retaining wall

[mousiemouth]

Thanks to you all for your interest and comments - I'm slightly (well more than slightly actually) concerned that my builder isn't doing any of the things that have been suggested but I can't leave it anylonger or I'll have no garden left. It's still pouring down here and to make matters worse a tree and about 4 foot of soil has just fallen into the burn from the banking on the other side where the water flow has taken the edges away there as well. Woe is me!!!
Will let you know how I get on...by the way I'm a 'she' not a 'he'!!
you can see the tree

 

[Alastairreid]

you can see the tree

where

 

[Alastairreid]

aha
View media item 16922
gabion baskets.

 

[lostinfens]

concrete is over £100 a metre here.

drainage holes i had in mind were as mentioned earlier.small diameter plastic pipe from the garden side through the wall.leave an overhang if poss

ok 400 plus blocks at £15.00 a metre,10 blocks to a sq metre sq.thats £600.00.

etc etc

I'd go along with Chukka on the crete-where can you get it for 50/m these days??
I'd also estimate the blocks to be nearer 500 for the job though, you'd need some proper wellies too.- I'd go for the sleeper or Gabion basket option. But you would need some serious damming to cope with that mess

 

[Thermo]

I'd go along with Chukka on the crete-where can you get it for 50/m these days??

i dont know, but when he tells us, im going to buy some and store it up my yard for my next few jobs!

 

[woody2]

a cheaper way which i did over 5 years ago was to put scaffold poles in and then put tyres over the poles offset- then back fill the gravel

only an idea

 

[Shytalkz]

The problem isn't the drainage behind the wall, it's the undermining of whatever foundations were there before by the stream.

That said, putting a drainage arrangement behind the wall and weeps will help to alleviate any addtional build-up of pressure on the back of the wall.

If it's inclined into the slope, the self-weight of the wall helps to counteract the overturning force of the soil it's retaining.

Numerous ways of solving it, gabions as good as any - no need for separate drainage layer behind wall then, as it can drain through the structure.

If your builder doesn't do your footings adequately, you'll be revisiting this in the future, £6.5k or not.

 

[alexhayes]

Dig a hole, set gabions in- job done.

much quicker than someone shoring up the stream, pumping out, digging down to set a suitable foundation, and building wall.

No need for drainage as suggested above so it saves even more time.

Examples used on River Rea for a bit of realigning and protection to properties.

will last better than your 6.5k block wall.

regards

 

[Shytalkz]

^What Alex says^

 

[alexhayes]

I cant take the credit, someone else suggested it. Always good to see something in action for the OP and i knew i had some photos where we albeit temporary (take that as ten years+), protected diverted a section of river within the former longbridge works.

 

[mousiemouth]

Will gabions withstand quite a force of water that comes from a culvert in time of heavy rains? Someone told me that they can move with a strong flow of water....I'm sure one of you knowledgeable guys will tell me.

 

[mousiemouth]

Okay update time.....you've all set alarm bells ringng about the adequacy of the proposed wall to be built. So I rang the builder and asked for a written guarantee that the wall will still be there in 2 years. Guess what...no! Okay then, 1 year....no again! Decided that if I'm spending £6,500 and he can't guarantee his handiwork to still be standing further ahead than next week, then he can't be up to much ....so deal is off and now I've to find someone else...but quick. Think I'll look up gabions in Yell.com.

 

[mousiemouth]

So Alexhayes...are you busy for the next few days????

 

[Norcon]

With that price he sounded like a cowboy imo.
The gabions are a good proposal.

There at the bottom of my lane.
We did some drainage excavation at the side of a main road once and the 10m siding on the main road consequently collapsed into our field creating a huge ravine.

6 months work ensued by the council. Bridge sidings had to be retained also and this is where they used the gabions starting at the sides of the river.
All the locals at the time had never seen these and said it wouldn't last 2 years.
That was 29 years ago and still as secure as the first day.

 

[mousiemouth]

Thanks Norcon, so they'll see me longer than the time it takes me to get rid of this house!! just worried now about the time to get someone to do this and who. Do all builders do this kind of work or do I need specialists?