UK project 322sq ft garden building

[UK4X4]

Well after almost 15 years as an expat we have temporarily moved back to my home town, we brought with us our aquired stuff and have found that my original 3 bed semi house house is too small for the american sized white goods and our haul of solid wood furniture.

So we have a 2 hit plan, an extension to the house which requires planning permission-(6 months min) and in the short term we intend to build a non planning permission "garden structure"

This thread will follow the design and build of the smaller non regulated building which is limited to an interior space of 30 sq meters or roughly 322sq ft for you American chaps.......

There are setback and height clauses which I have to follow and my garden is fully enclosed so I can't get concrete in accept for by the barrow load, which of course makes many foundation methods more of an exercise in weight lifting than a practical solution

The plot drops in height too  and I'll be trying to build the garden structure so that it roughly alighns in height to the planned house extension.

So once I unpack my "office " boxs and find the enchillada plans, you may see some design sketchs appearing

Currently my home office is a shed in the back garden,full of half the stuff that did'nt make it through the doors on the house

pics to follow

[UK4X4]

rules additional...

being that in the UK everything is small we also have height restrictions

> 2 meters from boundry-max 2.5 meter eve's and 4 meters roof height for dual pich
   3 meters total height for single pitch

< 2 meters from boundry 2.5 meters total height only.

height is taken from the highest point of the ground where the structure is placed.......

This will limit me to matching the deck height as the house is higher than where this building will be
so I might need to build on pads today, and add posts and beams later and add the height change to the planning permission

[UK4X4]

Things have been slooooowww, I'm still sort of commuting from Poole in the south to Aberdeen in the north for work, and the wifes being demanding more honey do's, than I have time for..

Bought a new table saw and have been building cupboards and clothes storage for upstairs in the house, and slowly getting rid of the mountain of moving box's.

Its been so nice being able to build professional looking drawers with square neat wood cut by my own hand and fitted with pocket screws...

Its put me happily ahead of the game and I'll building the kitchen later now with no worries about fit and quality

We have decided that although I'd dreamt of a double garage at the end of the garden, really it was never going to be practical to demolish the existing one at the side of the house  build a drive way, when I really don't need to work on more than one car at a time.

So the "shed" will now be built at the end of the garden, i have been messing arround trying out designs to meet the 8ft eaves height restriction and build 1 meter off the property lines, but flat roof's just don't make sence to me, so we are going to set it out 2 meters from each boundry and get 3m- or 4 meters of roof height allowing for a more airy feel.

However eaves still need to be at 8ft, which does not allow for post and beam, or any other high type foundation

So limitations to foundation are -

cement portable mixer only
unlevel ground-no access for digger
height limitations
wet climate
400mm frost level.....but that would be unusual freaky weather, most sheds are just set out on blocks....but most rot out too from the damp !

[Don_P]

Just random thoughts;
The eaves, to me, are the lower edges of the roof. In an A frame I would set them very low to the ground and could make the peak at any height. Is there a max peak height? I've drawn a small post and beam building with "normal" roof pitch that has long overhangs which again brings the eave height down considerably. Do you have rock available to make a rubblestone foundation? With just a mixer and the rock to make up most of the mass it reduces mixing, but is not particularly fast. The masonry foundation can be built to any height and detailed with breaks to get above the damp. We've been doing quite a bit of digging with a large percussion drill fitted with chisels and clay spades, again not fast but much better than pick and shovel.

[UK4X4]

Nothing better than a dwg to explain- this is called Permitted developement, ie no requirements to have a building permit

Sadly the eaves measurement is stated like this;
Eaves height is measured from ground level at the base of the outside wall to the point where that wall would meet the upper surface of the roof slope - the overhang should be ignored for the purposes of measurement.

Permiited developement is really for a standard UK shed ! for potting plants, storing a strimmer and wellies

[UK4X4]

Well just prior to christmas our flat roof on the kitchen started leaking, so sheds on hold and roof needed to be done instead, only issue is back before I bought the property 20 years ago my nice neighbor built and extension with a hip in it...............

