Browse Forums DIY, Home Maintenance & Repair Re: Building a earth filled tyre retaing wall, any input wel 2Oct 08, 2013 9:40 pm GrilledCheese Hi all, I'm going to be building a ~15x1M high retaining wall at the back of my yard to replace the previous failed chicken wire and stone mess that was there when we moved in, I'm going to be building it of car tyres, as aesthetics isn't an issue, but budget is! I've been reading into the earthship rammed earth style but still have a few questions. I'm wondering about the use of a fcr or bluemetal style bed, to assist with drainage and also leveling of the all important bottom row, is this the right way to go?, also is there any reason I cant fill a large part of the tyres with brick pieces and concrete rubble? If the tyres are of different widths, what would be the best material to use as a gap filler? Do I need to bolt them all together, or would a few strategic, well placed bolts or even star pickets provide equal benefit? Should I cover the bottom of the tyre with a sheet of cardboard before filling?, wont this just rot and dirt fall out anyway, would a shadecloth type material work better for this application? My plan is to build the wall with staggered overlaps (stretcher bond style), but also to have the bottom row jut out a bit, (for planting) but then sticking very near to vertical for the next 3/4 rows. I then need to have the fence on top of the wall, and am wondering about the posts, I could run them up from the lower ground level, between the 'v' of the bottom row tyres, and also then giving me potential to run metal strapping diagonal between posts for more retaining potential, or is that overdoing things, when cementing the poles into the top 2/3 tyres could give me an equally strong fence\wall combo? I do also plan on running a drainage pipe at the base behind, and back-filling with small stone, rubble, claydirt and topsoil. Any thoughts, similar experiences or ideas welcome, Thanks for reading... My only advice is a landscape and retaining wall contractor is to seek an engineer to give you specifications on a tyre built rammed earth retaining wall. Putting a live load (Fence due to wind) behind or on top of anything is serious. Not sure where you are from but in NSW you need to seek council approval for the following 1. Any structure within 900mm from boundary 2. Any retaining wall over 600mm high 3. All work must meet Australian standards for retaining walls Etc Etc Etc.... Silly idea playing with a boundary when you have no idea what you are doing...... 2 5503 Tradie may sit at home but will need to get house plastered as well or will you sit it out? 6 9974 Thank you again Simeon.. I will call my certifier for that. Have a good day 4 5196 |