Retaining Wall

[Curtis]

Hi folks, looking for some ideas / advice for a retaining wall between my garage and next door neighbours garden.  As per attached picture there is a narrow-ish strip between my garage and the neighbours garden which is in a state and needs cleaned up.  Spoke to neighbour and they are happy for me to take the wall close up to their fence which you can see in the attached photo.

 

The wife fancies a gabion wall but i'm not too sure on them, they can look a bit rough after a few years.  I live in Moray Scotland so something in-keeping with the area would be good although if i see something smart I may change my mind!

 

Wall measurements:

> 27 metres length

> 3.5 metres total width, neighbours fence to my garage

      > 1.4m of that is from their fence to my fence

      > 2.1 m from my fence to my garage

> 1.5m height, above ground

> My property sits lower than neighbours garden, 2.5m difference

> Heavy clay land so needs adequate drainage

 

Any suggestions / advice would be appreciated.

 

Thanks

 

Edited February 15, 2023 by Curtis

[markc]

Large rocks/boulders? More natural looking than gabion but still able to hold the ground back, 2.5m height difference needs something substantial if you take the rooted vegetation away

[Conor]

What's the existing retaining structure? I'd be wary about touching it. 1.5m is a substantial amount of earth to retain, as it's a boundary, you want to be extra careful.

[ProDave]

1.4 metres between fences (boundary dispute as you can't agree on one fence line?) and 1.5 metres height difference.  So if that is just a sloping bank it is pretty much 45 degrees and perfectly stable.

 

So unless you want to move your fence to widen the flat area of land between your garage and the new fence / wall, I don't see much need to do anything? Perhaps some low maintenance shrub planting?

[Curtis]

2 hours ago, markc said:

Large rocks/boulders? More natural looking than gabion but still able to hold the ground back, 2.5m height difference needs something substantial if you take the rooted vegetation away

 

1 hour ago, Conor said:

What's the existing retaining structure? I'd be wary about touching it. 1.5m is a substantial amount of earth to retain, as it's a boundary, you want to be extra careful.

 

49 minutes ago, ProDave said:

1.4 metres between fences (boundary dispute as you can't agree on one fence line?) and 1.5 metres height difference.  So if that is just a sloping bank it is pretty much 45 degrees and perfectly stable.

 

So unless you want to move your fence to widen the flat area of land between your garage and the new fence / wall, I don't see much need to do anything? Perhaps some low maintenance shrub planting?

 

 

There is no retaining wall at all at the moment, it's just exposed clay/earth, another picture from the other side from the first photo is below.  There is no boundry dispute, my neighbour is happy for me to claim the no mans ground of 1.4m between our two coundry fences so the total area i have to work with is 3.5m from the side of my garage to their fence although i would still leave a gap to avoid causing any issues with their fence posts etc.

 

 

[Curtis]

Another picture is below.  The structure would start from this side, I might step the structure as theere is not much height difference at this side at the start so it starts low and then at it's highest point towards the middle / end it would be about 1.5m in height.

[Kelvin]

I’m with others why do anything other than tidy it up a bit. Retaining walls aren’t cheap no matter how you do them.  

[ProDave]

I would only add, remove your post and wire fence to make it easier to maintain the sloping bank, but keep the big end posts in place as markers and the photos just so you have a record of where the fence used to be.

[Conor]

Cut it back, plant a nice slow growing mixed native hedge and be done with it. You're well in to high four or even five figures for any kind of digging back and mechanical retaining wal. Looks like you've plenty of space elsewhere.

[Bozza]

If a stone dyke look suits you this is what I am currently building/ nearly finished.  Luckily I had loads of stones on site so no material cost..  Though probably overkill I did put in perforated pipe too within chuckies and covered in landscaping fabric. 
 

Needs some tidying up and soil backfill but you get the jist.

 

 

 

 

 

[Dave Jones]

On 15/02/2023 at 19:21, Curtis said:

Another picture is below.  The structure would start from this side, I might step the structure as theere is not much height difference at this side at the start so it starts low and then at it's highest point towards the middle / end it would be about 1.5m in height.

 

gabion baskets are cheapish method and they look good as well.

 

[Dave Jones]

17 minutes ago, Bozza said:

If a stone dyke look suits you this is what I am currently building/ nearly finished.  Luckily I had loads of stones on site so no material cost..  Though probably overkill I did put in perforated pipe too within chuckies and covered in landscaping fabric. 
 

Needs some tidying up and soil backfill but you get the jist.

 

 

 

 

 

 

looks great!

[eandg]

49 minutes ago, Bozza said:

If a stone dyke look suits you this is what I am currently building/ nearly finished.  Luckily I had loads of stones on site so no material cost..  Though probably overkill I did put in perforated pipe too within chuckies and covered in landscaping fabric. 
 

Needs some tidying up and soil backfill but you get the jist.

 

 

 

 

 

Looks great - any spare stone and time on your hands please swing by mine's... I'm not sure there's a big issue in the opening post but Conor's suggestion sounds about right to me - DIY some beech for a much quicker alternative at a fraction of the cost. 

[canalsiderenovation]

Motorway barriers 😁https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/topic/20512-bonkers-idea-or-a-great-idea/page/4/