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General: "green" foundations for buildings

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  1.  
    • CommentAuthorpiwi
    • CommentTimeJul 14th 2007
     
    Am hoping to build a woodworking workshop in the garden - have a space about 24 feet x 12 feet available. Rough plan would be similar to a large commercial garden shed, but with more substantial framing and decent insulation.
    What is the "greenest" form of foundations I can use? All advice seems to be for a concrete slab over the area, but can anyone advise on a better way? e.g would concrete "pad" foundations use less concrete?

    Thanks,

    Pete Wilson (aka Piwi)
    • CommentAuthortony
    • CommentTimeJul 14th 2007
     
    Dig shallow trenches and fill them with big flints as interlockingly as possible then build on that. The floor could be rammed earth chalk or wood shavings mixed with lime.

    How green do you want? what kind of area do you live in?
    • CommentAuthorpiwi
    • CommentTimeJul 15th 2007
     
    Thanks Tony.

    We live in an urban area. Garden is about 100 feet long and about 30 feet wide, with other gardens all around. Workshop area, at the end of garden, is bounded on three sides by mature trees, including a hedge of Leylandii across the back.

    Am just beginning the "green journey", so am worried about large concrete areas and looking for fairly simple alternatives.
    • CommentAuthorbiffvernon
    • CommentTimeJul 15th 2007
     
    I certainly would not use any concrete. Think about what sort of floor surface you want to end up with. A hard surface is very unkind to dropped chisel tips, so wooden flooring is a distinct advantage as well as being nicer to stand on than concrete. Suspend the floor over nothing more than the bare earth with a few bits of plastic damp course type material where timber meets the damp earth.

    Or just allow a couple of inches of woodshavings to build up :)
  5.  
    There are some good pointers for simple 'green' foundations here:

    http://www.strawbalefutures.org.uk/images/strawbaleguide.pdf

    It's a straw bale building guide, but that doesn't affect the foundations.
    • CommentAuthorRachel
    • CommentTimeJul 15th 2007
     
    rammed earth tyres are a good option. We are raising a one storey straw bale dwelling this summer on rammed earth tyres, followed by larch joists and local larch floorboarding. If you gravel the middle of the tyres for drainage, then ram the rest with rubble/sub soil. You can then salvage the tyres which are a waste product.
    Stay away from the concrete if you want to be green... Amazon Nails did strength tests for some building control when they were laying some tyre foundations and the test results showed the rammed tyres to be stronger than concrete..
    • CommentAuthorchuckey
    • CommentTimeJul 16th 2007
     
    Some aspects worth thinking about:-

    1, Underfloor insulation, otherwise your feet will get cold in the winter.
    2, Moisture control a DPC should be used otherwise your tools will get rusty.
    3, If any areas of your sheds walls are inaccessible, i.e. the back, weeds will find their way through any cracks in the planking and then grow inside the shed.
    4, The roof must have gutters, otherwise the splash back will rot the bottom edges of your planking/floor.
    5, A very neat arrangement I have seen was a shed with a floating floor with a trap in it. When you lifted the trap there is a box into which you can sweep your shavings. then from the out side you can then pull the box out from between the joists to empty.
    It all depends on what sort of weight (saw benches pillar drills etc.), the floor could be a some 4 X 2 bearers sitting on concrete blocks every 3' or so to what I did (because of the sloping ground), build a brick wall (3 courses high) fill with rammed earth, top with 1" concrete, then roofing felt then using 4 X 2 laying flat every 12". This is so I can use a Metal lathe (6 cwt) and Milling machine (1 ton). I did not attend to points 1 & 3 above!
    Frank
    • CommentAuthorblacksmith
    • CommentTimeJul 17th 2007
     
    piwi

    having built a 'modular shed' on your dimensions last year to live in whilst converting a barn - all I did for foundations (on a sloping site as well) was to put a series small slabs/old concrete blocks on the ground (5 along the 24 foot length and through centre of structure) which was compact and sound and then attached various 4x2 lengths vertically from base of framework to the slab sitting on a piece of lead simple, effective and very strong - and no concrete used if you ignore the reused blocks that is.


    Can send you some pics if this helps?

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