Outbuilding Construction – The Build

November 3rd, 2009

So far in this series of outbuilding construction posts, we’ve covered the main points associated with planning an outbuilding, and provided a sold insight into a laying a foundation. Now, we turn to the actual build.

With a solid foundation in place, the build began. The following picture shows the building taking shape with all four sides up. We panelled the sides out before erecting and securing them to each other and the foundation.

Foundation in view, and sides up

Foundation in view, and sides up

Looking from inside the building, we get a clear view of the shell including panelled sides. The bottom cross members have been laid across the foundation in preparation for the flooring. Further up, the cross members for the roof are on view, which provide stability and a base for the roof beams.  Beam laying was in progress at the time the shot was taken.

inside-outbuilding

View from inside the outbuilding while roofing in progress

Another aspect of the above picture, this time inside looking out.

inside-outbuilding-looking-out

Inside looking out

Finally, the floor’s laid and it’s ready for finishing, depending on taste. Some may choose to go for an alpine/natural finish, while others might choose to further insulate and paint. So, that’s it for this post. The outbuilding has finally been constructed and is ready for use/finishing. The next and final article will conclude with an overview and a look at the finished article.

inside-outbuilding-roof-floor

Inside the unfinished outbuilding

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South London Outbuilding Construction – Laying the Foundation

October 19th, 2009

In our opening outbuilding article, we offered an overview of the process associated with constructing an outbuilding, along with covering a few of the more salient legal points. With that behind us, we move to the first, and arguably most important stage of the actual build, the foundation. Without a solid foundation in place, the project comes to a crashing halt; no foundation, no outbuilding. At Cutting Edge Decorators, we appreciate the importance of a rigorous build, and never overlook what, once the building’s complete, can soon be forgotten about – out of sight, out of mind, as the saying goes.

The following picture shows a rectangular area marked up and positioned within legal limits away from surrounding buildings.

Plot of land cleared for the outbuilding

Plot of land cleared for the outbuilding

fencing-off

Seperating the two gardens

As the garden is shared between two maisonettes, a fence was erected to divide the two gardens and make it easier to demarcate the outbuilding area. The picture above shows the first post going in, which we should remind our readers is  trade covered by Cutting Edge Decorators. With the fence in place, the outbuilding’s surface area was dug up to make way for the hardcore, before being shuttered off for the concrete. This is nealty illustrated by the photo below.

Fenced off, foundation dug, hardcore laid

Fenced off, foundation dug, hardcore laid

We can also see in the photo’s top right corner, the start of the concrete laying process. To arrive there, the hardcore was beaten down, then spirit levels employed to level the area off. Satisfied and with string in place, the concrete was stealthfully poured in, section by section. As soon as the concrete’s moisture film disappeared to leave a matte finish, the troweling began. See below for another aspect.

Concrete being mixed and laid - we're getting there!

Concrete being mixed and laid - we're getting there!

After a solid effort, the outbuilding’s surface area was covered, and the job of laying the foundation complete.  Here’s a couple of visuals to round the post off including some clear shots of the completed fencing:

Foundation laid, left-hand side

Foundation laid, left-hand side

Foundation complete, head-on aspect

Foundation complete, head-on aspect

For our next post, we’ll cover the actual build. Until then………

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Constructing an Outbuilding in South London

September 24th, 2009

When an extension or loft conversion is financially impossible, some people consider converting their garage. However, there’s another, often overlooked alternative……..an outbuilding! For this post, we briefly discuss the humble outbuilding, before documenting one’s actual construction over the coming month.

Garden size permitting, the majority of our outbuilding enquiries come from Elmbridge in Surrey. Here, garages tend to be used for, well…….garaging cars; and planning permission for a potential extension can be slowed down, or rejected out of hand, due to a concerned neighbour. So, when turnaround time’s important, and planning seems a headache, putting in place an outbuilding is often the perfect alternative.

From October 1st 2008, the powers that be gave outbuildings the thumbs up, freeing them from the bureaucracy associated with extensions. The regulations state that outbuildings do not require planning permission, but must conform to a number of restrictions and conditions. We’ll summarise the basic, though important ones, that’ll are sure to save a lot of disappointment!

1. As you’re no doubt aware, an outbuilding can’t be multi storied! It must have one floor with the overall height no more than four metres.

2. However, if the outbuilding’s within two metres of the house itself, it can’t exceed a height of 2.5 metres. Remember that.

3. As well as having one story, the outbuilding must not have a single raised platforms or balcony.

4. The outbuilding can’t cover more than half of the available garden space.

Importantly, outbuildings that conform to the these points won’t require planning permission, but outbuildings built to the side of a house will require planning permission; this is an important distinction.There are many more specific points to take into consideration when planning an outbuilding, so do investigate further and be sure to contact your local council.

This little introduction into outbuildings should compliment our coming posts covering one’s construction, which we hope to publish soon. Providing we take the photographs, the next post will cover foundation work, followed by another detailing the construction, then finished off by a round up report.

Until then………

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Welcome to the Cutting Edge Decorators Blog!

September 8th, 2009

For our maiden post, we’re going to explain how we intend to use our blog, and a little something about the company; here goes…..

From time to time, we’ll post information on some of our interesting and challenging decorating jobs. We’ll cover internal, as well as external decorating and refurbishment work. It’s fascinating to see how a refurbishment job takes shape, so we’ll be uploading before and after pics, both for potential clients and budding DIY people.
On the subject of DIY, we might post decorating tutorials covering the basics such as wall preparation right through to wallpapering. Many people have a decorating horror story, so we hope to privide assistance through our tutorials.

Mentioned elsewhere in the site, we’re South London based, with a solid client base around the areas of Kingston, Wimbledon, Richmond, Putney, Wandsworth and the Surrey locale of Elmbridge. Working on big and small jobs alike, some of our larger interior and exterior decorating projects have been on eight plus bedroom houses near Weybridge, Surrey, right down to a studio flat in Teddington, Middlesex. We like to think there’s no job too big, or too small.

We undertake all kinds of insurance work providing no obligation decorating/refurbishment quotes before carrying the jobs through to completion. Before ending our first post, we should make clear that all our decorating and refurbishment services apply to both companies and domestic households.

We’ll leave you with a few photos of a recent job before signing out from our first blog post:

Refurbishment of house frontage in Kingston, Surrey

House frontage refurbishment. Stripped down, treated and repainted.

The front garden was dug up, then tidied, before laying out some lovely stones.

Front garden dug up, levelled, then finished with interesting stones

A little corner photo detailing our flooring work, plastering, and painting

Demonstrates our flooring work, plastering, and painting

Fireplace refurb involving plastering and painting

Fireplace refurb involving plastering and painting

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