Seemingly he made an error and simply finished the roof 18" over my side of the boundary,,,,,completely over the flat roof that now leaks,
the lady next door today had'nt noticed when she recently bought the property and neither did her surveyor ..

So the flat roof had to go, the plastic roof extension has never really been usable in the winter, so i measured up and decided to redue both roofs making much cleaner lines and building it properly up to todays standards.....

I have spent more on insulation than i have on timber to match up with the latest codes.....6" or 120mm of closed cell foam over the roof deck....!!!!

or it was 180mm between the joists.

Rip out and build of the plastic roof area was 3 days for 2 people and over the flat roof was 2 days for me on my own.......till I reached the neigbors roof and have to stop while I negotiate the removal of the offending part.....which means she'll need to redu the roof back to the hip
obviously an expence she had'nt concidered.

here's a few pics

Back probably 10 years ago plastic roof to the left and flat to the right

Cut back the garage roof, built a new stud wall and removed the old 1" plastic roof

yes vents smell ! added glove with small hole for suck venting


yep the insulation is the same size as a 2x6" !!!seen on the right exposed edge of the roof

[UK4X4]

The insulation is solid celutex 50mm first layer, they I'll be using a batt or doubling up where i can

The damaged flat roof

The 18" overhang, boundary runs from the center of the chimney, roughly the upper down drain, that vent is in my bathroom.....

Awaiting some 350mm UPCV fascia and gutters.....and the missing last 2 ft !


Oh and the black dots on the wall, we had a company in last week to power fill the cavity with insulation, and they go arround and change the air vents and fill the cavities with a pumped type of insulation filling the gap between the inner and outer walls.
In theory making the building less drafty and warmer. They did all the external walls and the loft space with batts
The rear lower wall wil have that window swapped for doors so I did'nt get that filled

all paid for by the EU on a grant....can't go wrong with free !

[MountainDon]

Wow! 18" inches!  You'd think that would be hard to overlook. 

[Mike 870]

Your roof damage looks similar to what is seen when improperly built unvented roofs are dissected.  Might be some of that was going on in addition to the leak.

[UK4X4]

Well long time no posty......it took me exactly 1 year to get the neighbor to remove her roof that crossed the property line, we spent that whole time with roofing felt in the corner of the kitchen.

By summer last year I offered to do the whole thing and pay for it, but still another 6 months of discussion with her lawyers passed and finally they agreed to their builder doing it and me paying them the same as my builder would have cost....builder turned up,,,,,,,,,they asked for full payment, I delayed the payment only to find their builder had never quoted for doing my side and that he was under strict instructions to do only the neighbors side.

So they didn't get a penny from me, luckily they rented the house in Dec so I don't have to live by the owner....funnily enough they only called once about the money and left a message, heard nothing since so we'll count that as closed...

The roof finally got finished in Jan 2016.......and we were then able to get on and finish the new kitchen fitted just before Christmas and started to finish up the room...

Here's a few pics, we bought the kitchen cupboards and I bought a table saw to do the panelling, which I quite enjoyed doing - all slotted together and with a few pocket screws at the corners.

This was jan 2015...as far as we could get with the new roof


with the neighbors roof and gutter in my kitchen


The plan for the roof removal was that the existing brick cavity wall would be extended up .......the builder slapped in a stud wall on top of the old rotting flat roof...with no fireproofing between the houses, no insulation, not even a full sheet of ply..


I sawsalled out all the old crap, underneath and slipped in another treated top plate, added a waterproof membrane, 2 sheets of waterproof plasterboard for the fireproofing a second stud wall on the other leaf of the wall and filled it with 100mm of solid insulation, coverd with starand board and called it good.....the outside however is still not finished..

If the rain would stop I'll get up there and finish it....

[UK4X4]

Meanwhile inside things have moved on a pace..

