6' Gabion Wall construction - how thin can/should it be?

[Tetrarch]

I've created a space that I want to fill with a gabion wall. 

 

I've chosen 1" x 1" x 10g galvanised wire mesh sheets and they are fixed at the ends and to the bottom. I have a number of gabion ties (double-ended hooks) to hold the walls together before filling. The "filling" itself will be ~30mm pebbles of some sort. The overall size is approximately 3.1m x 1.7m. The post at the right hand end is 6" across and I have a 9" brick wall at the other

 

My question is how thick should I make the wall?

 

The thicker it is the heavier it will be, the more the pebbles will cost and the more likely it will to bow the gabion itself

 

The thinner it is the less stable it will be 

 

Any advice welcome, pics below

 

 

 

Regards

 

Tet

[JohnMo]

Couple of issues I see.

 

Building a gabion you need to place stone, if you just tip them in the shape just balloons. The height you have will not allow placement.

 

The bigger the gabions are, the more difficult it becomes to make them nice looking, without time of patience.

 

Thickness is for stability.

 

Infill, you would normally have a veneer of nice stone the majority of the infill can be rubbish stone.

 

Are you expecting to retain or just have a wall of sorts?

 

A gabion where you have it wouldn't bother, good chance it won't be straight, and a bit wobbly.

[BotusBuild]

The double end hooked wires are going to need to be plentiful i think, probable at most 200mm apart to stop bulging.

Maybe a good idea to alternate the spacing of the hooks to also reduce chances of bulging.

Trying 4-600mm depth to start with.

[Tetrarch]

2 hours ago, JohnMo said:

Building a gabion you need to place stone, if you just tip them in the shape just balloons. The height you have will not allow placement.

 

 

I intend to use a drainpipe to insert stones slowly rather than dropping from a height

 

2 hours ago, JohnMo said:

Infill, you would normally have a veneer of nice stone the majority of the infill can be rubbish stone.

 

Are you expecting to retain or just have a wall of sorts?

 

It's just a stone wall, (plus design proof of concept for a more substantial curved retaining wall planned for the drive). I started with the idea of a wall that was 9" at one end and 6" at the other. It's only when offering up the mesh that I realised that this would be costly

 

2 hours ago, JohnMo said:

Thickness is for stability.

 

A gabion where you have it wouldn't bother, good chance it won't be straight, and a bit wobbly.

 

24 minutes ago, BotusBuild said:

The double end hooked wires are going to need to be plentiful i think, probable at most 200mm apart to stop bulging.

Maybe a good idea to alternate the spacing of the hooks to also reduce chances of bulging.

Trying 4-600mm depth to start with.

 

Agree with both these.

 

I have plenty of hooks. As it's decorative rather than structural then the thinner it is the less it will bulge.

 

I have some 1" box-section aluminium that I could use as guide bars to give the structure some support

 

Do you guys think that a 4" thickness would be suitable - ultimately if it doesn't quite work then I can always make it thicker

 

Regards

 

Tet

 

[JohnMo]

9 minutes ago, Tetrarch said:

Do you guys think that a 4" thickness would be suitable

I don't

[BotusBuild]

4" thick with 30mm stones? I think you'll see a lot of gaps (spy holes) between the stones. This maybe the effect your after of course but if not then go up to 6" as that should eliminate most "spy holes"

[Mr Punter]

I have never seen a gabion like that.  They are normally formed with a series of cages, filled with stone and wired together.  You will probably be looking at 1 metre at the base.  Even for a conventional brick or block freestanding wall with mortar and foundation it would need to be 215mm thick.

[Gone West]

There are examples of thin gabion walls on the Fine Mesh Metals site. They are called zenturo panels.

 

https://www.gabionbaskets.co.uk/gabion/gabion-fencing-system

 

[Gone West]

There are lots of ideas on https://gabionsupply.com/

 

Pumice stone, which can be bought in bulk, can be used for a lightweight filler.

 

 

[Dave Jones]

your putting a lot of faith in those 2 wooden posts holding up all that weight. Could seriously injure/kill someone if it fell on someone.

 

I'd replace those with steel posts driven well into the ground.

 

 

[Alan Ambrose]

Yeah, second the safety concern - I think that’s a much too lightweight construction. I’m sure proper SEs will be along shortly…

 

Maybe you can use some off-the-shelf cages and ask the manufacturers if they have any ready-made designs for the height you need? You may also need a proper base to stop the whole thing swivelling over on the corners.

 

I see in the example Gone West gives a link to, that the posts are in 0.6-0.7m or 35-60% of the height of the fence. Seems to me that that’s a bit of a generalisation given you could be building on rock or sand.

[Tetrarch]

Thank you for the link. It looks as though I should have spent longer on the FH Brundle website.......there is a specific pre-made (but MUCH more expensive) panneled version called zenturo available:

 

https://www.fhbrundle.co.uk/fencing-and-security/super-gabion-fencing

 

https://www.wireland.gr/en/products/steel-wire/rockfall-mesh/item/toixos-apo-sirmatokivotia-zenturo

 

 

The sizing on this is bigger mesh than mine but it comes up in maximum two metre panels

 

Regards

 

Tet