Retaining Wall

After ignoring the fact for the last two years, this year I have to do something about this retaining wall in my garden. The new fence you see was built last year, up until now the weather has been atrocious, so no protection on it yet.

The wall is forty five feet long and collapsing, the bank is starting to slide as well. It wasn't built very well by the previous owners. The third picture shows the right hand end, for some reason it was bodged with cement holding slate, which has already partially collapsed and various rocks have fallen along it's length.

Now the question is do I re-build with the stone I have (with a pile of extra's sitting on my patio too) or do I go for something completely different. I was thinking about replacing it with wooden logs, but think it would look 'to much' with the fence above it. The bank will eventually be completely re-planted.

Any ideas and comments will be gratefully received.

 

I agree with shiney, particularly the angle, however I have an alternative suggestion that I have seen used on motorways.
They build a bank like you have, then they put what looks like sacking over it, then they spay grass seed, few weeks later there is a grass bank.

Spray grass

But perhaps you could take the rocks up and lay turf? I did just that on a smaller scale, worked a treat. (I used a strimmer to cut the grass)

 

Hi Sheal

was the bank made up from leveling the lawn ??

If you need to keep it how about rail way sleepers also if you removed it would the fence fall down

And over the fence does that drop down as well .

If it was me I would probably re start it from scratch put some footinings in level it off as well , fence looks good , a few climers would look lovely

Spruce

 

Sadly like all construction work, the answer is very much dependent upon how deep that your pockets are.:(

In an ideal world and if this were my garden, I would remove all of the old wall, dig some footings and fill with concrete, construct a solid 100mm thick concrete block wall, then lay a brick wall infilled with the existing stone so creating feature framing.

It would also look very effective if you were to create a framework of boxes using sleepers, infilled with the stones.

It would also be quite nice if you could lower the impact of the fence behind. I'm guessing that your property is in quite a windy position.

Actually, the more that I think about this the more ideas that I have.:D

 

could be a costly excercise, but can be made to look very nice

one of the cheapest options would be Kriblok system :
Kriblok gravity retaining wall - RPC Contracts - on ESI.info

a few trailing plants and they will be covered

I prefer railway sleepers but they are not cheap unless bought from salvage yards and auction

 

Thanks all. Think I'll have to give a few more details in answer to your questions.

It's not an option to remove the bank as it runs across another dozen properties as well. The soil is sandy, I'm just 200yds from the sea and the wind hit's the fences outer side, looking at the fence the wind comes from the west on the left diagonally and fully on to the fence from the north-west.

Beyond the fence and bank is a single track un-made road which serves the few properties at the rear. The fence is this high to help keep wind and prying eyes out as this is my back garden.

Unfortunately, my back garden is only 30ft deep but 60ft wide. For some reason when my bungalow was built many moons ago, the larger garden was put at the front 60ft by 60ft. So sadly I haven't room really to make the bank deeper.

Clematis are not an option. I've tried those so many times and lost them.

I already have railway sleepers round a tiered bed to the left of this wall, but I think anymore wood would be overpowering.

Cost I really need to keep to a minimum.

I think it really needs to be some sort of wall, because the soil is sandy and just crumbles away.

Not an easy one to think out, but your replies have been helpful. Thanks.

 

Sheal. I think what you need is a double skinned wet stone wall, back filled with soil. I would say the best people for advice would be Paladin and Ziggy.

 

I know nothing and as such should probably keep my opinion to myself

Anyway, it looks to me like the rocks are just there to prevend landslip/washing away the embankment,, this appears to have worked with the heavier stones, and it is just where some slate instead of rocks has been placed that has caused the trouble

So top up the soil and hoy some big rocks in again :-)


Jack McH

 

Thanks Dai and Jack.

Jack, you're possibly right. I've been here seven years and the elderly lady that lived here before never touched the garden, so it has done pretty well, as it would have been the owners before her that put the wall up.

 

Thanks John, it does seem the easiest and cheapest way to sort it out. The bank has moved so I'll have to remove all the rock, slice off the front, replace the rocks and backfill.

Sounds so easy, but I think it'll be back breaking work, but nothing ventured, nothing gained!

 

That's a tricky one as too many different materials would look a bit of a pickle. So this is what I would consider........
Firstly I would decide how much of a planting area at the top you want and slice it back to a vertical "wall". Drive some stakes into the ground (40x40 pressure treated timber is cheap) and then screw what my local timber yard calls gravel board (20cm wide 20mm thick pressure treated timber that costs about 60p per metre from a proper timber merchant, and they should deliver too) to it to shore it up. Now attend to what will be the planting area - it could be a raised bed, and backfill to the new "support wall".
Then, in front of the "support wall" create a slope down to the lawn using hardcore, the stones maybe, and top soil. Pack it down well using some ply-wood and your boot! Once it is a well compressed and fairly even slope lay chicken wire over it, securing it at the top to the wooden "support wall". Then lay turf over the top using wooden or bamboo stakes - leave 15cm or so of these stakes proud so that they can be easily removed once the turf has rooted.
When creating the slope, you may want to consider whether you want to put steps in at some point/s.

It will require a hover mower or similar to cut the grass, but I think that it'll give a long lasting natural look.

Then the fun bit of planting the top out! If it gets plenty of sun, a couple of clumps of Nicotiana sylvestris and Cleome (tall growing annuals) deserve a spot.