Advice for concrete sectional garage base

[sg66]

Any builders about ?

I want to put a 22x10 sectional garage in the corner of the garden, going for 7ft high, that's the easy bit, i want to keep the garage in the corner close to the boundary but not use the garage as a boundary, the garden to the left side is lower by about a 1ft and the garden behind it is lower by nearly 1.5ft
Ii was going to dig a trench about 6" from the boundary and fill it with concrete to stop the slab causing the ground to give way and cause any grief to the neighbors or a crack in the base.

I have been out tonight to dig a test hole and I'm down 3ft and its only just starting to turn to clay which is going to be a lot of shuttering and concrete, would making the slab 6" or 8" in depth and using steel mesh make the slab strong enough to be self supporting so to speak ?

Answer on a post card, or preferably here as you don't have my address.

Thanks in advance

 

[cumbriasteve]

Would it not be easier now you are down to clay to do a 6" footing, although 4" may actually do for that task and a 4 block high wall, this should fetch it to the finished height and provide an edge for your normal 4" base pour.

 

[sg66]

I'm down as deep as i can reach in a small test hole it may need to be deeper, i did think about a block wall or trench blocks but by the time i did it i could have shuttered and poured, i big hole was just thinking thicker sab would be easier.

 

[brightspark]

get it dug out . cant u get a load of rubble given of anyone shot it in and compact it . save a fortune I got 30 ton delivered and given free

 

[sg66]

One way or another its going in, I just have a limited budget and a limit as to how much time i can spend doing it due to the usual getting in the road life stuff, I was going to hire a mini digger but i may look to hire a jcb with a man lol, i can get a machine into the garden but i would have to get everything else dumped in the front due to narrow street.

 

[normspanners]

I have been out tonight to dig a test hole and I'm down 3ft and its only just starting to turn to clay which is going to be a lot of shuttering and concrete,

You have written that as if it is a good thing to have reach the clay, clay is your enemy it absorbs water and heaves in winter and dries out and sags in summer, it also causes the surface water to wash away the surface substrate sideways exactly what you are trying to avoid.

get it dug out . cant u get a load of rubble given of anyone shot it in and compact it . save a fortune I got 30 ton delivered and given free

exactly what bs has said

 

[gaz1]

i did it same way but its only a spades depth of concrete base x 12" wide



i built a 9ft x 10ft ex garage used as a shed

and before any of you gripe about the job they was used blocks reused to build that wall at same time i cooked the capacitor within the cement mixer on a red hot roasting day



make sure you measure up correctly if your out and you can be

 

[sg66]

my garage will be on the high ground, its the other gardens that are lower, i wouldn't mid theirs falling onto mine, think they may be a bit more concerned if a 7ft panel followed by a lathe lands on them, un likely, hopefully.

 

[gaz1]

if your on the higher ground you need to be about 2ft away from there property otherwise it will happen if your on a slopping hill of 1ft drop per garden

the next doors is 2ft higher on mine but level across 2 gardens so makes a difference

the things that you can do is build your base 2ft away therefore a good clearance or 1 ft away with a proper base

if you ever need to strengthen the boundary area then it can be done at a later period or under pin the old foundation base of the shed

yours might be the same as this build

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/small-garage-workshop-help-needed-please.74178/

 

[brightspark]

build on a raft http://www.diydoctor.org.uk/projects/rafts.htm

 

[sg66]

Thanks, I think 6" should be ok for what i need, just got to work out how to barrow over the top of the mesh spacers without killing them all, that or try pulling them up after its poured.

 

[gaz1]

easy build brick columns wheel barrow over planks pour into the base then remove bricks and move planks back to the next pile of bricks

 

[bricol]

Once I'd worked out my time, effort, exhaustion, and the likely length of time needed . . . I got a man and his dad, with mini-digger, mini-dumper, etc to dig my pit, build the retaining walls, do the necessary with hardcore etc, apply visqueen, mesh, fill with fibre-concrete and level etc.

The cost more than made up for the time saved and I got my garage up wayyy sooner then I would have done.

 

[pedrobedro]

Put a concrete ring beam footing in for the walls to the level of the lowest neighbours garden and tie a 6" raft into it for the workshop floor

 

[normspanners]

AS BS says build on a raft with a thickened edge as I did with my 30x30 garage putting mesh in top 1/3

build on a raft http://www.diydoctor.org.uk/projects/rafts.htm

 

[Pete.]

The drawings for my old brick built double garage were 600x600 footings and 150 slab on top of 100 hardcore plus 50 sand blinding.

Of course I stopped digging as soon as I hit chalk but that was the spec anyway.

 

[sg66]

Thanks, going with raft and have a number for a man with a digger and dumper.