we are currently in the process of designing our outdoor space and have run into a bit of trouble. we were not expecting this much of a fall between ours and the neighbors garage . we were planning to use the side for a water tank and a place too store our wheelie bins, but now we have no idea where to start? hubby was thinking a skinny under deck tank? but could we even deck here?the neighbors garage is built to the boundry line and the gap is 1060mm between garages, hopefully the pics ive put up are enough to inspire some of you greatly experianced H1 peoples! ideas, comments, judgements, pictures! anything you have to say, id love to hear!
thanks in advance!
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What the. Wow.. never seen one like that.

What are your neighbours doing for drainage.. Their garage will flood. Easily.

exactly what I was thinking Humble?
I have not seen any drainage on their block at all, and im scared that the drainage we have is not going to be enough to stop them getting flooded!
is it our fault if their garage gets flooded?

I'm no expert but I would assume the person responsible is the one that altered the natural slope of the land. This person should be responsible for retaining and drainage. So did they cut in, or is your house built up on fill?

Selina they cut and we had fill. So 50/50?

Yeah I would assume shared cost. Percentage would depend on how much cut and how much fill. Any water runoff from your land though would be your responsibility though as far as drainage (I think?). Have you spoke to your neighbours to try to work something out? I'd want to get it sorted ASAP before there's any water damage.

There are problems all through the estate with how each builder has cut or filled the land causing headaches for owners to landscape. Our neighbour next door built through PD and they wanted to significantly raise his slab up which would cause his surrounding land to slope away just like your awkward spot. He disputed them and made them cut into the land instead and used retaining walls. The neighbour behind him and us have an extreme sloped yard. The backyard of the house we are in has no drainage and the garden washes away under a gap under the fence. The house below has retaining walls up to their roof height and it floods easily. It's ridiculous how many of these issues are around here if you drive around you will see.

We still can't figure out what to do with our backyard after handover

I think you could deck your side path. Maybe a plastic waterproof barrier for the neighbours garage? Then connect some drainage. Attach Ledger to brickwork on both sides, put stumps down the middle, fill area with crushed rock, attach bearers, then joists?

Do you have a GPO there for a water tank? We realised though having where the water tank was potitioned on our plans, no one mentioned at our electrical appointment that we'd need a GPO for the rainwater tank pump

Hi Stace, my brothers a sparky so he will do our exterior GPO's when weve moved in, he did it at our other house and charged us 50bucks
we were thinking deck and crushed rock between ours and the neighbors garage, but wasnt sure are we alowwed to fix anything to their garage wall? Its not ours?
weve got drainage all around our place, I think well def get some more on this side tho... luckly my other brother is a plumber!
Ive noticed they have extended the retaining wall to the garage, it was only towards the back of their block before, which makes me think they know theres a problem?
just wondering if its a bit premature to be ringing and asking what drainage ect theyve got, but will def give them a call when were closer to settlement.
Thanks everyone for your help.

Can you attach to their brickwork? Short answer no, long answer, if you talk to them explain what your doing and why and gain consent from them to attach your deck to their wall then sure, no problem!

Hopefully they are nice people and can see it will help them with drainage also!

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Thats what im hoping Stormjr,
I wouldnt want anyone attaching things too my new house! but if its going to be benificial for them, hopefully theyll agree.
other wise it will be retaining wall down the side with maybe some river pebbles or something?

You wouldn't need to attach the deck to their wall just put stumps in up against their wall as that is the boundary and deck to the wall but not physically attached to it.
It will all be on your land so you're well within your rights without even consulting your neighbour, although I would for courtesies sake.

I was thinking with their permission of course. But the problem if you don't, putting stumps near their brickwork may be difficult as there is normally some concrete from the slab surrounding making digging holes near impossible.

You are so lucky having tradie brothers!

Problem attaching ledger to garage would be you breach their termite barrier, unless they foresaw the problem
As they have built on the boundary they really should have considered this problem and constructed walls to suit

The nextdoor neighbours house appears to be unfinished and I would assume the retaining wall has been built by the builder, you may be able to confirm that? If so they should have recognised the problem and it's more than likely that they have adopted a protective retaining wall type construction for their wall on the boundary. Having said that try your best to find out from the builder or relevant building surveyor. A good indicator could be the height of the weep holes, if they are higher on the garage wall then the rest of the house then protection is likely. Also I would stear clear of attaching decking to their wall, it can create problems later but joists can over hang a bearer by about 300mm so you could offset your stump holes that far from their wall. Sorry this is very long winded.

Thanks. ELL and cherub, weep holes are really low so we are struggling to think of a solution. I have read that you can't cover these so even if we build a deck not attached to their wall we would need to do some sort of drainage under it and cover with crushed rock? Guessing?
Mite just leave it for a while and see what everyone else in the estate has been doing, need to go look in peoples backyards! Lol.
Thanks for the comments.

Maybe get a landscaper to come over and offer suggestions and give you a quote. You will at least get some ideas from a professional and it doesn't mean you have to use them for the job if you think you can do it yourself.

Great idea titch101, why didn't I think of that! Thanks!