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I'm hatching an idea for a DIY project: Our house has a walk-way and a tall stone wall behind it that I'd like to cover up and turn into a dry-but-airy and semi-secure storage/workshop space. Would love any expert advice/insight/experience/considerations that I should take into account when planning it all.
Context:
- The back of our house is a long-utility room. We don't need the outdoor space to be pretty, but I'd like to have something solid and decent looking (avoiding plastic if possible)
- I'd like to keep as much light as possible in the space, but the roof doesn't need to be totally see-through
- I imagine storing paddle boards, garden tools, etc. in the space on some big shelves against the stone wall (with room for air to circulate behind).
- There is a small "workshop" building against the tall wall, which is secure and in decent nick, but some damp issues.
- It could be mostly open at each end for air to blow through, but there may be doors/gates for some kind of security and a roof to keep rain off.
Current concept:
- Wooden framework of some sort that provides structure and bears weight.
- Roof could be either a (nice) clear polycarbonate or glass with some kind of aluminium frame
- Would need to consider rain management - possible flashing into walls and guttering
- See some very rough sketchup pictures below - with and without the roof idea. Purely conceptual at this stage!
Initial questions:
- Is it best to pitch the roof down towards the house (as show in pictures, allowing tall storage against the garden wall) or along the house and down to one side?
- What's the best way to sort flashing or equivalent sealing of a roof into an old stone wall? (The existing workshop looks like it has has a triangle of concrete against the wall rather than cutting flashing in)
- What are the first questions/challenges I should figure out at this stage of design?
All ideas/critique welcome!
Q1: How are you going to clean the upstairs windows?!
Q2: Where are the existing downspouts (surface water drains) to feed the rainfall into?
Q3: How can that be "semi secure" if it's open at both ends?
Q4: As it is against your boundary I suspect there may be planning issues - have you checked this?
Dont pitch towards the house as you'll need a valley gutter and more risk of soaking the brickwork on your house.
Id probably level the wall and screw in a level timber as a sole plate on the top of the wall. And have the roof overhang the wall.
Any roof joist I would wall tie too.
Actual picks might be of more use
I'm doing something similar at the moment, albeit without the garden wall - I'm putting steel posts in. Polycarbonate roof, 2x4 rafters.
Slope it away from the house - that way if the gutter blocks it doesn't soak your wall.
Check your upstairs windows can be cleaned from the inside - or, make a removable panel in the roof so you can poke a ladder up there every now and then. Think about how you'll clean the new roof as well - they go green and benefit from a scrub once a year or so. Again, a removable panel or two might let you clean it from a ladder.
Not sure about flashing I'm afraid. I going to use some sort of adhesive/sealant type thing, but it's against brick so reasonably flat. Personally I'd try to avoid cutting it into the stone as it's a relatively temporary structure and the wall would look a mess if/when it's removed.
Excellent thoughts - thank you.
Here are some initial responses:
Q1: How are you going to clean the upstairs windows?!
- Good question. Need to consider this! Some good ideas about a hatch from others.
Q2: Where are the existing downspouts (surface water drains) to feed the rainfall into?
- There are a couple along the length of the back of the house which I could potentially use.
Q3: How can that be “semi secure” if it’s open at both ends?
- With a drafty-but-lockable door/gate. It's out of sight of the road, but I wouldn't want to make it easy for people to get into.
Q4: As it is against your boundary I suspect there may be planning issues – have you checked this?
- Not checked in detail, but I'd hope this wouldn't be an issue as although it's a boundary it would all be below the height of the wall, and out-of-sight to others.
Here's a couple of photos ('scuse the clutter!):
If it slopes away from the house that may make some elements easier - e.g. I could do flashing into the house wall (although its stone walls) and then run a gutter along the big stone wall at the boundary.
I like the idea of tying it into the wall if that's do-able - would minimise extra structure needed. I'd want to avoid tying too much into the garden wall as it's old, and not sure of ownership, etc.
you may need to check your rainwater soakaways are sufficient to cope with the additional roof area, assuming you plumb in to them
your boundary wall looks like whinstone which is very hard - cutting a wraggle in to make a lead flashing will be tricky if you choose that route
As above, slope away from the house
I think I'd be tempted to make the whole thing free-standing, not actually attached to either the house or the wall. It'd cost more in timber to make legs, but you'd be secure in the knowledge you aren't causing any damage/creating future problems for the existing stuff. Maybe a rubber flap mounted to press against the house wall to seal somewhat, and the guttering against (but not screwed to) the garden wall.
Thanks for the great feedback all. Lots of food for thought and I'll work a bit more on the ideas!
you may need to check your rainwater soakaways are sufficient to cope with the additional roof area, assuming you plumb in to them
As the floor is a hard surface isn't all the rainwater going to end up in the same place anyway regardless of what it landed on?
I'd be more concerned about what is behind that old, large and not particularly straight /from photos) wall.
And if it's public highway, would you be creating a nice walkway for people to hop over the wall and walk straight up to your first floor window?
Likely to also need a party wall act notice, on top of planning
Good points all.
On the question of what's the other side of the wall... it's a private road/housing estate garden. Photo below. I'd be surprised if they are interested in what we do on our side of the wall - everything will be below the top and well out of sight.
However, I don't want to mess with the wall directly if I can help it as I have no idea how robust it is, and don't want to be responsible for rebuilding it if it falls down!
If you start drilling holes in that, I suspect you'll find out who owns it pretty quickly! If it's a private estate with a section of planting, but not owned by any particular house, it may be one of those freehold/leasehold management fee jobs with all the houses chipping in.
You can guarantee one of them will notice, and it will be a shame if they tell you to rip down your nice lean-to.
Bit late to the thread and it seems like pretty much all has been covered already but judging from your last photo of the wall head, you have a bit of loose rubble up there that is probably going to need addressing sooner or later. . If you do nothing else I would go up and remove the loose material before it comes down on it's own accord. The vegetation growing in the joints is a good indication that water is getting in to the wall, medium to long term that is probably going to need addressing too
Once it is established that some repair work is required , nobody will be claiming it's their wall!!
Fall away from house gutter fixed to garden wall ? Might loose a bit of space depending on details ..is house wall rendered poss use a fibreglass flashing fixed in place with ally strip on top edge flashband would leave hell of a mess if you change your mind good luck pix of build needed