Posted: Wed May 06, 2020 6:54 pm
Quite a while since I looked here, very different now, well done over the years!
Anyway, the description, I'll put in the whole plan, warts 'n' all. I want to repurpose a concrete garage, which I got free, in my garden, for storage and DIY. The base size will be just 6m by 5m. I will be doing all the work by hand, incidentally, since I am currently very poor indeed. It won't be a civil engineering job. I want to do the best I can by hand with very limited resources.
The topsoil is sandy, free and well-draining, the subsoil is hard ochre-coloured stuff with numerous inclusions of sandstone shards, like large pieces of broken scotch egg "meat".
I have already removed (last July) a conifer tree from where one corner of the base will go. It was about 45' high, and 2' thick where I cut it, and was a lot of work. I dug out the stump, too, which was a lot of work, leaving a hole about 8' square. The tree was growing slap bang on the rear-right corner of this new base.
The problem is that under part of where the base will go, there are still roots. They probably extend a fair way under the area. Where cut, one is about 4" thick, one 3", and two 2". Luckily, most went the other way. The thick one looks as though it runs along one edge of the area.
I can dig out some of the thick parts of the remaining roots, then ram the soil back in with a rammer. I don't want to dig the whole area if at all possible, because a) huge effort, plus b) it will disturb the ground which I will then have to tamp down and might not "match" the rest.
On the base area, I intend to concrete a strip around the edge 8" deep, mixed with a minimix-type mixer, incorporating reinforcing mesh, and infill in the rest to 100mm in areas as possible, using a joggle joint type of join.
It is likely to be a bit wibbly-wobbly anyway, but it's the roots that are concerning me most right now.
Anyway, confession made, can anyone suggest what would be best, given the circumstances, for the roots?
Anyway, the description, I'll put in the whole plan, warts 'n' all. I want to repurpose a concrete garage, which I got free, in my garden, for storage and DIY. The base size will be just 6m by 5m. I will be doing all the work by hand, incidentally, since I am currently very poor indeed. It won't be a civil engineering job. I want to do the best I can by hand with very limited resources.
The topsoil is sandy, free and well-draining, the subsoil is hard ochre-coloured stuff with numerous inclusions of sandstone shards, like large pieces of broken scotch egg "meat".
I have already removed (last July) a conifer tree from where one corner of the base will go. It was about 45' high, and 2' thick where I cut it, and was a lot of work. I dug out the stump, too, which was a lot of work, leaving a hole about 8' square. The tree was growing slap bang on the rear-right corner of this new base.
The problem is that under part of where the base will go, there are still roots. They probably extend a fair way under the area. Where cut, one is about 4" thick, one 3", and two 2". Luckily, most went the other way. The thick one looks as though it runs along one edge of the area.
I can dig out some of the thick parts of the remaining roots, then ram the soil back in with a rammer. I don't want to dig the whole area if at all possible, because a) huge effort, plus b) it will disturb the ground which I will then have to tamp down and might not "match" the rest.
On the base area, I intend to concrete a strip around the edge 8" deep, mixed with a minimix-type mixer, incorporating reinforcing mesh, and infill in the rest to 100mm in areas as possible, using a joggle joint type of join.
It is likely to be a bit wibbly-wobbly anyway, but it's the roots that are concerning me most right now.
Anyway, confession made, can anyone suggest what would be best, given the circumstances, for the roots?
