Friday, October 12, 2012

Retaining Wall Woes - Some Advise

I thought I'd post what I've been up to and it might give some others some ideas. Sadly I've seen a lot of retaining walls being built by builders in the area and sadly they're not done to last. One or two I've seen would be lucky to last 6 months. Mine included hence why I ripped it down and decided to do it again and do it properly, rather then trying to dig up half the lawn, trees, and the neighbours yard in the future.

In total it cost me about $350 for the materials. A big thanks for my dad for helping me out with some of the tricky parts.

This was the old wall. The wall wasn't straight and the posts were only in 150-200mm in the ground, retaining about 700mm, the pressure from the soil behind would have pulled it over. Also there was an ag-pipe behind the wall but it was just surrounded by soil. The pipe would have clogged by the soil after the first rain fall and never worked again.


These shots show me digging it all out and digging the wall back to give me room. Took me a few hours to do this.


These shots show some of the work a fair bit down the track. I dug the retaining wall posts down 700-900mm based on the string line of the top of the fence. My posts were a lot deeper. I used about 2-3 bags of concrete per hole. The fence posts are extended at 3m, they also went just as deep.



These photos show the ditch I dug from the retaining wall to my sewrage pipe. I'll be tapping into it with some 90mm pipe, there about $12 for a 6m length. This really helps with the water problems. You should run the ag-pipe to a pipe in your yard to carry the water away. I know it seems your doing it for them but trust me your not. If I can take most of the water away then I save it soaking my backyard. Make sure you put one of these in. I dug the ditch about 200-300mm deep.




And last but not least, the ag-pipe should have about 150mm of blue metal drainage (or equivalent) on top of the ag-pipe. Then on top of this use something to filter the soil so the soil doesn't get into the pipe. You can buy the ag-cloth or use weed mat. Put this on top of the gravel and you shouldn't have to many dramas.





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11 comments:

  1. AnonymousNovember 3, 2012 at 5:11 AM

    Hi! This is a good read. You have such an interesting and informative page. I will be looking forward to visit your page again and for your other posts as well. Thank you for sharing your thoughts about retaining walls in your area. I am glad to stop by your site and know more about retaining walls. Keep it up!
    Unless the wall is designed to retain water, It is important to have proper drainage behind the wall in order to limit the pressure to the wall's design value. Drainage materials will reduce or eliminate the hydrostatic pressure and improve the stability of the material behind the wall. Drystone retaining walls are normally self-draining.
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    Begin by laying the foundation. These are the most critical blocks in your wall. If they aren't level or adequately support the top half of your retaining wall, the whole project is going to look less than professional. Make sure that the foundational blocks are leveled off, sturdy, and tightly packed together.

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