Grian

An architect neighbour a couple of miles along the road has done just that! Well, they are partly into a bank and it is extended over the top with a turf roof. It is well up a hill track and invisible from the road. Very clever job and all done themselves, a lifetimes work though. I checked the lottery numbers this morning just in case

I own to the top of the steep bank behind. The view? Priceless!!! I know there are more spendy solutions - and what wonders could be done on this site if there was money to throw at it, but I am absolutely scraping together the budget for the lowest-cost approach. It is in a National Scenic Area so a further consideration is that the view imposes costs in terms fairly limiting constraints on design and siting. A pre-app has had a positive response for this style of house in more or less this position and I was advised to be as close to the bottom of the bank as possible.

Thanks John, it has been considered. This seems to be the lesser of evils - unless I use this layout I need a pump, and even a biodisc type system would require rock pecking out elsewhere on the site. Probably more significantly, SEPA have agreed to this approach and there is no watercourse available that would satisfy them for discharge.

Video now accessible, probably of little use though, hard to know how I could make it so unclear and shaky! The base of the holes viewed are covered with soil as it was so long since I dug them but give an idea of soil type. The two photos show new holes dug yesterday. The shallow one is at the highest point, you can see smooth rock on the base. The other one was too taxing to fully dig out at this point but it is solid at the bottom, it is at the low end.

Thanks for speedy replies. I hit rock at the bottom of all the holes. It is agricultural land, rough grazing, so nothing done previously. Rock in some places is a little friable but solid and in others clearly smooth bedrock. I will try to fix that video. The intended house is a longhouse style (15.6 x 6m) and only one floor developed, but with attic trusses to allow for upstairs later if funds allow. If the costs of the levelling are really significant maybe I should be thinking of making a smaller footprint with bedrooms upstairs instead... as I said, endless speculation with no knowledge at all to curb my wildest imaginings!! The architect who will draw the site plan is getting me quotes for the survey - a friend on nearby mainland paid £700 so I'm expecting this as a ballpark figure. The waiting at each stage is excruciating! Budget is limited and once I finally have all the information, foundation design etc the builder will produce the figure which reveals whether I can go ahead or not. I wobble from optimism to dread on an hourly basis!

Hoping for general information regarding foundations on a sloping site. I'd previously been worried about septic tank and soakaway as I have shallow soil and drains surrounding my site (thank you for responses to my question on this a couple of months ago). This week an experienced consultant visited and he has advised that I could locate the house on the highest point of my site and this would provide enough drop to avoid using a pump, plus there would also be enough soil depth in the lowest area for a low-profile tank and mounded soakaway without needing to peck out rock. I was so relieved to have a solution after months of worrying!! This solution moves the house back a few metres to the base of a steep bank and euphoria quickly turned to new concern when I looked at what I'd previously considered to be a negligible slope across the site. I was even more concerned after digging test pits in the region of the house corners - the greatest soil depth is at the low end (1000mm) and soil is shallowest at the highest corner (550mm), that can't be good. I need to have a site survey done to map the levels and without that I realise my question is really vague, but I'd be grateful for any idea of what foundations on a sloping site entail. I am guessing the high point is scraped to rock and a retaining wall built around the lower parts to that same level. Then what fills the bit in between - rock type material (expensive on an island) or soil...? I'm hoping to use air-source heat pump und underfloor heating, I imagine this is relevant. I'm attaching a pdf showing test pits and their depths, and a link to a shaky video https://youtu.be/2gyD1b7IR_0 which gives an idea of the site (I look in test pits relating to a previous and now discounted house position - this has been a long process already!). Any input would be very very welcome! Until I have a site survey done and a response from builders my imagination is running wild! Thank you, Kirsty Site_Info_19th_Feb_2019.pdf

No, that isn't included. Just connecting and the cable.

I do thanks, an informal quote for 5k to bring it from a transformer about 65m away.

She did. The flow from the springs is in the south ditch/drain and is a little more than that of the drain pictured, but not a great deal. It does sound as though the mound is a manageable option. I need to investigate how much for sand, and how much sand... so perc test next I think...

