Footings next to a garden wall ?

[grahamdvd]

Hi i was going to build a building at the bottom of my garden, there is a 6 foot double brick width garden wall running around my garden and the building would have the wall on two sides of it .
How is the best way to dig the foundations without the wall collapsing ?
Was going to go the trench foundations way? many thanks

 

[Steve]

Can you use the walls as part of the building? Or is this too easy? A double brick wall must have good foundations - I'd think it possible to use them for your new building. Dont take it from me though, im not an expert.

 

[JohnD]

a garden wall will usually be very damp

but if you dig out the trenches for the two sides that abut the wall, you will be able to see what sort of foundation (if any) it has

if you have to dig next to an old wall, dig out a small bay and fill that with concrete before digging another small bay, and so on. That prevents a long section of wall being undermined. uou can bang steel rods through the end of each trench to tie your new sections together.