stumps and slabs

[big soft moose]

Can youu not buy 'Root Out' anymore? Ammonium Sulphate iirc

you can but they look at you funny if you try and buy large quantities (like pike would need) because its a precursor for making explosives

 

[pike]

i've an honest face

 

[9fingers]

Ammonium sulphamate can be bought on eBay.
I has been banned by the Euro self abusers but it IS still legal to sell for use as a compost accelerator.
The ebay vendor helpfully forgets to take out the instructions for its use as a herbicide.
hth

Bob

 

[wobblycogs]

On the ground clearing front it might also be worth treating the area with Sodium Chlorate. It will burn off the tiny roots of anything in the area in which it it spread. A good heavy dose should help stop the roots from sprouting. I have a nasty feeling our European masters might have banned it at the end of last month but I'm sure you can still find some. As for the Ammonium Sulphamate I've had great success drilling big holes in the stumps as deep as I could go and then packing them full of the stuff. Bung the top and leave it to work it's magic. If the tree has been down a while though it might not work as well and it's best done in autumn when the tree is taking the years energy back down into the roots.

 

[pike]

Thanks for all the good advice on this!

I'm leaning towards getting the stumps ground and using formless piers with a suspended timber floor.

The doubts are that I guess I've got to have a ramp at the entrance. I'd also need to block the gap underneath from vermin and light for any growth.

The good points are less concrete, less concern about the rotting stump remains.

 

[Mr Ed]

What about this;

http://www.roger-bullivant.co.uk/produc ... atory.html

click on the .pdf. Ignoring the fact that it is advertised as a conservatory base, it could be the very thing...

Ed

 

[crazylilting]

How much time and muscle do you have?

If i were younger and faced with the same situation knowing what i know now i'd dig for a foundation and use tyre's with compacted earth for the foundation. No concrete. They use them for earthships if you've heard of them. With the damp problems we have here it makes sense, it is environmentally friendly and cost next to nothing but time and grunt work. I would then suspend a wooden floor across the foundation and carry on as any timber framed building would be done.

Probably not the most popular solution but good if you are on a budget and have the time and energy to do it.

No matter what you decide for foundation i'd get rid of all the roots.

 

[pike]

Ed: I don't know much about foundations but that looks like piles with a steel raft? I suspect the price would scare me off. Perhaps over kill for a first build or buy workshop. Thanks though I do want to consider all options.

crazylilting. I love the idea. I've been googling it for the last half hour. If I did something like that I know a few people who would be keen to help me. I don't yet understand how the floor is levelled. Cheers.

 

[pike]

I found this info on earthbags. It seems to be on grade and very brave just having a skirt to protect from frost.

http://www.earthbagbuilding.com/articles/slc.htm

 

[pike]

Just another quick post to say I've settled on concrete piers going below the frost line. The stumps will just be ground down. The ground under the shed will be covered with weed fabric and gravel.

Not sure if there is any benefit to form piers over formless. I've seen sonotubes in the US but havent found the equivalent here. The ground is clay about a foot down which I coudl just dig with a hand auger.

Thanks all.

 

[Dibs-h]

Just another quick post to say I've settled on concrete piers going below the frost line. The stumps will just be ground down. The ground under the shed will be covered with weed fabric and gravel.

Not sure if there is any benefit to form piers over formless. I've seen sonotubes in the US but havent found the equivalent here. The ground is clay about a foot down which I coudl just dig with a hand auger.

Thanks all.

I would strongly suggest you get at least professional advice prior to shelling out dosh. Building anything with the rootballs of at least 3 mature trees in the footprint is not plain sailing.

Perhaps our MikeG could comment?

 

[pike]

Thanks Dibs.

Mike has advised me in the past and I know he prefers a slab and retaining wall, even for suspended floors. It just might not be suitable for me on this occasion though.

 

[Dibs-h]

Thanks Dibs.

Mike has advised me in the past and I know he prefers a slab and retaining wall, even for suspended floors. It just might not be suitable for me on this occasion though.

I didn't mean from the perpective of the specifics of any construction method - more so the specifics of your site conditions might rule certain methods in and and rule some out. I strongly suspect you'll end up with not as many choices as most would.

 

[pike]

Ah right.

By the way. the three stumps are in line so would be all under the raised floor on one long edge. i'd place the piers strategically to avoid the root ball directly. Some would be within a foot of the stumps though.

 

[Dibs-h]

Ah right.

By the way. the three stumps are in line so would be all under the raised floor on one long edge. i'd place the piers strategically to avoid the root ball directly. Some would be within a foot of the stumps though.

Whilst NHBC tables are sometimes slagged off as being BS from some quarters - it isn't unreasonable to work on the assumption (in the absence of anything else) that however much of the tree exists above ground (or existed in your case) the root system is at least as big (if not bigger)

In which case - assuming you have killed all the roots and placed your "piers" in this area - what happens when the dead roots right underneath your workshop rot? Won't you effectively get a form of subsidence?

I don't want to come across all p1ssing on your parade - but the value of qualified advice prior to anything else, in the case of site\soil conditions can't be under-estimated, especially when you've cut down mature tress within the footprint of the proposed building. I'd dismiss all constructional methods - get some advice and see where that takes you interms of options.

 

[pike]

dibs, no worries, thanks for the advice!

poplars grow straight up narrowly without going outwards. so i dont know how the roots look under ground compared to normal wide trees. maybe that means they could run 60 feet long if the tree was that tall.

when the roots rot under the workshop i'd have thought the only issue i would have is if a large root was rotting directly underneath or very close and deeper to a pier. aren't deep piers an ideal way of addressing a site with lots of roots because of this generally speaking? my impression is that it's like doing a mini mini pile?

if i'm going down to frost level or deeper (im not sure what that is yet but when i laid my new water mains i went down 2' 6") so I know I can manage that with an auger.

I'd be removing any roots which would prevent me from putting the piers in.

 

[Dibs-h]

Have a read of the following,

http://planning2.tewkesbury.gov.uk/WAM/ ... geCount=15

Page 5 - according to these tree surgeons (can't pronunce or spell the whatjamacall version) most of the roots will be within the first 1m of soil - your piers may need to go to that depth.

 

[pike]

Thanks. I've read I'll be forever having to remove suckers after they are ground too.

It's heavy clay just a foot down so I expect the roots won't be extremely deep.

Giant blimmen weeds they are!