Unfortunately I think they may have been furnished with all this info in the discussions with the consultant... at least that means the solution takes that into account. I expect they'd intend me to divert it if I went ahead. I do aim to divert the one I dug to the north as far as possible but there is a pokey-out bit from the bank just beyond the 3rd photo that means it really can only go that far then has to head down slope to the roadside ditch, but it should be feasible to move it at least 10m from the area I marked as a potential soakaway spot... I had to drain the area as nearby holes kept filling with water. Now I have moved the house thats not a problem - I was trying to avoid the ugly electric pole you see. The other drain that I dug to the south can also be diverted but it probably hasn't any relevance. The roadside ones are outside my jurisdiction, unfortunately! As is that electric pole, the bane of my life... I haven't signed an agreement over way leave yet but SSSE pretty much advised that was where it would be agreement or none! Thanks Joe, thats something to consider.

Bedrock. I am on an awkward seam it appears. Any geologists who might comment on what it is and whether it is nice and easy to peck out and won't take a digger 5 minutes... ? Having hand dug most of the other holes it was quite amusing to have a huge powerful digger come and make the smallest hole around! Ok, no more photos I promise. Its just so exciting to speak to people who can help!

There is a fair bit of space to the north of the drain, but I'm trying to keep the access road as short as possible to minimise cost, and there is the only one point at this end of the plot providing the required visibility splay. Also to show how much water is in the drain, I don't know the flow rate required for the grey water discharge but it has run like this since dug in early autumn. eta, please ignore proposed house label, that is now proposed parking!!

Thanks for speedy and encouraging replies! Quite simply I can't afford a nasty surprise once underway. Funnily I was worried about groundwater, and believed I was over rotten rock since this was at the bottom of my other test pits. Seems to be a seam of rock running along the land at this level... Oh a book. Fabulous. And that mound sounds quite do-able. I feel less daunted already!! Hokay here are images 3 and 4 of 6000000...

Be my guest Thanks! Offshore Argyll, isle of Mull.

Hello oh wise ones. Please help me if you can - I have a site, a positive response to a pre-app, and a house design (2 bed single-storey with attic trusses for future proofing) and now I'm looking at my wastewater system before doing anything else. My only option appears to be a mounded system. This is the advice of the consultant who I have used in the hope I will avoid finding myself in a pickle at a later stage... and his solution has been arrived at after discussion with SEPA. It sounds as though this was the only acceptable option. So I'm trying to understand the costs - everyone warns the groundworks can run away with budget and budget is limited. The reason I need the mounded system is that there is bedrock at about 600mm, a purply pink kind of material. The only way is up! Also, to make it more awkward I'm hemmed in by drains to two sides - which ironically I dug by hand to deal with soggy spots / test pit filling (finding a couple of springs in the process - I am a human divining rod). There is a public road with a drain to the third side, and immediately behind there is a tall steep bank. Discharging to low water from a biodisk type system is out - it's a huge tidal drop. I don't think the soil is any deeper on the other side of the public road, though I should dig a hole there, just for completeness as its the only place I haven't dug one. And the boundary of the ROA is immediately to the south, so even if it is deeper over there... which I doubt, its pretty consistent. ...I can redirect the land drains a little, but the rock is a more difficult obstacle. So a mounded system it probably is... I'm struggling to find any information on the potential costs of a mounded system and pump. Never mind the pecking of rock to make way for a low profile septic tank... this seems impossible to estimate in advance. Oh, and I'd be draining grey water to one of my drains, so I'm guessing that complicates the system a little bit and so adds further cost. Also it is on the isle of Mull so more costly for most things. Any information, advice or encouragement welcome. I feel daunted! Apologies for writing an essay on my first post! I can add annotated photos showing where various obstacles are if of any interest...

Hi people, thanks for the welcome! I will go post the particular problem that's currently causing a speed bump in the appropriate section. Answers on a postcard please

In fact tectonic plate movement might solve some of the issues I am facing... Building on a coastal site in Argyll, surrounded by drains, rock and bureaucracy, the five year plan is now looking optimistic rather than excessively generous. Thanks for allowing me to join, I've found this forum extremely helpful as a non-member browsing and now have some specific questions I'm pulling my hair out over!