Hi All,
I have been working on making my garden more usable by terracing it from what is effectively a single slope to 3 terraces:
Bottom terrace: 7.5m wide (full garden width) x 4m deep
rising up 1.2m to:
Middle terrace: 7.5m x 1.8m
rising up 1.2m to
Top terrace: 7.5 x 4m
The main issue has been access so far, with no rear or side access I have lugged 48 cubic yards (6 skips) of soil through the house.
I want to put in 2 retaining walls (each 1.2m high) and I am struggling to choose between doing this in a sleeper wall or reinforced concrete block construction faced with....something.
If its sleepers I was going with new oak sleepers 5 high retained by sleeper posts sunk in concrete 600mm+ and potentially tieing the walls together with sleepers running from the top "course" of the bottom wall running to the bottom course of the top wall.
If its concrete blocks it would be a 800mm wide footing 300mm deep with L shaped rebar going up into 9" hollow concrete blocks filled with concrete. With rebar going horizontally in the footing and wall. To give a basic cantilever wall design.
What are peoples opinions on the choices?
I think that I have more confidence in the concrete, but given that I can't get readymix in, mixing the foundation could take ages and I don't know how bad an effect it is going to have on it. Which is why I having been edging towards the wood.
I have got a "work in progress" shot of the garden, sorry about the camera wide angle lens effect going on!
Many thanks for peoples help and opinions, my head is buzzing!
I have been working on making my garden more usable by terracing it from what is effectively a single slope to 3 terraces:
Bottom terrace: 7.5m wide (full garden width) x 4m deep
rising up 1.2m to:
Middle terrace: 7.5m x 1.8m
rising up 1.2m to
Top terrace: 7.5 x 4m
The main issue has been access so far, with no rear or side access I have lugged 48 cubic yards (6 skips) of soil through the house.
I want to put in 2 retaining walls (each 1.2m high) and I am struggling to choose between doing this in a sleeper wall or reinforced concrete block construction faced with....something.
If its sleepers I was going with new oak sleepers 5 high retained by sleeper posts sunk in concrete 600mm+ and potentially tieing the walls together with sleepers running from the top "course" of the bottom wall running to the bottom course of the top wall.
If its concrete blocks it would be a 800mm wide footing 300mm deep with L shaped rebar going up into 9" hollow concrete blocks filled with concrete. With rebar going horizontally in the footing and wall. To give a basic cantilever wall design.
What are peoples opinions on the choices?
I think that I have more confidence in the concrete, but given that I can't get readymix in, mixing the foundation could take ages and I don't know how bad an effect it is going to have on it. Which is why I having been edging towards the wood.
I have got a "work in progress" shot of the garden, sorry about the camera wide angle lens effect going on!
Many thanks for peoples help and opinions, my head is buzzing!
