zoothorn

No Dave if I orientate it round 90* to look over stream.. I have no view (I look into a dark sheer stream bank rising above cabin, 4m away) I have no sunlight (90% of day as this is E, with trees over it too), & I have no symmetry as the cabin & house then not facing each other the long thin gdn 35m between, & no aesthetics as it'll look totally wrong. Thb I just dont mind if its thought I'm over thinking it. I am doing so for good reason: its an extremely difficult area of ground (& extremely prone to weather/ esp wind) to put anything, let alone a 1+ ton cabin with concrete footings. I have never done anything like this before. And I cannot ££afford to make silly mistakes: its going to cost me £1500.. alot for me. Simple for you guys- but very tricky for me. Thanks. I have chosen the cabin, & built these 4 plinths specifically for it.

@Declan52 yes I think 2. But you see if I leave the cantilevered area RHS too, I'll need access to it.. so its got to protrude forwards, & join the front "green area" deck somehow. This is the problem with 2. This is why you see I'm thinking the RHS walky area is actually problematic (unuseable as it is?), &, the obvious thing if I'm ditching it RHS.. is instead to have it coming out frontwards.

forget this post..

@De Hi Declan- bingo that's it.. even window's correct LHS (stream is opposite, RHS, & n'bors too). Very grateful for that. Ok this green front area is what I'm considering at the mo: I'm obviously gonna need a deck here. I have 3 options afaict. 1) Swizzle the cantilever area round to the frontside forming my front deck/ not sticky-outy out RHS. 2) Keep cantilevered walky bit as planned (on RHS, orig idea).. & build a separate front deck later. 3) Ditch the cantilever altogether, make a 2.3m square base.. & build separate front deck later.

B but thats what I do! takes me hours to draw & photo it (dont have phone w'pics, only an sLr you see/ faff). Ok for the mo, let's just say I build a square 2.3m frame > cabin on. I'm standing down gdn looking at front/ door of it. I have 2 plinths in front of me: the LHS on's on the upper slope, RHS one's on the down slope, ~1m pillar. So I have a L>R ground discrepency of ALOT. I need to have a decking area in front of the thing (or I open door & fall out, hit slope & roll down R into stream crying, & I shouldnt wonder if my trousers dont fall down as well). I need 1.2m deck here min. Do I add as an -afterthought- IE build it separately later? (& should I even add this side walky area into the mix? is a separate Q) or add the walky extra area to the --front-- instead of the RHS? Does that help for now?

Yes.. but takes me hours! I can't do super quick like you (I wish).. need 4x draughts/ then slr batts ages to charge etc.

Hi chaps- took wknd away/ just seen replies. Sorry for confusion. I add my sketch again. Beam numbers 1,2,3,4. The idea has been the cantilevered +20% or so walky area to be added RHS @ lower two pillars' side. This was/ & always will be the RHS -side- of cabin, next to & parallel to stream below. But the front of cabin, door etc(facing down gdn to house) then has no terrace/ balcony. As I'll obviously need a front terrace area (I cant just step out of door ~4ft splat) should the added walky cantilevered section instead go on the FRONT I'm wondering now? (IE extending beams 3 & 4 forwards, instead of extending beams 1 & 2 twds rhs as per the orig sketch below). Beam 2 is always the cabin FRONT. Beam 4 is always the cabin RHS. In the orig sketch below I have a drop outside my door (where my '2' is scribbled) onto the 45* slope.

@Onoff ok understand the splash up.. but you see I'm high as it is (cabin front will be way off ground) so need this packing as minimal as possible: even if I wrapped the cnr beam join are with dpm or something. No the stream side you see is definitely the cabin's RHS side: over stream here is n'bors (only yds away) & dark with no view. Front as originally intended will 1) be facing down long thin gdn to main house/ symmetry etc, 2) view, & 3) most importantly: its facing south.

