Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Aug 30, 2015 7:21 pm Hi, I am building a new house and have a question about how much you can level/build the earth up around a the building. The situation I have is I am building on a site with a bit of a slope that goes front to back and across the block. The back wall of my garage will between 20mm below to 20mm above natural ground level (depending where along the length), but the laundry which is behind it will have a floor level 514mm higher. The laundry has an external door. According to the plans the builder is going to cut the block a few metres left of the door and slope down to the garage floor level, thus leaving the back door 514mm above the cut ground and requiring steps. So was wondering what is stopping me from placing fill later to build this back up, so that the dirt follows the original ground level or maybe a bit higher so that it is then just a single step down to a concrete pad? The slab is drop edge beam construction around this whole area, up to the point where the cut and natural ground level meet as well as all the way around the garage. The back wall of the garage is brick, with stud/grproc wall on the inside. If you look at the picture, the vertical line to the right of the door is the back wall of the garage, and the thick black line is where the builder is going to cut. The dashed line is meant to be natural ground level, but not sure at which point they have taken this from, as the contour drawing shows the point where the back door is and the garage meet is at natural ground level. https://www.flickr.com/photos/135157823@N08/20811062080/ Re: Leveling the ground around a building 2Nov 27, 2015 11:35 pm Hi AJW, I'm not certain that the back wall of the garage is the same wall as the Laundry door wall, but if it is then it is imperative in my opinion that the ground is not higher than that shown at the back wall of the garage, so as to allow for damp-proofing the brick veneer wall of your garage. You could possibly think about a treated pine ramp if doing what you are suggesting. You are permitted to have 45 degree (1:1) cut embankments, but only 26 degrees (1:2) for fill. It is nice to have just a single drop at a doorway I know. Re: Leveling the ground around a building 4Nov 30, 2015 12:38 am Isn't it 75mm below the termite barrier/weep holes, which in my case is level with the top of the slab, which in turn is two course of bricks up. (I have drop edge slab). So should be able to cover the lower course of bricks. Have seen now how the neighbours have done it and might be able to get away with a timber platform/deck that leads to natural ground level with maybe one step one way but the fence side two steps. Will avoid any issues anyway. Re: Leveling the ground around a building 5Nov 30, 2015 8:47 am Quote: Isn't it 75mm below the termite barrier/weep holes, which in my case is level with the top of the slab, which in turn is two course of bricks up. (I have drop edge slab). So should be able to cover the lower course of bricks. Depends on what they have used for a termite barrier as in something like Kordon or a chemical barrier. Don't confuse your DPC with a termite barrier. They are two different things and need to be installed and treated differently. Here's how it should be in relation to your bricks and slab Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ An image from the US but pretty close to how we do it here. Cover up the weepholes and you may give the termites a way in... Stewie Re: Leveling the ground around a building 6Nov 30, 2015 9:26 am They have used a physical barrier which believe also acts as the damp course. Its the orange/red Rentokil product. Way they have done is put the barrier under the frames. They have then laid one row of bricks on the drop edge of the slab, then inserted the barrier (it steps down), then the next row of bricks has the weep holes. So would think I could bring dirt up to the bottom of the lowest course of bricks. That would give 75mm clear space the the barrier and the weep holes. Re: Leveling the ground around a building 7Nov 30, 2015 10:08 am Personally I wouldn't as the 75mm of the visible concrete acts as a solid barrier. Brickwork laid in mortar as you know is prone to have gaps, voids etc. Stewie Re: Leveling the ground around a building 8Dec 08, 2015 11:08 am hi AJW, We have almost the exact scenario at the place we are building although a bit more with a 1051mm drop into the garage. Ideally we wanted to build a retaining wall along that garage edge with steps to break that side into 2 zones. However we were told that there would be moisture related issues which would void our warranty with the builder. Its now left us with a couple of options: 1. We build a deck flush with the laundry but given the slope we would need to extend this for a reasonable distance but it would then leave a void underneath the desk that we are not to comfortable with. 2. We created a tiered setup along that side with steps coming down from the laundry. 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