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DIY retaining wall advice
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Author:  hunts01 [ Jan 03, 2010 8:52 pm ]
Post subject:  DIY retaining wall advice

Hi there, we are in the midst of having to build a retaining wall, to sought out some drainage issues we are having. We have been looking at the Boral selection, that I should be able to do myself. If there are any people in the know in this area, and you have any advice / suggestions / alternatives please offer some advice. We have about 15 metres in length and the height of the wall will only be about 600mm to get the drain in backfill. We are looking at a cost effective means, without using sleepers or post method. The other method we thought of was to use concrete blocks and render it but not sure of the process and whether concrete footings / starter bars are needed.

ANy help would be appreciated.

Author:  hsv216 [ Jan 03, 2010 9:10 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: DIY retaining wall advice

Hi Hunts01,

Not sure if this will help or not, but have a look here:

http://www.mitre10.com.au/DIY-Central/M ... /Build-It/

They have a guide for building retaining walls. They go through both a Wooden (using sleepers) and a Block type.

Not sure if you know all this already as well, but hope it helps.

Author:  Dirtyard Darren [ Jan 04, 2010 12:53 am ]
Post subject:  Re: DIY retaining wall advice

I'm doing the same type of project myself, I have 25mt of wall to build with heights varying from 400mm to 1000mm at the highest point, and back down to 400mm.

I had looked at both ways of building, sleepers and steel posts and bricking and bagging.

In the end I have opted for the concrete sleeper and steel post option over the bricks for 2 reasons. The 1st being ease and speed of construction and secondly I don't think there is not much price difference betweeen using sleepers and using brick.

I had planned on using the large concrete "besser" block type of brick (390 x 190 x 190) which requires a concrete footing, steel reinforcing for the footings as well as throughout the brickwork for concrete core filling, and not only that I am not much of a brick layer so I could guarantee that the finished product would look rather substandard unless I hired a bricky to do it for me. Brick prices vary but I think Bunnings sell them for $2.50 each, cheaper if you can get them from a masonary or brickworks no doubt. All adds up to be quite expensive. I didn't look into using house bricks.

So far steel has cost me $570 for near 20m (approx $28.50 per meter) of black steel, and around $80 for rust treatment and paint before I plant them into the ground. The galvanised steel is around $48 per meter, nearly double that of the black steel !!
I have estimated I need 52 concrete sleepers (plain concrete finish sized 1800 L x 200 H x 60mm thick ) which I can get for $22 each.
So without adding the cost of drainage (approx $50 for 40mt of ag pipe from Bunnings), plastic membrane, rock/pebble backfill and concrete for the posts (need nearly 1 cubic meter), so far has cost me just over $1700 which would be considerably less than if I had chosen to go the brick option.

Your wall being not being as long or high may make your choice of brick being more viable as a cheaper option, but for me personally it was cheaper for me to go the way of the sleepers.

Hoped I have helped in some way.

Author:  hunts01 [ Jan 04, 2010 7:42 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: DIY retaining wall advice

Hey mate, thanks for the detailed reply.

Do you have a photo of the concrete sleepers, the reason we didn't want to use the redgum sleepers is that the whole house is rendered and we want a smart clean look, concrete sleepers may be a good in between. If you don't have a photo can you give me an idea where you will get them through.

Cheers
Hunts

Author:  Dirtyard Darren [ Jan 05, 2010 12:49 am ]
Post subject:  Re: DIY retaining wall advice

Sleepers were ordered today, so will be 7 days till delivery. Plain concrete sleepers are fairly common around here so no problems of getting a photo of a wall, even if its not of my own :) A few houses nearby have them.

I'm not a fan of the concrete sleeper look either and I was dead against it when we first decided to build a wall, but it is going down the side of the house that will be rarely seen by anyone else other than me and the other half and I plan on painting it when finished to colour it up a bit. Even thought about using slate crazy paving once the wall has settled to clad it so it looked like a rock wall but at $10 for a 400x400 tile it was going to costly as well. The other reason for not using timber is that there are white ants in the area, and I only want to build the wall once, so nothing that would rot or be susceptible to white ant damage.

Will get a couple of pics tomorrow if I remember.

Cheers.

Author:  Striking [ Jan 07, 2010 9:21 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: DIY retaining wall advice

Check out Boral's website, they have some DIY guides for their block retaining wall systems.

just a 200mm footing of crusher dust or sand is required, level and compact then string line the first course and take your time... lay down some agg pip and drainage gravel and start laying the blocks on top of each other. Piece of cake.

I tink you have chosen the best DIY method

all the best!

Author:  scrappinfreak [ Jan 08, 2010 11:43 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: DIY retaining wall advice

hey dirty darren... where are you ocated?? I was calling up suppliers in melbourne for prices on the concrete sleepers and they were all around $40 each??
I think 20sounds far better!!!

Author:  onc_artisan [ Jan 09, 2010 12:21 am ]
Post subject:  Re: DIY retaining wall advice

Hey DD so about $70 L/M.
About 0.09 cu mtrs per L/M
Concrete cost of $20 L/M... Hmmm

Author:  Dirtyard Darren [ Jan 09, 2010 8:22 am ]
Post subject:  Re: DIY retaining wall advice

scrappinfreak scrappinfreak
hey dirty darren... where are you ocated?? I was calling up suppliers in melbourne for prices on the concrete sleepers and they were all around $40 each??
I think 20sounds far better!!!


