Hi everyone, first of all what a fantastic forum! Been having a scan through the posts and it seems a nice friendly place 
Secondly apologies for the marathon post
Basically I have started a project on the garden which was initially just to split level it into two sections, retaining wall, turf and flags. This then turned into removing an old asbestos garage, making a new base for a bigger garage and of course the garage, i cheated and payed for a pre-fab though!
The area left at the lower level is approx 50sqm, after speaking to the other half we both agree that we'd need a pretty big table and chairs to fill that! This is where the conservatory comes in, because we are already down to solid clay it will be ideal to do this now rather than spend a fortune on flags then dig them up in a couple of years.
The only "problems" i can see are that the foundations of the house are not deep at all, the old patio/concrete was actually above the DPC. Can i have the DPC level of the dwarf wall a course higher than the house?
I assume the foundations need to be 500 or 600 wide but how deep do i go down and what level do i want to finish the concrete? Bearing in mind the poor existing foundations and low DPC. i dont think finishing them to existing foundation level will be any good as it will be only a single brick or so to finished ground level!
The house is a semi and the neighbours have a 3m single story extension approx 800 from the actual boundary, because of this i want to build a full wall to the height of the conservatory, i presume i will need to tie this into the house with a wall plate or something? Also what would you recommend i build this in? Maybe keep the same height dwarf wall in the chosen matching brick and render the rest to match the existing? (not sure if i can change brick/block half way up or not)
I know most people have a solid concrete floor to existing level but i think joists maybe better here as there will be quite a lot to fill in, unless i can whack down the waste we dig from the foundations?
I have had a very reasonable quote to do the full job but as we are getting married next year it's hard to pay out thousands in one go. They are prepared to do the actual glazing with french doors installed for £3250 if we do the wall which i think is reasonable? Thats with a perspex type roof i think, do you recommend something else for all year round usage?
Roughly how much in materials to build the dwarf wall including the 1 full height wall? It's pretty much going to be 3x3x2 as it returns into a small existing extension. I'll probably use mixamate or similar for the concrete which is about £120 per cube.
Again really sorry for the mega long post and any advice is much appreciated
I hope it's a little easier to pick the questions out as i have underlined the main ones.
Secondly apologies for the marathon post
Basically I have started a project on the garden which was initially just to split level it into two sections, retaining wall, turf and flags. This then turned into removing an old asbestos garage, making a new base for a bigger garage and of course the garage, i cheated and payed for a pre-fab though!
The area left at the lower level is approx 50sqm, after speaking to the other half we both agree that we'd need a pretty big table and chairs to fill that! This is where the conservatory comes in, because we are already down to solid clay it will be ideal to do this now rather than spend a fortune on flags then dig them up in a couple of years.
The only "problems" i can see are that the foundations of the house are not deep at all, the old patio/concrete was actually above the DPC. Can i have the DPC level of the dwarf wall a course higher than the house?
I assume the foundations need to be 500 or 600 wide but how deep do i go down and what level do i want to finish the concrete? Bearing in mind the poor existing foundations and low DPC. i dont think finishing them to existing foundation level will be any good as it will be only a single brick or so to finished ground level!
The house is a semi and the neighbours have a 3m single story extension approx 800 from the actual boundary, because of this i want to build a full wall to the height of the conservatory, i presume i will need to tie this into the house with a wall plate or something? Also what would you recommend i build this in? Maybe keep the same height dwarf wall in the chosen matching brick and render the rest to match the existing? (not sure if i can change brick/block half way up or not)
I know most people have a solid concrete floor to existing level but i think joists maybe better here as there will be quite a lot to fill in, unless i can whack down the waste we dig from the foundations?
I have had a very reasonable quote to do the full job but as we are getting married next year it's hard to pay out thousands in one go. They are prepared to do the actual glazing with french doors installed for £3250 if we do the wall which i think is reasonable? Thats with a perspex type roof i think, do you recommend something else for all year round usage?
Roughly how much in materials to build the dwarf wall including the 1 full height wall? It's pretty much going to be 3x3x2 as it returns into a small existing extension. I'll probably use mixamate or similar for the concrete which is about £120 per cube.
Again really sorry for the mega long post and any advice is much appreciated
I hope it's a little easier to pick the questions out as i have underlined the main ones.
