Just moved the garage...

On Wednesday Herr Starke from the company Glatthaar (British website), who are laying the foundations next week, rang after he had been to the site to see if everything was as it should be. He informed us that if the garage were to stay where it was originally planned (on the boundary adjoining the neighbour's garage) then we would need reinforced concrete foundations 3 metres deep! This is because the neighbour's garage has a basement below it, and therefore our foundations need to be the same depth as his to prevent pressure on the walls of his basement. In view of the imminent extra costs we had a re-think and are now going to join the garage to our own house - as we don't have a basement, then ordinary foundations will suffice. This has the added advantage that the patio will be protected from the wind on 2 and a half sides - the half side of 3 metres still allows us to look out of the living room across the fields to the south east. Wonder why we didn't think of that before... This also gives us the option of having the obligatory parking space (in accordance with building laws every house must have a parking space on site even if there is a garage) on the south side of the garage, meaning we can use the land on the west side of the house for a small front garden. A nice place to put the Ballymena cow-tail pump...