Excavating close to neighbour's house

[Leofric]

The gravel boards was for the fence not to support the soil

you have lost me .
Sorry , I can't seem to get through with what I am trying to say.

If it ends up that i cannot remove all the soil against the wall then i could build a retaining wall with sleepers

or as your engineer originally suggestedplease check with the engineer on any retaining walls you intend building .

 

[Al@n]

you have lost me .
Sorry , I can't seem to get through with what I am trying to say.
or as your engineer originally suggestedplease check with the engineer on any retaining walls you intend building .

If you look at the pics i uploaded to the left there is a fence between myself and the neighbours house next door. So if i were to remove the soil as the fence is currently sitting above the soil there will be a gap below. So to cover the gap I'll be fitting gravel boards and the fence will then go on top

 

[Leofric]

If you look at the pics i uploaded to the left there is a fence between myself and the neighbours house next door.

yes,I

can see that​

So if i were to remove the soil as the fence is currently sitting above the soil there will be a gap below.

yes and a big gap if you are removing about 1.5m of soil you can't then use gravel boards to retain the earth on the other side of the fence
ps is this all a wind up

 

[Al@n]

yes,I

can see that​

yes and a big gap if you are removing about 1.5m of soil you can't then use gravel boards to retain the earth on the other side of the fence
ps is this all a wind up

No its not a wind up lol the neighbours side is flat ground level!

 

[Leofric]

No its not a wind

glad to hear that.

the neighbours side is flat ground level!

help

 

[23vc]

An annotated sketch would speak a thousand words.

 

[^woody^]

How can i determine what the neighbours ground floor level is? without actually me requesting them to inspect the inside of their house

Walk around the front, see where the front door step is, follow the big fat DPC joint around the side

 

[Al@n]

Walk around the front, see where the front door step is, follow the big fat DPC joint around the side

Ok I'll do that tomorrow and report back...

 

[magicmushroom666]

Surely the neighbours garden the other side of the wooden fence is around the same ground level against this house your digging up against? When you dig your side down 1.5M, their garden level will be that much higher than yours, which is a lot of soil to hold back from falling into your side. A new fence wont hold that back.

 

[Al@n]

Surely the neighbours garden the other side of the wooden fence is around the same ground level against this house your digging up against? When you dig your side down 1.5M, their garden level will be that much higher than yours, which is a lot of soil to hold back from falling into your side. A new fence wont hold that back.

It is partially flat and also raised, to prevent it from falling on my side I'm planning on fitting railway sleepers

 

[Leofric]

the neighbours side is flat ground level!

It is partially flat and also raised

- you are providing some confusing information Al@n.

 

[Leofric]

So to cover the gap I'll be fitting gravel boards and the fence will then go on top

to prevent it from falling on my side I'm planning on fitting railway sleepers

 

[Al@n]

Apologies, my mistake, so I had a proper look at the neighbours garden to the left and spoke to him.

The first two metres of his garden is slabbed up and flat, followed by a raised bed of soil of approx 3 metres which has a brick built retaining wall and the end of his garden where the soil ends it's backed up against a small brick wall (not a property)

Therefore if i lower my garden to ground level his soil could/will spill over so a fence is out of the question, but could build a wall out of railway sleepers

 

[cdbe]

Unless you have a tiny garden and a large budget (excavation and spoil disposal, demolition, engineers fees, your neighbours having a fit when you start digging down the side of their house etc) why don't you just remove half the depth of it and retain the rest with your sleepers, forming raised beds for screening plants. Unless you like looking at the expanse of brick wall that is your neighbour's gable end you'll surely want to screen this anyway. Retaining a gentle upwards slope on the rest of the garden will help as well. I would be trying to keep that right hand wall and hoping it's foundations are as deep as next doors house.

 

[H2Gizmo]

Do a narrow trial hole with a narrow spade and find out where the foundations are ?? Like woody said it's a downward force rule then apply the 45 deg rule. If the floor level inside is high however the house was designed to have the soil there permanently...regardless of rules and health and safety common sense applies also..ie.the property has had that soils up again it's lower walls for many years....... Good luck with it