Removal of original extension from the 60's exterior cavity wall, with help from the wife

Battened off across the two rooms to make then level....well level ish...insulated with 25mm solid insulation. new water and drainage channelled out into original concrete floors...in the old part it was 2" of screed with a tar paint in the middle over dirt.....

Chimney breast that put me in hospital for a week with a knee infection..

cabinets in and some fun with my new Router..cutting the kitchen tops....

Routered drip edge for arround the belfast sink

Christmas eve I got the tops in place and bolted together



And christmas day.....we cooked....for the family, making the filling for the beef wellington christmas eve night....some one had forgotten to wire up the lights....so a head torch was used..

[UK4X4]

Started building the panels.....note to self when cutting small parts with a table saw....wear safety glasses and learn to duck faster




A few weekends later



a work in progress

[UK4X4]

Q for the Christmas leftovers, sadly older dog has departed to doggy heaven


and meanwhile the awsome wife has been digging to level out the back garden for the shed....and the short person hogging the space was no help what so ever as usual , although she did move the
slow worms for the wife.

[UK4X4]

getting back to the plot-    looked at planning permission - but found they need to do an inspection...mmm government wandering around my house and garden..no thanks

so plans are to stick to within the permitted construction guidelines, we have gone for a building over 2 meters from the boundaries...giving us an 8ft eve and a max height of 4 meters and max building internal size of 30 SQ meters or 322 sq feet internal area.

I've drawn up a 5m x 5 meter design which the wife has approved of with a 2 meter porch in the style of a horse stable, it has a low angle roof, to not block sun into the neighbors behind and a set of patio doors

Inside as yet there are no plans....wife wants a shower and loo, so that we can use as a guest room - the 3rd bedroom in the main house only fits a single bed and a 2ft space so the extra guest suite alongside storage will be appreciated.

So here's the outline of the plan, but as with mosts plans change......foundation will be concrete blocks/ piers, with a damp prove membrane covering the dirt under a light covering of pea gravel to keep in in place, as I have the height restriction - treated joists and frame will only be 2-4" above ground level.

[UK4X4]

Finally got some work done, wifes starting a business so spent the last month building her shop display gear for jewellery etc as she's doing country fairs etc around the county.

So being that we are the end of the gulfstream,,,we have warm and wet weather, sent across the ocean from the Caribbean, so much so that most walls etc go green relatively quickly and any wood near the ground dissolves.

My garden is 100 ft long and so I didn't fancy wheel barrowing cement from the front of the house, poles rot and a full perimeter foundation would have taken a while to do.

So its a bit of a hybrid.

Piers of doubled concrete blocks 600mm down and beams made of concrete lintels

building is roughly 16 x 17ft or 5000mm x 5200mm long with 3 piers per beam.

Each pad is 2ft square.

Rough calc as follows-

floor 10 dead and 40lbs live load - roof 15 dead and 10 live as we rarely get snow down here,

Aproximately 20,400lbs - divided by 18sq ft gave me a loading of just over 1133lbs per sq ft

The lintels are a standard size - ie if its a 2.7 meter lintel its sized to support a full brick wall for 2 stories and roof loads with spare so a shed will fit fine

Once the concrete has completely set I'll probably drill down the center and resin in some all thread...

Note too self - lay out the batter boards first !!! I measured off the rear wall and the fence lines.......then when I did the batter boards found out I was already off, so some of the piers are slightly off  !

I was not going to dig them up and try and move them !

Heres a few pics ...

[azgreg]

Your shed plan looked familiar to me so I dug up an old shed plans manual and found this.



They call it a Herndon Workroom With Porch. It's 14' X 24' with a 6' porch.

I really like it. Looking forward to your build.

