New drainage connection advice

[saveasteading]

@markcand I posted much the same same simultaneously. 

[Russell griffiths]

Looking at that bigger picture then the land at the top of the retaining wall has been built up too high in my opinion allowing the water to naturally drain off the top and down the face of the wall. 
 

get up the top with some gardening tools and cut back all the crap on the fence, scrape back any soil and sit and watch, I bet the mucky area in the corner is the natural run off from above. 
 

I would want a drainage channel or a sort of spoon drain up top to prevent pooling water up there running down the face. 
sort that bit first. 
 

the cracks I’m afraid will be very expensive to fix and I would live with them for the minute 

 

the small hole has not been filled since the wall was built and is just an easy escape route for water that is behind the wall. 
 

sort the top first then let’s see what happens. 
 

get a pressure washer on that corner so it’s clean and you can monitor it. 

[saveasteading]

1 hour ago, Russell griffiths said:

a drainage channel or a sort of spoon drain up top

A professionally designed wall would have drainage behind it including at the base, so that water never builds up. 

Yours seems to be reasonably stable considering, so applying the various methods above is likely to suffice

[Nickfromwales]

Forget trying to fill the cracks from the face, I believe the phrase applicable here is “pissing into the wind”.

 

If you want the wall to be ‘pretty’ then fit some horizontal battens and some vertical cladding, timber or synthetic, as then the water can dribble out of the new drip holes and down to the ground, behind the cladding. That’s perfectly fine, assuming the walls been there for x number of years and there’s no notable movement of it from its original cast position? 

[slystallone]

6 hours ago, markc said:

To do this right you really need to be excavating behind the wall and installing drainage to take the water away rather than through the wall. A pored wall of that size really should have had the drainage installed, any chance there has been other work at the ends possibly blocking the drains?

Drilling holes will reduce pressure and water level but then you will be managing the water on the good side of the wall - with pipework

What kind of drainage would be behind the wall if it was done in the way you mention rather than through the wall?

[slystallone]

3 hours ago, Nickfromwales said:

Forget trying to fill the cracks from the face, I believe the phrase applicable here is “pissing into the wind”.

 

If you want the wall to be ‘pretty’ then fit some horizontal battens and some vertical cladding, timber or synthetic, as then the water can dribble out of the new drip holes and down to the ground, behind the cladding. That’s perfectly fine, assuming the walls been there for x number of years and there’s no notable movement of it from its original cast position? 

Ya there is no movement 

[slystallone]

3 hours ago, saveasteading said:

A professionally designed wall would have drainage behind it including at the base, so that water never builds up. 

Yours seems to be reasonably stable considering, so applying the various methods above is likely to suffice

Can you give more details on what that drainage would look like behind the wall please?

[markc]

21 minutes ago, slystallone said:

What kind of drainage would be behind the wall if it was done in the way you mention rather than through the wall?

Hi @slystallone, the wall shoulld have the soil side waterproofed with a perforated pipe running around the bottom “French drain” style and backfill with pea gravel, pebbles or similar to allow any water behind the wall to go down into the perforated pipe and then away around the side.

idea is to take any water away to prevent the wall from being a Dam and being subjected to water pressure. It would be worth doing a bit of digging at the wall ends to check for any existing drainage that may have been blocked etc.

failing that you are looking at water management which means a lot of digging or back to cutting holes in the wall and then collecting the water to take it away in visible pipes on your side, 

Edited 4 hours ago by markc

[saveasteading]

1 hour ago, markc said:

a lot of digging or back to cutting holes in the wall

Exactly so.  The former would cost £10k for a job half done. And is it your land?

Holes £500. A heavy duty core drill with diamond core cutter can be hired for £150 or so.

You could join your outlet pipes up to drain away tidily, or make it a natural water feature of moss, slime and ivy.

[Nickfromwales]

1 hour ago, saveasteading said:

Exactly so.  The former would cost £10k for a job half done. And is it your land?

Holes £500. A heavy duty core drill with diamond core cutter can be hired for £150 or so.

You could join your outlet pipes up to drain away tidily, or make it a natural water feature of moss, slime and ivy.

I'd recommend a TCT percussion SDS drill vs diamond core, as that'll be 'soggy' and a total bastard to core drill multiple holes in.

 

Not so bad if you can hire a diamond core drill with a hose pipe attachment to allow water to flush the hole whilst it's being drilled. May need both, if you hit a bit of rebar as the TCT SDS won't like that very much whereas the diamond will whizz through it.