Lean to is very very close to party wall

Dan-Dan

Morning all

We are buying a house with a poor lean to attached to the back

it is built up from flagstones , and is timber with a single brick dwarf wall , we intend to pull it down and replace it

The lean to goes the length of the back of the house , is 15 x 8 , but it stops about 6 inches from the neighbours wall

This means there is obviously a gap which cant be reached , in any way other than a long stick!

What hurdles or obstacles do i face when considering this build ?

Any ideas welcome

Cheers

Dan-Dan

any thoughts?

my primary worry is it being a rain trap (though it doesnt seem to have caused any issues so far)

Dan-Dan

oh , and foundations a meter or so deep , would they affect next door?

tesuhoha

I think everyone who can help you is probably at work.

We had a lean to on this house when we moved in, with a bit of a gap but it was accessible . I suppose it depends on what you intend to do. Are you going to pull it down? Are you going to build an extension? We built an extension with very deep foundations and there is still a bit of a gap. You have to consider if there are any drains under there if you are going to replace it with an extension.

Edit: Just noticed you are replacing it. You could increase the size of the gap or will that affect the internal layout?

Dan-Dan

Hi , will pull it down and replace with conservatory with foundations , i think making the gap larger wouldnt benefit anyone , was hoping to have some way of just attaching extra guttering to the gap , as screws into party wall dont equal support so is OK ? , with permisson of course

Rockingit

The party wall act allows you to cross boundaries for the purposes of footings, scaffold etc. It's common practice to either make a gap big enough to allow for service or more commonly simply bridge/cap over the top/front of a narrow gap to make it water and rubbish proof.

Doozergirl

I'm trying to work out what you want to do.

If you take down the existing wall and are short on space for your conservatory, you would build with the foundations touching the boundary. It means that the siting of the new wall will be in a similar position as the existing (about 15cm from boundary). Guttering is difficult to fit on that side and hard to maintain. If you can build without an eaves on that side and have in effect a 'lean-to' conservatory with the roof sloping away from the main wall of your house, then there will be less maintenance needed.

The base of the new wall will have damp proofing and need little maintenance, ever, so it doesn't really matter if that is pretty inaccessible. It's rainwater goods that are the potential issue.

My personal view is that conservatories aren't as good as a proper extension, they need more maintenance and don't add genuine value to a house. If you can afford an extension, do that instead.

We've just removed an extension from the side of our house. Next door has a five year old conservatory, as you describe, up to the boundary. They keep their house beautifully. To say that their conservatory guttering on our side is a mess would be an understatement. It's badly fitted and really dirty.

Dan-Dan

Hi All

Sorry for late reply , i think i didnt explain myself properly

The houses are staggered , and we are the end terrace , so the wall next door i refer to is the neighbours actual house and the lean to slopes from the back of our house , with a gap between the neighbours house and the lean to wall of as i say about 6 inches , i was just worried in the future , about rain water going in the gap , not so worried about rubbish as it really is a small gap and any rubbish could be fished out with a grabber or something

I was wondering really , just to ensure i was OK to build a structure to replace the lean to , that will need foundations

We cant afford an extension so we are lookign at a lean to , the size isnt great so if we can stretch to ufh we should be OK with some big jumpers in winter! (there are good doors and an outside wall seperating the lean to)

Doozergirl

Okay, well, with a party wall agreement you can potentially use their wall as yours. You'll need a surveyor!

Dan-Dan

Or just build on existing footprint and minimise the gap issue as best I can ?

Dan-Dan

I have been reading the party wall act

If i DONT want to use the party wall as one side of a lean to ,but i want to keep the same footprint exisiting (albeit we suspect has no footings) and thus have a new lean to with a wall on one side , then as long as my builder doesnt excavate deeper than the neighbours house foundations , i dont need to give notice

Is that correct ?

We have to pull it down as its unsafe so i want to be fairly sure of my obligations from that point

I might try to get a picture to describe what i mean , if its difficult to envisage what i am on about!