[UK4X4]

A quick detour back to the front of the house - on wifes orders,,,,when are you going to finish- make the front of the house look right ! as last years roof design protruded above the garage..sticking out from the house on the left above the garage

From google in may- to last weekend where I built a mansard type frame work above the garage, checked into roof tiling on U-tube and tiled it with fiber cement slates giving the garage a classic look


framed and tiling in progress


Then back to the shed base

damp course installed, to keep under the joists dry, plastic damp course under the joists and started laying them out
Then screwed all securely and added the blocking over the center beam

Next will be putting battens on all the joists- dropping in 3/16" ply wood, then the insulation batts and then 3/4" ply the top to finish the insulated floor- have exterior grade plywood and will seal.

[UK4X4]

and just for a quick fix to a heavy problem, carrying 3/4" hardwood plywood from the front of the house through the garage and 6ft3" side door 200ft down to the shed base by yourself

1 off ratchet strap and a rolled up T-shirt- make a loop in the strap over shoulder across the body and have the hook at a comfortable level from the ground, the strap takes the weight of the board and your arm just steers it

I had 12 sheets to move, so my normal grip method from the top of the sheet wouldn't have worked for so many, gripping underneath meant dropping it on the floor to get through the doorway.

Not perfect but made the job easier !

[ChugiakTinkerer]

Pretty clever mule harness you made there.   

I can't imagine a workplace more different than my remote cabin, but still facing many of the same problems.  I'll bank your solution for later, sure to come in handy.

[pmichelsen]

I like it! I might have to stitch up a spare strap specifically for this purpose to keep in my truck.

[UK4X4]

A good day on the shed - battened -lined the bottom, installed insulation and screwed down the plywood top....... Daughter doing the obligatory jig

I missed the photo where my neighbours were running over the new deck !- there are 4 fox's living next door under his garden shed.....not to self remember to install sides down to ground level before they move in under mine

Just ordered the timber for the walls today- and have tomorrow off to start getting walls up and roof on

[ChugiakTinkerer]

Did you get those inspectors to sign off on anything before they left? 

[UK4X4]

The little brown inspectors left a deposit....nothing signed off though !

Took Thursday and Friday off to get some more progress as rain was forecast for the Saturday and wanted to get it dried in,,,,,,,,,,,,,0500hrs Friday it started raining and didn't stop till 3pm

Oh well wet work required, no point in wasting a day off and sitting inside, put up a gazebo and installed the saw inside, got the goretex out and started work.

On the Thursday I cut all the studs, got 3 walls up and 4th laid out, on the Friday I got the 4th wall up and set the rafters - then spent the evening putting on the waterproofing finished 9pm dead to the world but dried in before the main storm hit on Saturday.

Sat was a potter around day after a late start. added the battens to the roof and went around adding a few extra studs and bits missed in the rush to get a roof on.

Went to the local airshow on the sunday but managed to knock a few more nails in the house wrap.




Friday- rather damp



Friday night after things dried up

end of the weekend- still some framing to do- braces to add extra studs etc etc - the roof is the priority


Ordering the galvanised tin roof today and hopefully get that done at the weekend-

[farmboyuk]

 looking very good 

[UK4X4]

Well long time no posting, had life throw me a curved ball.....?....after 17 years in the oil industry seemingly my services are not required.....oil price dip hit every country
every business location as base. There's no work arround to date and they are still firing people , just last week another on of my friends  got laid off. That's over 70% from my last  office that have gone and all of my original group of 15 guys that started together.

So anyway back to the shed, it was planned to be a man cave workshop........


But with a payoff and no sight of work we have decided to take the bad news as good news.....and decided to leave the UK and it's high taxes and bad weather and take a fling leap into the unknown......

We decided to rent the house in the UK and buy a cheaper property in spain and go live in the sun !

So the shed got finished and is now being used as a storage shed for household goods.

I had already bought the exterior siding materials before I got laid off, it's 220mm x 48mm scafold planks
Windows, we're going to be UPVC but ended up using leftovers and making my own windows.....beads and all
Using some double skin roofing pvc sheeting instead of glass..

So here's a few pics of the shed being finished......