Help completing a Garden Room

[securespark]

What (and whose) is the building that forms the back wall of your structure?

I'm thinking that its structural integrity should be checked out - you mentioned cracks.

Is it a party wall?

Just dividing two plots of land?

 

[securespark]

From an electrical POV, that seems an awful lot of cables for the lighting.

How is the supply run? I can see the SWA coming in and a load of wires low down at the front on the LHS.

Is there intended to be a small CU?

What size is the SWA and to what is it connected at the house end?

 

[efunc]

What (and whose) is the building that forms the back wall of your structure?

I'm thinking that its structural integrity should be checked out - you mentioned cracks.

Is it a party wall?

Just dividing two plots of land?

There are 3 walls in total. The closest one is the original wall of the old shed and is about 2.4m high. That's the one that the new shed is built against. The one behind that is our boundary wall which is about 2.6m high and that's what the roof flashing is against. Behind that is the neighbours wall.

 

[securespark]

So the walls this structure is touching are both entirely owned and maintained by you?

 

[efunc]

From an electrical POV, that seems an awful lot of cables for the lighting.

How is the supply run? I can see the SWA coming in and a load of wires low down at the front on the LHS.

Is there intended to be a small CU?

What size is the SWA and to what is it connected at the house end?

The electrics are not connected up. However there were cables run which would go to a consumer unit and the 5 power points, 4 interior lights and then 6 exterior lights. The exterior lights are supposed to be able to be switched from the house as well as the garden room.

 

[efunc]

So the walls this structure is touching are both entirely owned and maintained by you?

yes, that's correct

 

[efunc]

You would be making a lot of work to little avail. Why not pull it down, and do it properly, bit by bit as money allowed?

Sadly just not possible. I don't have the money to do that, or the time. This was supposed to be a one shot opportunity to sort out the old shed and now the garden is a building site and needs to be put right due to others living here, like my parents. I work full time and have next to no spare time. I have been quoted about £9000 to do it, but really can only afford a small fraction of that after what has already been spent. I have to make do with what already exists unfortunately, and complete things relatively quickly before the weather turns.

 

[securespark]

What is the SWA connected to in the house?

How many cores has the SWA? Is there more than one?

 

[efunc]

What is the SWA connected to in the house?

How many cores has the SWA? Is there more than one?

It isn't connected yet. I was told that was just for the lighting and they need to get another armored cable for the mains and connect that too.

There are labels on the cables hanging from the ceiling which say things like dimmer switch, outside lights, inside lights..

 

[geraldthehamster]

In that case I think your biggest problem is the timber framework resting on the ground. The rest is fixable as variously described in the replies.

Maybe contact a builder and ask if he could support one side at a time with acrows, while removing the bottom foot of the frame, building a brick plinth with a damp proof course on top, and adding a new sole plate to the bottom of the frame, to sit on the plinth. Then lay a damp proof membrane inside, lapping up to the DPC, add insulation if required (Jablite, polystyrene type), and pour 4 inches of concrete on top to form a slab. You will then have eliminated the inevitability of the frame rotting from below and everything getting damp.

I can't for the life of me understand why the roof has been done in strips of EPDM, when the stuff can be supplied cut to any size you require.

 

[securespark]

They had it left over from another job.

 

[geraldthehamster]

... or it was easier for them to transport like that

 

[efunc]

In that case I think your biggest problem is the timber framework resting on the ground. The rest is fixable as variously described in the replies.

Maybe contact a builder and ask if he could support one side at a time with acrows, while removing the bottom foot of the frame, building a brick plinth with a damp proof course on top, and adding a new sole plate to the bottom of the frame, to sit on the plinth.

Thank you for the advice, there's a lot there for me to work on. In this scenario are you raising the height of the structure? One of the complications of it is that it's built as a lean-to and thus pinned to the back wall. The height is therefore fixed unless I break the rear panels and remove the bracing to the brick wall. How many courses of brick do you suggest I lay beneath the frame?

I can't for the life of me understand why the roof has been done in strips of EPDM, when the stuff can be supplied cut to any size you require.

Me neither! When they arrived with it I was surprised and said that I thought the whole point of epdm was that it could be installed as the single sheet. How were they going to seal all the seams. At that point they were already frustrated that I was asking too many technical questions and that they were the experts, not me.

I did overhear they talking among themselves another time though, and they evidently chose this material because it was much stronger than other epdm and couldn't be torn no matter how hard you tried. They thought it was quite a good find that would last 50 years or more. They clearly missed the whole point of the system though, and now I'll like have to remove it all.

 

[geraldthehamster]

No, I'm not suggesting that you raise the height. Merely that you support it one side at a time, and shave around a foot off the bottom. A new sole plate (horizontal bottom timber) would need to be fixed to the bottom of the shortened studs.

Three courses of brick, maybe.

 

[Notch7]

I did overhear they talking among themselves another time though, and they evidently chose this material because it was much stronger than other epdm and couldn't be torn no matter how hard you tried. They thought it was quite a good find that would last 50 years or more. They clearly missed the whole point of the system though, and now I'll like have to remove it all.

Well they must be stupid then.

Cortex EPDM is used in a vertical application for commercial buildings, that are intended to have a decorative cladding.

its not a flat roof system, where jointing is different, for a reason!