Located in Wodonga, ordered them through a local paver company that makes and supplies them, MCG Pavers. Ended up being $24 each for a 1800L x 200H x 65 concrete plain finish sleeper (the $20 ones were or special at a different place, went back to order and told me they were $26 each :( ).
Everyone else that has them sells them for $26 each for same size, made by Trojan Stone.
Colour ones are $30-$36 from memory and any textured finished ones (rough brick look or natural timber look) were anywhere from $40-$50 each

Here in Wodonga we are limited to the amount of landscape suppliers, only a few of them sell plain concrete sleepers (but nearly all sell textures finish ones and / or timber) , plain concrete is much harder to come by than I thought.

Cheers.

Author:  scrappinfreak [ Jan 12, 2010 9:07 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: DIY retaining wall advice

Hey DD... i spoke to Wayne today about the sleepers, he is just wonderful. I faxed him a rough copy of what i want to do, he marked it all out and drew it to scale and sent it back to me with a quote... What a dream ::
I never thought it would be that easy...
2 week turn around cause i need 175 sleepers, but i guess well worth the wait... not to choose a colour...

Just a question... did you use steel or gal posts???

Author:  scrappinfreak [ Jan 12, 2010 9:23 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: DIY retaining wall advice

Dirtyard Darren Dirtyard Darren
Sleepers were ordered today, so will be 7 days till delivery. Plain concrete sleepers are fairly common around here so no problems of getting a photo of a wall, even if its not of my own :) A few houses nearby have them.

I'm not a fan of the concrete sleeper look either and I was dead against it when we first decided to build a wall, but it is going down the side of the house that will be rarely seen by anyone else other than me and the other half and I plan on painting it when finished to colour it up a bit. Even thought about using slate crazy paving once the wall has settled to clad it so it looked like a rock wall but at $10 for a 400x400 tile it was going to costly as well. The other reason for not using timber is that there are white ants in the area, and I only want to build the wall once, so nothing that would rot or be susceptible to white ant damage.

Will get a couple of pics tomorrow if I remember.

Cheers.


Hey DD, can we see pics now??? please :th:

Author:  Dirtyard Darren [ Jan 13, 2010 7:35 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: DIY retaining wall advice

Scrappin - I used black steel posts (ungalvanised). It was heaps cheaper than the galvanised stuff. I painted the posts with a priming oil (Penetrol) before painting with a coat of Septone chassis black paint. The posts will have another coat of paint after the sleepers are in.

Here are some pics of walls in our area, and funnily enough, the first pic is almost the exact same profile as the one I am building, didn't realise that until I took the photo, and this was the wall that put me off concrete sleepers to start with ::dizzy::

   ⋅  Add a comment  ⋅  Pin to Ideaboard  ⋅  

2nd is of coloured concrete sleepers

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and another plain concrete wall

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And now some of mine -
Black steel posts, before and after rust treating (sorry pic is sideways ) I have welded in a 3mm steel plate at the right height for the sleepers to sit on, you can see it halfway down the black post.

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Stuff used for rust treating -

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Construction has started, 4 posts are in ::lol::

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Author:  scrappinfreak [ Jan 13, 2010 7:47 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: DIY retaining wall advice

DD, looking good.
Did you use rapid set concrete to hold them in??

I got my quote back yesterday, now just have to start saving...LOL

Author:  Dirtyard Darren [ Jan 13, 2010 9:14 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: DIY retaining wall advice

scrappinfreak scrappinfreak
DD, looking good.
Did you use rapid set concrete to hold them in??


NOT rapid set concrete (I heard it wasn't suitable for structual applications such as retaining walls, don't know how true it is), but went and bought aggregate, sand and cement to mix my own. I'm lucky enough to know a few people with a cement mixer so I could borrow one at no cost and its easy to do.

Author:  scrappinfreak [ Jan 13, 2010 9:19 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: DIY retaining wall advice

I didnt think you could. I got a quote on a truck bringing some, it was about $700! I almost fainted!!!

Author:  hunts01 [ Jan 14, 2010 8:50 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: DIY retaining wall advice

DD you are man, please keep posting photos as you go, am definately going this way, just sussing out different styles / textures.

really appreciate it mate

simon

Author:  hunts01 [ Jan 14, 2010 8:51 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: DIY retaining wall advice

just another thing those plain concrete sleepers, can you render them???

Author:  Dirtyard Darren [ Jan 14, 2010 9:29 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: DIY retaining wall advice

hunts01 hunts01
just another thing those plain concrete sleepers, can you render them???


Not sure if you can, I've heard walls move a little bit due to settling and maybe expand/contract with the heat the same as any other concrete would.
I'd think if I was going to do something like rendering I would "bag" it instead. A bit cheaper and the finish isn't as straight and neat as rendering so any small cracks that appear wouldn't be as obvious.

I may even spray my sleepers with a paving paint yet to colour it up. Will see what it would cost and what colours I can get.

If you really wanted to reder the wall, you may want to think about ordering concrete slabs to fit between the posts rather than individual sleepers. I saw this yesterday when wandering around the neighbourhood, never seen slabs used before in place of sleepers but I imagine it would be more costly.

Will keep posting pics as I progress, but will be slow as I'm only concreting in 1 per day after work ( and its 40+ degrees, way too hot to do anymore than concrete 1 post in and dig out the hole for the next one )
Hoping this weekend I can at least 6 more or so in.

Cheers.

Author:  Rowena [ Feb 27, 2010 11:33 am ]
Post subject:  Re: DIY retaining wall advice

Hi DD, have you been able to finish the wall yet? Love to see some pics if you have! :D ....I'm getting ideas for a retaining wall for our backyard.

Author:  esm [ Feb 27, 2010 10:13 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: DIY retaining wall advice

DD,
thank for sharing your plans... Concrete sleepers will work for us also since it is on the side of the house that is not usually accessed.

Looks neat when installed.

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