ 2 m high and made of concrete fencing slabs laid between H posts so I’ve thought about simply laying a wooden baton along the side of my house (~ 2.5 m high) and to lay some corrugated plastic between this baton and the top of the current fence to give a pitched plastic roof. The obvious advantage of this is that it would be very cheap but maybe not that aesthetic, secure or weatherproof. The other option which I was thinking about was taking down the current fencing, digging up the path and laying foundations, building a brick wall to 2 metres high and then as before, fixing a wooden baton along the side of the house before making a pitched roof and tiling it.
My questions are:
How deep would the foundations need to be? Would it be a single brick wall or should there also be breeze blocks involved? Would I need to damp proof course?
I’m quite good at DIY and have laid a brick wall before but never undertaken such a project and don't know about the ins and outs and what's required in terms of the aforementioned points i.e. foundations, damp proof etc). Would this project be feasible for me or should I consider getting professionals in? (If so, very approximately how much would such a project cost, I’m based in North London. I wouldn’t need any internal fixtures or fittings just to pull an electrical light from the adjoining house).
Thanks for any help and advice.
