Claud Hamilton
Member
As my first thread, this will be a story of a journey in creating a room to house my planned layout and workbenches. If you are prepared for a saga, please read on.
March 2019 I decided to merge my embryonic layout/workbench from the spare room with the contents of my 12’ x 8’ workshop into a bespoke timber framed 9m x 4.5m Railway Room. A bit like a ‘granny 'annexe’ in the garden. A bold move was required, as I seemed to be caught in my own Bermuda triangle, between the spare room, workshop, and garage – constantly walking between them all for tools and moving stuff about.
This new room would house a much-enlarged layout with no compromise with regard to scale lengths of the prototype I am planning to model. It would also have enough space for workbenches along one long wall.
The building required both planning permission and building regulations due to: A tree preservation order on trees in my garden. The proximity of the build to neighbouring property. Planned height and a floor area exceeding the permitted development limits.
Having commissioned a tree survey required for planning permission, the survey recommended hand-dug concrete pads and a reinforced concrete raft foundation so as to minimise damage to tree roots.
The next job was to specify the pad and raft foundations. I felt I should engage a structural engineer to make sure the building would satisfy Building Regulations inspections. A structural engineer was engaged to produce a design. I approached several groundworks contractors with the foundation design. Either they thought the job was too small, or just didn’t reply to messages and e-mails.
July 2019 Came-and-went with no groundworks quotes forthcoming. I even stalked/followed a groundwork van to a local building site to ask if they would quote, to no avail. Finally just one company in Essex replied with a jaw-dropping £11k estimate. That was the last straw, I was on the point of giving up….
Then the builder I had engaged, said he had seen ground screw foundations used on recreational buildings and sent me the link. The UK’s Leading Ground Screw Foundation Company - Great British Ground Screw Co.
I checked with the local authority building officer, who was aware of ground screws but never used on a build. I checked with the structural engineer who had specified the concrete pad and raft if he could re-calculate for ground screws? Specifications for a timber ring-beam underframe to replicate conventional foundations were drawn up. More fees…
October 2019 Work commenced with installation of ground screws.
A timber ring-beam was fabricated and bolted to the build plates on the ground screws. The build has started!
My builder was now only working for me odd days each week. As my job now had to fit in with a couple of barn conversions he’d taken on. He was under pressure to get the barn conversion roof completed by end of October, as there were a colony of bats in the barns and they had to have their winter home restored before hibernation. The bats were better off than me, at least they had a home for the winter. I’m not a protected species.
November 2019 The basic studwork walls were up.
To be continued…..
Mike
March 2019 I decided to merge my embryonic layout/workbench from the spare room with the contents of my 12’ x 8’ workshop into a bespoke timber framed 9m x 4.5m Railway Room. A bit like a ‘granny 'annexe’ in the garden. A bold move was required, as I seemed to be caught in my own Bermuda triangle, between the spare room, workshop, and garage – constantly walking between them all for tools and moving stuff about.
This new room would house a much-enlarged layout with no compromise with regard to scale lengths of the prototype I am planning to model. It would also have enough space for workbenches along one long wall.
The building required both planning permission and building regulations due to: A tree preservation order on trees in my garden. The proximity of the build to neighbouring property. Planned height and a floor area exceeding the permitted development limits.
Having commissioned a tree survey required for planning permission, the survey recommended hand-dug concrete pads and a reinforced concrete raft foundation so as to minimise damage to tree roots.
The next job was to specify the pad and raft foundations. I felt I should engage a structural engineer to make sure the building would satisfy Building Regulations inspections. A structural engineer was engaged to produce a design. I approached several groundworks contractors with the foundation design. Either they thought the job was too small, or just didn’t reply to messages and e-mails.
July 2019 Came-and-went with no groundworks quotes forthcoming. I even stalked/followed a groundwork van to a local building site to ask if they would quote, to no avail. Finally just one company in Essex replied with a jaw-dropping £11k estimate. That was the last straw, I was on the point of giving up….
Then the builder I had engaged, said he had seen ground screw foundations used on recreational buildings and sent me the link. The UK’s Leading Ground Screw Foundation Company - Great British Ground Screw Co.
I checked with the local authority building officer, who was aware of ground screws but never used on a build. I checked with the structural engineer who had specified the concrete pad and raft if he could re-calculate for ground screws? Specifications for a timber ring-beam underframe to replicate conventional foundations were drawn up. More fees…
October 2019 Work commenced with installation of ground screws.
A timber ring-beam was fabricated and bolted to the build plates on the ground screws. The build has started!
My builder was now only working for me odd days each week. As my job now had to fit in with a couple of barn conversions he’d taken on. He was under pressure to get the barn conversion roof completed by end of October, as there were a colony of bats in the barns and they had to have their winter home restored before hibernation. The bats were better off than me, at least they had a home for the winter. I’m not a protected species.
November 2019 The basic studwork walls were up.
To be continued…..
Mike
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