Summer House east wing extension

[mfarrow]

Hi All

Girlfriend's dad is considering adding a further extension onto the back of the summer house. This time for a small kitchen area with sink & fridge.

I want to try and make it as easy and lightweight as possible. Digging the foundations was a real back-breaker last time owing to the amount of rubble down there, and also the blocks I had chosen were pretty heavy too (being 220 hollow blocks).

I've been looking at ways around this and am wandering whether it is possible and easier to build off some concrete pads and lintels instead?

I had in mind planting 400mm square pads and then placing lintels over them as in the diagrams below. The walls would then be built up with 100mm blocks with a flat roof on top. Will this be OK?

We discovered during the build of the toilet extension last time that the original summer house is sitting directly on the ground.

View media item 20542 View media item 44073 View media item 44074

 

[noseall]

How can digging a load of 400mm square pads be easier than digging strip foundations?

Sounds bonkers to me.

Hire a man and machine to dig a trench and do it properly.

 

[joe-90]

Sounds like a shed with beds to me.

 

[noseall]

Sounds like a shed with beds to me.

'Shed with bed' sounds like a place for a teenager to live.

 

[joe-90]

You cant put sinks and loos in summer houses.

 

[noseall]

What is a Summer house in any case.

Why can't it be used in the Winter?

 

[mfarrow]

How can digging a load of 400mm square pads be easier than digging strip foundations?

It's when you have to consider the cost of the machine hire, man hire, skips etc that it all gets expensive. I know it's only a % of the overall build, but there's a reluctance to get anyone in and it was difficult enough to convince of digging strips last time after seeing the 'foundations' to the building we were tieing to!

Sounds like a shed with beds to me.

You cant put sinks and loos in summer houses.

The toilet was put in two years ago with planning 'consent' (or rather confirmation that we don't need planning permission). The letter says that as long as we keep the overall floor area <30m^2 we'd be OK. The kitchen will give them somewhere to put the dishes at the end of the parties instead of sending them back to the house, and a cooker if they have a wet barbeque.

I've put another picture up from last time which have some thumbnails and shows the location.

View media item 20858

Why can't it be used in the Winter?

It can, and does. We had a Christmas party in there a few winters back (before the toilet was put in). It usually gets used up to and including halloween, and there's a big static barbeque outside.

 

[noseall]

Once you extend you then breach the 30m² rule and will require both planning permission and b'regs no?

 

[mfarrow]

Once you extend you then breach the 30m² rule and will require both planning permission and b'regs no?

By some quick calculations with the dimensions I have on here:

- Main room = 23.6m^2
- Bathroom = 2.8m^2
- Kitchen = 4.0m^2

So the total is 30.4m^2, but I havn't taken a proper dimension of the inside (just assumed 200mm walls which I know is slightly under) or counted the stud partition in the bathroom. Therefore I reckon I'd be just in.

 

[mfarrow]

Bump!

Any more?