Bonkers idea or a great idea?

[canalsiderenovation]

Our bungalow is adjacent to an old railway embankment, track long gone in the 50's. There is no danger of the embankment falling down, it's full of ivy, plants and lots of shrubs we relocated and is a gradual incline and we own about half way up and then to the top and down the other side no one quite knows, solicitors searches, land registry etc came up blank. Beyond that just farmers fields. The owners before had some sleepers just at the bottom which are rotting now and we would like to put in some sort of 'retaining' wall, although really it's not retaining as such as parts of it have had nothing in for years and it's fine, just a mess and we have around 90 metres as it is basically the whole length of the property!

 

I initially thought my dad may have gone mad when he suggested motorway barriers but it could be a very cost effective method! The only picture I could find to resemble what my dad had in his head was something like this albeit not that high.

 

 

Using something like these which come in varying lengths....

 

 

Granted they are certainly not the most attractive thing but painting it perhaps could make them look a bit better and add in some trailing plants we need to move. It certainly could be far cheaper than any other option.

 

Pic taken of part of the embankment to the right early.on in the build (some trees in front of path were removed). It's not a built wall rather just bits of concrete the previous owners placed on it and in other parts there are sleepers. That is the highest point as some ground was dug out.

 

Edited April 20, 2021 by canalsiderenovation

[ToughButterCup]

My dad and yours would have got on famously.  Dads know best. Do it

 

[Conor]

Corrosion resistant, very strong, cheap, easy to install. Sounds like a great idea. And I bet they'd be really easy to clad with timber or plant trellaces. Nice big slots you can bolt through.

[PeterW]

If you alternate them either side of a post then you’ll expose a planting pocket as you go up so can put stuff in them to disguise / hide / make a feature. 

[Bonner]

Agreed, would look good stepped up the bank to create terraces for planting. If you paint them, make sure you use an etch primer for galvanised steel.

[joe90]

Brilliant idea, certainly strong enough and will last decades, regarding the top of the embankment, if no one else is interested, if you create a “natural” woodland area you could eventually claim vacant possession. We have an old railway line near us and some people have taken over a part next to them and no one seems bothered!

Edited April 24, 2021 by joe90

[Onoff]

I'd put a thick membrane between them and any soil bank.

[canalsiderenovation]

2 hours ago, PeterW said:

If you alternate them either side of a post then you’ll expose a planting pocket as you go up so can put stuff in them to disguise / hide / make a feature. 

 

Sorry what do you mean alternate them? Me and the wife have different interpretations of what we think you mean.

 

1 hour ago, joe90 said:

Brilliant idea, certainly strong enough and will last decades, regarding the top of the embankment, if no one else is interested, if you create a “natural” woodland area you could eventually claim vacant possession. We have an old railway line near us and some people have taken over a part next to them and no one seems bothered!

 

A couple of years ago we planted lots of bluebell bulbs that were in the way of the extension we moved and we have bluebells now all on the embankment which look lovely.

 

I don't think claiming vacant possession now is as easy as it was previously but it's useless land and no one can access it aside from the farmer who has fenced it off because he wouldn't want animals up there and can't grow maize up there.

[canalsiderenovation]

3 hours ago, ToughButterCup said:

My dad and yours would have got on famously.  Dads know best. Do it

 

 

He does have some good ideas and I have to say it's looking surprisingly cost effective - with free labour from dad. He did say he needed something to keep him occupied if he considered semi retiring (he's 67)!

[PeterW]

38 minutes ago, canalsiderenovation said:

Sorry what do you mean alternate them? Me and the wife have different interpretations of what we think you mean.

 

like this 

 

 

 

[canalsiderenovation]

1 hour ago, PeterW said:

like this 

 

 

 

 

I was right, yep could be an idea depending on digging into the embankment.....

 

 

[Ferdinand]

5 minutes ago, canalsiderenovation said:

 

I was right, yep could be an idea depending on digging into the embankment.....

 

 

 

I think you get a digger and knock 'em in like a hammer, then clear what is left from the front. 

 

Essentially you are piling to create a bank.

 

The other source I would look at is piles for canal-banks.

 

Has a local company got any used ones left over?

[joe90]

24 minutes ago, Ferdinand said:

Has a local company got any used ones left over?

Or short offcuts?

[Russell griffiths]

Ok so I’m on the other side of the fence, I think they will look hideous. 

