Excavate under terraced garden

dutchcloggie

Hello,

I would like to create a small storage shed under my garden. I am a keen cyclist and use it as my primary transport. However, I am struggling to carry my e-bike up the steep steps into the house. My house also does not have external access to the rear garden so every time I want to use the bike, I have to take it through the house. I would like to dig out a small storage shed at street level to store a couple of bikes. Let's assume planning permission is not an issue, any idea how much this thing might roughly cost? It would be about 2m deep, 1.75m high and 1.5m wide. At most. 

I have attached a picture with the proposed location outlined.

Section62

dutchcloggie said:

I would like to create a small storage shed under my garden. I am a keen cyclist and use it as my primary transport. However, I am struggling to carry my e-bike up the steep steps into the house. My house also does not have external access to the rear garden so every time I want to use the bike, I have to take it through the house. I would like to dig out a small storage shed at street level to store a couple of bikes. Let's assume planning permission is not an issue, any idea how much this thing might roughly cost? It would be about 2m deep, 1.75m high and 1.5m wide. At most. 

It is almost certain you'll need to obtain planning consent, and not a given you'll get it.

The bank is steep, and supporting properties at the top, so the construction will need to be done as a retaining structure.  It is hard to estimate costs of that kind of work without  more information (e.g. soil type), but I wouldn't expect it to be less than £30k, and wouldn't be shocked if you got quotes significantly higher than £50k.

You'd need to get a structural engineer to draw up a design for builders to quote on.  Before spending money you might also want to have a chat with the planners to see how receptive they would be to the idea.

Is there a footway between the wall and the road where the car is parked?  The construction work would also require traffic management/highway licenses - depending on the attitude of the highway authority you may need to add another £10k to the costs for 'highway interface' issues.

FreeBear

Section62 said: The bank is steep, and supporting properties at the top, so the construction will need to be done as a retaining structure.  It is hard to estimate costs of that kind of work without  more information (e.g. soil type), but I wouldn't expect it to be less than £30k, and wouldn't be shocked if you got quotes significantly higher than £50k.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if the bill is £100K+

If that is sold rock under the terrace, that might reduce the cost of retaining walls, but at an increase in cost of digging out the space. Either way, it will be seriously expensive and won't increase the value of the property by any significant amount.

thegreenone

You may have security issues putting a shed there, especially if someone sees you storing expensive e-bikes.

On bridges in The Netherlands, there is a gulley along the side of the steps to wheel bikes up.  Would it be possible to alter the steps to add a gulley?

Edited:  just seen your username so apologies if para 2, is irrelevant.

ic

FreeBear said:

Section62 said: The bank is steep, and supporting properties at the top, so the construction will need to be done as a retaining structure.  It is hard to estimate costs of that kind of work without  more information (e.g. soil type), but I wouldn't expect it to be less than £30k, and wouldn't be shocked if you got quotes significantly higher than £50k.

...If that is sold rock under the terrace, that might reduce the cost of retaining walls, but at an increase in cost of digging out the space...

...or blasting!

DRP

Could you save 100k and deforest the front garden to fit a shed in? - then you only have to move the bike down 1 or 2 flights of steps?

phoebe1989seb

DRP said:

Could you save 100k and deforest the front garden to fit a shed in? - then you only have to move the bike down 1 or 2 flights of steps?

I was going to suggest this - would it be possible to clear one of the lowest terraced areas of the garden in order to put a small, bike-sized shed/storage there?

We have a similar set up here, albeit with considerably less steps up to our raised ground floor front door 😉, although - as our house was built as a working mill - we are fortunate to have an undercroft below with open courtyard at street/boundary level where we have installed a shed for DH's tools. This is accessed via double, arched gates, padlocked shut.

We live rurally in an area with - touch wood - very little crime, but when we purchased the property there were no gates and I know a previous owner kept bikes and a motorbike stored there. Personally I wanted to get it secured asap and even padlocked/closer to the house than yours would be, I worry about break-ins 🙄

Going back to your original idea, I can't imagine you'd be able to do that for less than £100k...and that's assuming you'd get planning permission!

Not sure how thick that wall would be for starters. Our stone walls are at least 2' thick and take some serious drilling if we need to make an opening right through 😉

dutchcloggie

Lol. I *think* I might abandon the idea. 

Thanks for your sobering reality check :-)

Eldi_Dos

Would it be possible to put in a zip wire from first landing on stairs to decking area to attach bike to and ease up to house?

goldfinches

I wondered if something like this might be useful.



You put your bike wheels in the channel and lean your bike away from the handrail and push it up the slope. It makes the whole thing so much easier than having to heave the wheels up each riser. Let me know if you'd like more photos.

sourpuss2021

DRP said:

Could you save 100k and deforest the front garden to fit a shed in? - then you only have to move the bike down 1 or 2 flights of steps?

Or just lock it to the street lamp, saving even more!