HiFerdinand- but the idea of going OTT heavy duty on the footings, is to prevent any movement so as not ever to need jacking up. Id not factored this in. What this does give me as in idea thogh, is to use 2 of those black placcy cabin base 'shoe' things to just lift these two beams off my plinths upper-side. But I need to fix the beam > to shoe > then shoe to the concrete. I must have a very strong join here too: the cabin is a typical design with a front overhang/ extended roof -exactly- where you'd not want to regarding weather/ wind hitting it front-on, & horizontally too.

Hi Onoff- how supercool is that!! man it even goes upside down. Major thanks for that. I get the idea- I'll go with the nothched 6x6's, & doubling up 6x2's (for all four cabin perimeter walls though?), & understand the brick: I'd prefer to get this to something 2cm H though: water would never be standing on the plinthfs @ only 2ft dia & no lip.. it just can't pool here, it'll pour off before 0.5cm surely even in monsoon. The cantilevered area: my pro chap says 20% safe rule of thumb (his work/ he knows etc). In which case 60cm. But the side roof eaves would be diggin in your ears/ face.. so I'd need 1m min on the cabin side/ next to stream side. Mmm. So now I'm thinking its surely more sensible to put this overhang -forward- at the door end instead, as I'll have to have a decky-area here (& steps of somesort up too). Its then either a Q of going with the cantilevered idea for this front-deck area, stretching it to 1.5m & supporting the front 2 corner points with 4" pillars (just a guess).. or.. construct a front-deck afterwards as a stand-alone thing. One odd result of either going with or without the orig side walky-bit.. is the front of cabin will be quite a height off slope in front, which needs to be all or mostly 'hidden', obviously by a series of steps up to front &/ or front-decky thing.

I'm not too worried about soil & rotting veg(haha!). The adjacent steep bank is actually very stable, clay & I barely disturbed it puttin in me plinfths. rotting veg!! I think Onoff's had an ale. Turnip & leek slagheap, btm of zoot's miners cttg garden see.

My chap said only something about 'some dpm to rest on' or between maybe.. ok no not bombproof, but to last long enough+ is the idea. Open to other ideas. I think 2cm is adequate to prevent the resting beams on the upper plinfs sitting in any standing water: once the placcy tube rim is cut down a bit tp just below concrete top there'll only ever be 1 cm if that at max of water on these two upper plinfs.. it'll just drain off rather than pool on only a 2ft dia plinf.

Is there no sock/ condom type thing made of plastic that could slip onto 6x6 posts instead? surely this is a common use for 6x6 posts. Ferdinand's sort of fence post protection thing, but in 6x6 format..

Tbh I think its wishful thinking even aiming for 50mm.. for numpty me. I'm inclined to agree.. its just a bit beyond me to add the ideal xyz into the job I think, which already I'm in a mild sweat about. Thanks alot for ideas- zoot

@Onoff very cool indeed! I will be telling people its computer designed. Am I allowed to go your 2nd plan, but a different upper side: no BLUE sleeper under here, the outer beams lying on the plinths instead? If I go 8x2's then adding a "GREY cap" on this top end, would be one of my 4 cabin wall-loads-onto it. If so, the whole shebang drops down 5". As PeterW mentions water sitting on plinths & in contact with beams in this idea tho.. is there anything I could put between? If I go as per your 2nd plan, with big 8x2's I'm a full 7" higher than I'd anticipated: already it'll be fairly high off the ground (floor approx 60cm off the ground in front of the door). I think another 7" height & it'll look weird & perched up, & be tricky to hide its underneath area. Ideally I should have put the upper plinths set down 5".. but I was nervous to with the back plinth, in case steep earth bank above it misbehaved. Thanks- zoot

@Onoff just seen your Q under your photo of kids area thing- looks terrific that btw. " So are you planning sleeper uprights, then two sleepers across and your deck sits on that? " I can see you have gone this way in your sketch with coloured-in bits-for-dim-zoot (fab btw.. wish I had this drawing ability).. but tbh I'm not sure what to do.. I cant decide bc I dont have the knowledge to tell. I was hoping for some advice on this bit. At the mo my plan is Ive got my 6x6 uprights, notches in sides, into plinth brackets. That's it. More than this Ive only a vague idea of a 4-side frame of 6x2's doubled up (or 6x3's, or 8x2's). How these go relative to the uprights I'm not sure on. Let alone how to fix the 4 sides frame together/ or into the plinths upper side/ or how the frame attatches to whatver its to sit upon pillar-side. Alot of procrastination still to do.

