Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 May 16, 2022 9:25 am Hi, Thanks for the great advices on this forum. I am looking to landscape my garden and looking to tidy up how the backyard patio and the car port looks. Land is on an incline and there is an existing (very old) retaining wall made of rocks. Photo attached. It is a bit ugly and full of weeds. We are looking to get rid of all the weeds and make a retaining wall. First image below is from the top and the 2nd image is from the bottom of the garden. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ We have 2 options. What do you think is the best? It would be good to understand the pros and cons of each. Option 1. Leave the existing retaining wall made of rocks as is. Build a small wall (600 mm) on top of it following the curvature of the existing retaining wall. Please see photo 1. Option 2. Build a new retaining wall covering the existing rocks. I.e. use concrete sleepers and build up the retaining wall. The height of the retaining wall will be 1.8m. Fill in the space between current retaining wall with rocks and the concrete sleepers. Photo 1. This will make the retaining wall in straight lines in L shape. Option 2 will require a council permit and understandably more expensive. Is there any other negative that you see with option 1? Option 1 does not look as good. Is there any other con of going with option 2? Thanks Re: Retaining wall 2May 17, 2022 4:27 pm Hello! I have a similar situation I have to attend to in my yard. I don't mind option 1- cheaper, easier and I don't mind the organic look of the existing rock retaining wall. But to suggest an alteration to option 1, you could build a planter box which contains a bench to sit on. That way you could enjoy that area a bit more with company. Similar to this without the backing frame: https://www.bhg.com.au/build-a-bench-se ... lanter-box. On the other hand, with option 2 you could create more space for that patio area and the concrete sleepers will look more modern. For my yard I'm building the planter box with a bench, it will also act as a barrier from the direct drop. Re: Retaining wall 3May 17, 2022 9:31 pm morse Hello! I have a similar situation I have to attend to in my yard. I don't mind option 1- cheaper, easier and I don't mind the organic look of the existing rock retaining wall. But to suggest an alteration to option 1, you could build a planter box which contains a bench to sit on. That way you could enjoy that area a bit more with company. Similar to this without the backing frame: https://www.bhg.com.au/build-a-bench-se ... lanter-box. On the other hand, with option 2 you could create more space for that patio area and the concrete sleepers will look more modern. For my yard I'm building the planter box with a bench, it will also act as a barrier from the direct drop. Thanks mate. I am exploring how hard is it to get council permit. Looks like I need to get geo technical engineer to approve first. Then get a construction design before submitting to council. Will keep this thread posted how it goes. Thank you again Simeon.. I will call my certifier for that. Have a good day 4 5142 Thanks for the insights, that makes perfect sense, and yeah, I will be leaning on the experience of the excavator operator entirely. 6 16106 Hi All, I engaged a tradie to install concrete retaining wall 600-800mm high over 32 meters in Victoria. Sleepers are 200*75*2000 mm installed over 17 steel posts. I… 0 6889 |