want an extension - conifer hedge - replace with fence?????

danemi1

Hi

We want an extension building on side of existing bungalow - we have a conifer hedge which is about height of bungalow at the top of the wall height (not top of roof) the conifers will then be right next to the extension - I rang council today to try and ascertain how far down we would have to get the builders to dig. My word - he confused the hell out of me - asking so many questions and talked about needing a calculation or a new substructure floor plan or something - I said it was way over my head and would he talk to my architect which is what is hopefully going to happen tomorrow. He mentioned that they may have to dig more than 2 1/2 metres down - ouch!!!!!

My builder had said to me prior to the call - it may be cheaper to have the conifers all removed and a fence put in its place. To be honest this would be better for us - they have gone brown in places and hubby gets sick fed up of trimming them back.

Does anyone have any experience - will they let us do this or will there be some blooming by law that means we cant get rid of the conifers.

This extension has been a complete nightmare - what with trying to find a decent builder and various other things and we haven't even started yet!

Can anyone advise!

keith969

Get the conifirs removed - depending on how many you have, it could cost a bit. My neighbour had this done and it trasformed his garden (he actually saw the sun in the daytime).

danemi1

just wondered if the council would let us??

ormus

There are no hard and fast rules of assessing the risk of damage that tree growth close to a building will do.
Because of the immense number variable factors that take place in the process, making predictions is fraught with difficulty.

This is where the application of a little common sense is called for! If there are large trees near your house,
large means over 8 metres (26 ft.) in height and by nearby means 10 metres (33 ft.) serious consideration should be given to regular pruning.
particularly if you live in an area where there are clay subsoils.


oak trees do the most damage, by far.

muskoka

I had to put in 2 metre foundations for a diddy 2.5 mtr extension because a neighbour (got to be a good 30' away) had a couple of cherry trees, and when they dug the foundations there was no trace whatsoever of any roots, but hey ho.

danemi1

our hedges have been in for years - house was built in 73 - we have lived here 11 years - they are about 8 ft and there are about 10 of them - but they are going brown - hubby bit too enthusiastic I think last year when he was cutting them back - I just know that building control will make us dig down something stupid - so I wondered if we would be able to dig them out instead at same time as they do the foundations. get rid of the roots and then put a fence there instead then we wouldnt need to dig so far down on the foundation thus spending an arm and a leg on concrete - what do you think my chances are????

danemi1

our extension will be internally 21 ft 6 by 12 ft 2

danemi1

our architect is speaking to the council today - am so hoping that we will be allowed to get rid of conifers and replace with fence - spoke to builder - if we can do that it will be £500 ish but if we have to dig down to 2 1/2 m that will add 4k to the build - so as you can see fingers and everything crossed - they may not even tell us until they start digging down in which case if that happens we will have to go without putting an ensuite in until we can afford to do that - if its the fence panels and dig down to 900 we can get it all done - oh so nerve wracking and we havent even begun yet.

mrschaucer

I don't think you really have a problem - if the conifers are yours (on your land) and not protected by tree preservation orders, then you can do what you want with them. I would be tempted just to hoik them all out and have done with the problem. Just check with the council that they're not protected and get a nice man with a chainsaw.

danemi1

thing is when the house was built in 73 there were bylaws saying about no fences, walls etc and no caravans - but now people do have caravans parked outside and one place does have a wall so am hoping hoping hoping but it is still then will they make us dig down to the same amount because of any roots that may or may not be there - have heard bldg insptrs can be awkward!

danemi1

apparently the building inspector wants us to have an accredited structural engineer to come and do a ground survey first - to see how much moisture the trees have taken out of the ground - even if we go ahead and remove all of them - this will depict how far down we have to dig - any ideas on how much such a survey will cost anyone????? please x