What about longevity of these 6x6's though.. extremely wet climate here/ almost rainforest tbh. I think that's maybe why my pro chap recommended sleepers, tho can't imagine he'd be thinking reclaimed type as they look alot trickier to bracket in with uneven ends. Q understood: erm.. not sure bolts or notches: what would you recommend?

Understood- but I am putting a log cabin on the base, not just a few chairs & a thin shed. Maybe 1000kg going on: will 6x6 be adequate?

Yes I'm still procrastinating. Alot more to do too. Are 6x6 going to give enough front to back rigidity tho? IE wind wallops the front, so the tendency will be to twist (rack?) the pillars backwards. I see they're easier to fit via metal brackets tho- that's good.

Ok my plan wasn't to put horizontal sleepers. In my sketch (my pro chap's rough idea) the perimeter beams rest on/ attatch to the upper plinths. I'm not saying this is correct & you're not, but just want your thoughts on it. You see if I put a sleeper in between, the whole structure is an extra 5" high for one thing (Im already high as it is) & is it needed I wonder?

@Onoff ok many thanks. I was just wondering if you could rotate the sketch round that's all. Then you see I can ID which beam 1,2,3,4 from my sketch. Its a p'easy project for you- but its far from simple for me having never fixed a joist or a sleeper you see. I need to go back a step: is my sleeper the right one for the job? the brown 10x5 type I put a photo of, softwood afaict.

@Onoff its tricky to visualise as your orientation is opposite to my sketch which is in my head & I can only go by or my head explodes trying to work this out. Your high plinths are on the RHS (mine on the LHS). If we swizzle your sketch round, the joists are as I originally had too.. its suggested by Declan & PeterW to put the joists perpendicular running (front to back as we look at the image, not across left to right). Your thoughts on this appreciated.

@Onoff I like the sketch- thanks. Actually for the top two plinths I don't need upright pillars. The frame will sit on the plinths instead here. This means less wood to use (+ I'm saving going so high too: already the cabin will be perched 'up' a good 1ft). My sketch pg before shows this basic idea, but its suggested just changing the joists 90*/ not doing the 'cantilever' then RHS (bc chaps here said it'll save wood/ preferable, & I can sure up the walky sticky outy bit).

@Onoff I'm not sure what type of sleeper 1st off.. I see 4 types at jewsons. Reclaimed, these ones I show brown 10x5, greener ones 9x5, french oak a bit smaller but hardwood. I only need 1x cut in half to get me up to 15cm above my top plinths. Then how to attatch a beam to these two uprights/ & what guage beam to use (6x3 or two 6x2's doubled-up) I'm not sure on. No I can't see any holes in the base of these bracket things- odd. I guess the lip I can accomodate by cutting a notch in sleeper end. I was hoping there'd be a 'shoe' galvanised bracket thing I fix to plinth.. then plonk sleeper in.

Onoff- can you suggest how I'm best attatching the sleeper pillars (H 85cm) > to the plinths? I've got a period of dry weather coming up so best try & get this base done if I can. 1st thing is these 2x pillars. Ive looked at these 10x5 type in Jewsons/ pic 1, & trawled google info/ pics for "sleeper brackets" but can't find anything. I was hoping to find a bigger version of these pergola pillar 5" brackets/ pic 2. Am I on the right track with this type of sleeper (there are loads of types) & bracket.. or are these completely -not- the right choice?