Posted: Mon May 21, 2007 7:28 pm
I'm adding a conservatory to the back of my house.
The builder says they'll dig 45cm, and if they don't find suitable ground they'll dig up to 75cm before pouring footings. That makes me wonder, what would be the definition of "suitable ground"? How will they know when they're deep enough?
(Anyone experienced in this will immediately realise that I've never dug below ground in my life - I know about as much as any man-in-the-street who peers into a hole to see what the Gas Board's doing!)
- Tim
The builder says they'll dig 45cm, and if they don't find suitable ground they'll dig up to 75cm before pouring footings. That makes me wonder, what would be the definition of "suitable ground"? How will they know when they're deep enough?
(Anyone experienced in this will immediately realise that I've never dug below ground in my life - I know about as much as any man-in-the-street who peers into a hole to see what the Gas Board's doing!)
- Tim
I recently wanted to put a boundary wall up, internet searches provided no clear idea of how far down I should dig, no calculations that could be made, a general opinion was that the base of the footing needed to be below 450mm for frost protection, having tried to 7 structural engineers (5 said they were to busy, one said he would return my call and never did, one quoted a £1000 pounds and required me to dig two test holes) the 8th told me I would find a “nice gravel bed about a meter down� and having been swing a shovel like there was no tomorrow I struck said “nice gravel bed� and knew straight away what he meant, as soon as the shovel starts bouncing on the ground you know you can build off it!