Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 Jul 04, 2009 3:02 pm Hey guys, Here's a pic of the back of our house: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ The estate developer is putting the fences in, and the fence will run along the back at the lower level. I'm just wondering if I'd need to have any kind of engineered retaining wall if I wanted to level it out a bit more? I'd like the backyard (such as it is) just to be level with the bottom of the fence, with the house sitting up on a cliff, pretty much. We would probably have to put it steps/stairs/ramp up to the sides of the house. The house itself is sitting on concrete piers under the slab. There are about eight of them at the back of the house alone. Here's a view from the other side: Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Otherwise, any other suggestions on how best to use the space would be appreciated! I figured if we wanted to bring the ground up to house level, we'd need really big retaining walls, which would be expensive. Also, we have a 2m easement along the back fence line, which would make things difficult. Re: Do I need a retaining wall? 3Jul 05, 2009 12:22 am Yes, as said you will need an engineers certificate, computations as part of the permit you submit to council if it is over 1000mm high. Especially considering it is on the fill side of the property where it will be retaining a lot of weight. You could see if you could get the wall built then the fence added on top of that so that you get more privacy from your home rather than the fence being at the lower existing ground level. You could also do a 2-tiered wall or do some rockwork there with garden amongst it but you will be looking directly into your neighbours yards (and they into yours) with that height difference. Builders don't seem to want to build house these days on stumps or do excess excavations so the houses stick out a mile, it's easier to stick to their standard building ranges. Re: Do I need a retaining wall? 4Jul 05, 2009 12:58 am Yep you need to thimk about that whole area... Gives you some interesting options.. IMHO onc Where you are coming from is where you are going to... Re: Do I need a retaining wall? 5Jul 05, 2009 1:15 am my engineering says that i need a retaining wall on one side, get your builider to send you the engineering report Re: Do I need a retaining wall? 6Jul 05, 2009 1:07 pm buildingwithhamra my engineering says that i need a retaining wall on one side, get your builider to send you the engineering report You will still need another engineers report for the retaining walls and more than likely council approval. This is something I have learnt pretty quickly from experience - we are back at council for the 3rd time in as many weeks with retaining wall approvals. The original approval - on the house plan da - had to be revisited as we hit rock. We are also having to build 2 pretty big retaining walls now, rather than in 12 months as we hoped, due to the rock! JL Re: Do I need a retaining wall? 7Jul 05, 2009 9:40 pm Actually, we don't want a large retaining wall, engineered or not. I saw WallMaster at the latest HIA Home Expo show, and I'm strongly considering creating a layered/terraced area. Essentially, we just need a little bit of lawn-type space for the dog bathroom. Re: Do I need a retaining wall? 8Jul 05, 2009 10:20 pm Isn't that still a retaining wall though? I clicked on the link you provided. JL Re: Do I need a retaining wall? 9Jul 05, 2009 10:30 pm houseofl Isn't that still a retaining wall though? I clicked on the link you provided. Yes, but I can keep each level around 615mm, so completely under the 1m "requires engineering" requirement. Re: Do I need a retaining wall? 10Jul 05, 2009 11:01 pm Aha! Well, it certainly looks nice. Good luck! JL Re: Do I need a retaining wall? 11Jul 06, 2009 10:09 am it depends on what you want to do with the area Djelibeybi like the others have suggested, if its a metre or so you will need engineering but you could do 2 smaller walls and use the top as a garden, or put gravel across with some plants or pots to make it look nice, or have the top as a path and the middle as a small garden if you did one large wall you couldnt really use the area unless you added steps, the 2 smaller retained area's would be nice in that spot Blog - http://snakedr.blogspot.com/ Build Thread - viewtopic.php?f=31&t=12084&p=307406#p307406 Status - PCI 15/10. Things nearly done. Re: Do I need a retaining wall? 12Jul 06, 2009 11:41 am billdsl like the others have suggested, if its a metre or so you will need engineering but you could do 2 smaller walls and use the top as a garden, or put gravel across with some plants or pots to make it look nice, or have the top as a path and the middle as a small garden Yeah, this is what I'm thinking: Have the top-most level be about 1m wide, to create a gravel path all the way around the house. Then have a 0.5m - 1m wide 2nd level which will have plants and things. Then the bottom/lowest level would be about 2.5m-3m wide, which includes the easement of 2m. So, that bit would be grass/lawn type stuff for the dogs. Re: Do I need a retaining wall? 13Jul 06, 2009 4:26 pm that would work and be quite easy to put into place, and no need for engineering either all round win Blog - http://snakedr.blogspot.com/ Build Thread - viewtopic.php?f=31&t=12084&p=307406#p307406 Status - PCI 15/10. Things nearly done. Thank you again Simeon.. I will call my certifier for that. Have a good day 4 1327 Thanks for the insights, that makes perfect sense, and yeah, I will be leaning on the experience of the excavator operator entirely. 6 11039 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 3710 |