Get some Gabon baskets filled with a local stone, 

or no baskets and just a rough built rock wall

or do nothing, why do you need to build a vertical wall to hold back something that isn’t moving, can you not leave it as is and just plant it. 

[canalsiderenovation]

51 minutes ago, Ferdinand said:

 

I think you get a digger and knock 'em in like a hammer, then clear what is left from the front. 

 

Essentially you are piling to create a bank.

 

The other source I would look at is piles for canal-banks.

 

Has a local company got any used ones left over?

 

We have found a company that has 5.3m lengths of crash barriers and we reckon we can do a deal on these at about £25 each. Regardless of length they are only 310mm high and in some places we would need to stack them.

 

The concrete in Z posts are the biggest cost. They are 1160mm long at £19.50 each. What we haven't established is if we need 3 posts per panel or if they are going side by side you use the same post either side...

[canalsiderenovation]

2 minutes ago, Russell griffiths said:

Ok so I’m on the other side of the fence, I think they will look hideous. 

Get some Gabon baskets filled with a local stone, 

or no baskets and just a rough built rock wall

or do nothing, why do you need to build a vertical wall to hold back something that isn’t moving, can you not leave it as is and just plant it. 

 

Baskets filled with stone for 90metres is going to cost mega money, even a built rock wall will.

 

It could be left I guess but it's all higgledy-piggledy with some bits having old sleepers, some bits work rocks and some not. Just thinking it would tidy it up a bit and give a property edge. It won't be high.

[Declan52]

Do it in a series of steps to suit 2 rows of these. Set them back 1m each time which will give you a nice flat area to plant out. When these grow then it will hide the barriers.

If the Z posts are too expensive price up concrete fence posts then bolt the barriers to these.

[Ferdinand]

1 hour ago, canalsiderenovation said:

 

We have found a company that has 5.3m lengths of crash barriers and we reckon we can do a deal on these at about £25 each. Regardless of length they are only 310mm high and in some places we would need to stack them.

 

The concrete in Z posts are the biggest cost. They are 1160mm long at £19.50 each. What we haven't established is if we need 3 posts per panel or if they are going side by side you use the same post either side...

 

Have you considered doing them  vertically - like a canal bank ?

[Mr Punter]

59 minutes ago, Ferdinand said:

Have you considered doing them  vertically - like a canal bank ?

 

Sheet piling you could cut them in half and push them in with a digger bucket.  They would be strong with the corrugation.

[canalsiderenovation]

On 24/04/2021 at 16:02, Mr Punter said:

 

Sheet piling you could cut them in half and push them in with a digger bucket.  They would be strong with the corrugation.

 

Thanks, currently looking into options and weighing things up.

[canalsiderenovation]

Just unloaded:

 

47 x 4.3m crash barriers, 20 odd posts and an enormous amount of bolts all for the grand sum of £1500 delivered which was the most cost effective solution we found. Cement and gravel/stone ready and the plan according to dad is to attach some kind of wood to them so it's like picket fencing using some kind of special type of screw (forgot what he said). I've no idea frankly what this will look like but my dad's got a vision and it will look amazing (apparently).....

 

I sense this is a project @ToughButterCup

would love!

 

Showing off the muscles after unloading them all!

 

 

 

I'm glad this is hopefully going to be a cost effective solution because we have marked out our patio and path to pergola, another seating are etc and we have around 90m2 - and we want porcelain!!!! How bl00dy much?

Edited May 18, 2021 by canalsiderenovation

[canalsiderenovation]

So, put in a few barriers and thought I'd share pictures.

 

Had quite a few looks from people on the canal at the weekend!

 

 

 

The plan is for them go be two high, so a barrier needs to be on the bottom. Dad is then going to attach some 2ft high panels like this below so you won't see the barriers.

 

We estimate the total cost will be just over £2500 for the whole 90 metres.

 

 

[Big Jimbo]

Sounds like a result.

[Onoff]

10 minutes ago, canalsiderenovation said:

Had quite a few looks from people on the canal at the weekend!

 

Nosey gits! ?

 

Put a fake orange notice up that there's a bypass going through and that the canal's to be drained and filled in.

[canalsiderenovation]

13 minutes ago, Onoff said:

 

Nosey gits! ?

 

Put a fake orange notice up that there's a bypass going through and that the canal's to be drained and filled in.

 

Our neighbors on the towpath side said they heard a group of walkers debating what was happening. I've got some traffic cones here too ?