Layers of foundation blocks

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seamus357

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We are building our house at the moment and would like to put down 4 layers/ courses of blocks to bring the floor level up. Our trenches are fairly deep and with 3 layers mean our floor level will only be one block (about 6 ins) above the ground level.
Our Architect has advised us however that this may put in breech of our planning. He said that 3 layers of blocks are all you are meant to put down in your foundation trenches. He said the county council carry out spot checks. Has anyone any advice on this?
 
seamus357 said:
We are building our house at the moment and would like to put down 4 layers/ courses of blocks to bring the floor level up. Our trenches are fairly deep and with 3 layers mean our floor level will only be one block (about 6 ins) above the ground level.
Our Architect has advised us however that this may put in breech of our planning. He said that 3 layers of blocks are all you are meant to put down in your foundation trenches. He said the county council carry out spot checks. Has anyone any advice on this?
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Ring your planning office and ask them. I've never heard this before though.
 
I'd say he messed up with his heights as shown on the drawings, for example you have permission that shows max house height x metres. Going another block to raise the finished ground floor level will breach that height. You need at least 6" from your path to ffl to stop water (and then damp) splashing up against the wall.

I'm open to correction but nowhere in the Homebond book does it mention a maximum number of courses under finished floor level. I've seen plenty of houses with 4, 5 or 6 courses to ffl but they would have blocks on the flat for the first two or three courses.

 
theres no minimun or maximum no of courses... the only issues is, where your hardcore exceeds 900mm, you need to incorporate a suspended concrete floor......

if your external path level is going to be where the current ground level is now, then theres no problem..... you have not explained to us why you want the floor level up another block??? what will the finished floor level be in relation to the road level??

are you saying that you would only have 6" of hardcore under the floor???
 
Our Architect is a very cautious and by the book kind of fella. He said the chances of having any (planning) problems would be about 3%!

We will also be covering the ground outside our front door with stones (and maybe tar macadam eventually). This will bring the ground level up even closer to the floor level. At present as I said before, with 3 layers of blocks, we are only one block above ground level. That’s only about 6ins. With extra stones etc. the floor will be just above the ground.
 
surely you already have hardcore laid out around the dwelling, you might expect about another 100mm max to get this to a tarmaced finish.

1. what depth of hardcore will you be incorporating under the floors?
2. what would your current floor level be in relation to the road??
3. has your builder not removed at least 300mm of topsoil from around the area of the dwelling???
 
1.) Our floors will have 225mm of hardcore.
2.) I don’t know what the ground level is in relation to the road. The road is 60metres from the house and the site isn’t level with the road. It’s above the road level. The field gradually rises up from the road to our house location.
3.) The builder removed tons of topsoil. There is a bank of about 5 feet behind the house, from the stripped ground level to the rest of the field. The field gently slopes up behind our house location.
 
you really should have more than 225mm of hardcore..... i know hombond requires a minimum of 150, but personally i would be wary of anything under 450mm....

it sounds like the dwelling is slightly built into a bank... i would use this as an argument to rise it up another block with your architect.... it might visually appear, when driving up to your dwelling, that it is sunken into the ground..... that wouldnt be good....
 
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