Post Fixing for Raised Playhouse

[50020]

I am looking a building a raised playhouse this spring, so just exploring a few options/ideas/problems.

The main posts I envisage to be 100mm x 100mm, but wondering how these are best fixed in to the ground. I have only done fencing in the past where I have used bolt down post shoes or simply used post-fix concrete and secured the post in by about 12".

I could use the Cast In Post Shoe, where the shoe is cast in the concrete, or I could use the Bolt Down Post shoe and bolt the shoe down, or I could simply concrete the post in.



Which would be a better option? Is there convention for this?

For the ground underneath and around the playhouse and veranda, I am likely to be having a concrete pad with rubber fall protection mats. (I would simply like substantial bark chippings, but the cats would play havoc with this!)

TIA.

 

[foxhole]

Just cement in the posts.
Pallets can be a cheap source of materials .(free).

 

[JohnD]

wooden posts concreted into the ground will of course rot.

The steel sockets set or bolted in concrete pads can lift the posts off the damp ground. There aren't much good for fences because they don't give good support against sustained lateral wind loads, but a cabin, carport or similar will mostly just be dead weight which they support well. If you use the bolt-down type (and stainless bolts) you can remove them when the structure is no longer needed.

 

[big-all]

just be aware that a structure with a platform higher than 300mm may need planning permission

 

[bernardgreen]

Free standing on a paving slab with a piece of lead sheet between post and paving slab to seal the end grain. Works for a large house built in 1980 and the posts are still in perfect condition. But as mentioned for a light weight construction wind moving the structure may need to be considered.

 

[blup]

Concrete spur bedded in the concrete and bolted to the posts.

Blup

 

[foxhole]

The posts will eventually rot, but all my grandkids outgrew their playhouse long before they rotted.

 

[jj4091]

just be aware that a structure with a platform higher than 300mm may need planning permission

300 or 3000?

 

[big-all]

total height near the boundery is 2.5m to avoid the need for planning
https://www.planningportal.co.uk/info/200130/common_projects/43/outbuildings

 

[50020]

total height near the boundery is 2.5m to avoid the need for planning
https://www.planningportal.co.uk/info/200130/common_projects/43/outbuildings

I think I might need planning permission because of the idea of having a veranda/platform. I wanted the playhouse elevated so I could create toy storage space beneath, and then have a slide to the ground off the veranda/platform area.

 

[big-all]

if it faces fully onto your garden with no windows directly facing the neighbours [not overlooking ] and no one complains no one will know and you may get away with it
just be aware planning is based on meeting criterior and not gteed so applying means you may be refused
best to suss out your neigbours do it to please them adapting as you go so they wont complain and no one will be any the wiser
you need a complaint for action to be taken

 

[foxhole]

https://www.theplayhousecompany.co.uk/planning-guidance