Ticky

Hi all, I need to level out an area so I can place a shed onto it. Currently, there's a 3m squared area that's about 40-50cm deeper than the rest of the land. I was about to order enough MOT to fill it but then remembered I may be able to use broken concrete to build up first. I'm sure I've read that if I wanted to build up the foundation I could lay some geotex fabric down, lay some bigger aggregate (I've got some concrete slabs I could break up) followed by some MOT and compact along the way. Is this correct? Also, I'm unsure if the fabric was supposed to go as the first layer directly onto the undisturbed ground or as a second layer after the large aggregate. Thanks in advance

Ok, think I'm gonna use a soakaway for the above. Seems like a reasonable option I'm about to order my insulated roofing panels today. Been speaking to a guy at ColourCladProfiles and they seem to have the best price and include all the guttering/fascias etc. Plus there's a Coronation discount (that ends today) that knocks off the price of the delivery which'll save me £180 I know I don't even have the concrete poured yet but it's a 6 week wait on delivery anyway Hope you're all good

For the french drain would I be good allowing for approx 100/120mm around the perimeter? I'm thinking 60mm PVC pipe and enough room to surround it with pea shingle? Do I need to worry about the back of the Room which will be up against the neighbours fence (and have the guttering) would I just feed that gutter into the f-drain? Also, can I terminate the french drain into another part of the garden as I don't think i can route it to my existing rain water drain of the house.

Thanks all Another thing I'm not so comfortable with is that layer of pea shingle. I'd feel better if it was a layer that would compact better so could I use gravel as long as it has no fines? Would that be a problem? Tree stumps completely out now so can start leveling the area finally!!

Wouldn’t this prevent me from levelling the concrete? Unless it was ‘added’ after the shuttering was removed. 😂😂 Just a guess. What size would be suitable?

Why do you feel that EPS isn't strong enough? I thought EPS was designed for heavy loads similar to XPS

That's the image that I was looking at and couldn't fully work out. What purpose does the notch have? That seems like it would be a lot of effort to cut out a notch for every stud. Wouldn't the OSB finishing to the top of the upstand do a similar job? Like this? (corrected my previous attempt)

I'll take a look at that..... My plan was to go down the rendering route as discussed in this post More specifically this link in that post

Apologies, but i'm struggling to visualise again. Is that an extra strip of insulation? and I thought the sole plate was what the studs were attached too. Part of the wall frame? (I'm probably wrong again ha ha) Not really, just thought they looked better. Didn't realise you could get Aluminium ones that looked like bi-folds.

Also, want to have bifold doors. Are there any considerations I need to make when fixing those to the concrete? Do they need to be on plastic packers to prevent cold bridging or can they be fixed directly to the slab?

I was thinking.... as I'm going to have OSB + double battens and then cladding extending the depth of the walls, does that not give me wiggle room to bring the timbers more over onto the concrete? Even if it was by an extra 25mm, that would mean 100mm of the wall is over the concrete with only 25mm over the upstand. Any issues with that? I drew it out but missed out the OSB layer.

@saveasteading - my original idea included PIR but I was later informed both by the guys on here and a vendor above, that PIR isn't suitable for a raft.

Tell me about it!! ha ha.

@Nickfromwales You say heat it 'somehow' - you feel it's not going to be easy to heat with anything 'above' the concrete? @saveasteading I'm definitely open to options when it comes to fixing the threaded bar/bolts - think I've seen the epoxy approach on Oakwood Garden Rooms. My concern in drilling once dry was that i'd be close to the edge of the concrete and don't want to cause it to 'blow out'. If I have 5x2 soleplate, 50mm is covering the upstand leaving 75mm over the concrete. Image below is to scale. Would aiming to fix the threaded bar, in the middle of that 75mm (approx 37mm in from the edge) be about right? And how deep does it need to go? I'll have to make sure I'm not hitting any rebar/mesh too

Yeah it will be unheated. It’s going to be used as an office just by myself. No great plans for the flooring. I even thought of it being a polished concrete finish (or something similar) As for the roof, I was also planning on using insulated roof panels (again to increase head room) I believe these are pretty heavy (13.3kg/m2)