Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 Jun 11, 2011 11:28 pm Building the HUNTLEY 310 Prelims - Sept 5th Settlement - Sept 7th Build Begins - Nov 3rd All moved in! - June 21st 2011 Building Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=36894 Re: Damaged Retaining Wall and Fence - What do you think? 2Jun 11, 2011 11:54 pm The Harder You Try - the Luckier You Get ! Web site http://www.anewhouse.com.au Informative, Amusing, and Opinionated Blog - Over 600 posts on all aspects of building a new house. Re: Damaged Retaining Wall and Fence - What do you think? 7Jun 12, 2011 11:32 am I understand what you are all saying and thanks for your advice. My point was more that the rest of the wall was and is still intact, except for the part where he has compacted the fresh soil as he continually drove over it near the wall. Rather than driving to the front, laying the soil and then going back to get more to take to the front instead of the other way around he put it at the back and then continually drove over it. I know retaining walls are done the other way around as a rule, there were reasons for it to be done this way and we had an engineer with us at the time to help us build it. He didn't see it being a problem. As mentioned previously, our issue is with the way the soil was moved, and the fact that even though the driver was told by the SS to stop work, he seeked out our opinion and then just went on and did what it was he wanted, with no regard to the damage that was being done. As you can see by some of the other pictures, the rest of the wall is fine with the volume of soil as it was not constantly being driven over. Had the driver stopped when asked, by both the SS and us (when the damage was noticable) then we wouldn't have had this problem. Is there anyone out there that drives bobcats that would be able to give their opinion on the way the soil was spread? We are trying to find out as much as we can before we meet the SS on Tuesday and discuss it. If it is our issue, then we will take responsibility, but if it is because of the way the driver spread the soil and also the fact that he continued on after strict instructions from the SS to stop, then we think he should be held accountable. Thanks for reading. Building the HUNTLEY 310 Prelims - Sept 5th Settlement - Sept 7th Build Begins - Nov 3rd All moved in! - June 21st 2011 Building Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=36894 Re: Damaged Retaining Wall and Fence - What do you think? 8Jun 12, 2011 8:45 pm You are probably right in that the fill compaction against the wall has caused the premeture failure, but it has only sped up the already short life expectancy of the wall. The responsibility of the wall backfilling, belongs to the person who constructed it, not the bobcat operator, whoever built it should have been there to supervise the filling. You mentioned in your first post the wall was constructed "as per standard practice", I would be interested in seeing that standard. Where did the backfill come from? Looks like it doesn't belong within 100m of a retaining wall. What form of drainage did you use? If it were me I would eat some humble pie and have the entire wall replaced, before you proceed with any landscaping, as it will be cheaper and less disruptive now than in 5 years time. Re: Damaged Retaining Wall and Fence - What do you think? 9Jun 14, 2011 9:03 pm Was there pictures to this post? Where did they go?? Damaged Retaining Wall and Fence - What do you think? 10Jun 14, 2011 10:05 pm KnockItDown Was there pictures to this post? Where did they go?? Yes, there were.. It's a shame the OP took them down, as even though he/she may not have agreed with the responses it was a good lesson for all prospective wall builders. Re: Damaged Retaining Wall and Fence - What do you think? 11Jun 15, 2011 6:26 pm I'm happy to put them back up for people to see. The reason I took the post away was that people were getting bogged down with all the other information that I had provided rather than answering the question I had asked. We are aware that the wall is on the opposite way to what it normally would be. We built it with an engineer and have also had 2 landscape gardeners take a look and all agreed that the way the planks are facing is not the problem and make no difference to the weight the wall can take. We have had a meeting with the builder and he will be speaking to the bobcat driver when he gets back from his holiday. I will let you know the outcome and put some pics back up when I get time. Thanks again for your suggestions. Building the HUNTLEY 310 Prelims - Sept 5th Settlement - Sept 7th Build Begins - Nov 3rd All moved in! - June 21st 2011 Building Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=36894 Re: Damaged Retaining Wall and Fence - What do you think? 12Jun 15, 2011 8:20 pm I'm still a little confused, I'm assuming the builder had nothing to do with the wall construction, so why is he becoming involved ? You say the wall was built with an engineer, did they not specify backfill requirements and was someone (the wall builder) there to supervise the backfilling ? 4 8746 2 4915 Thank you again Simeon.. I will call my certifier for that. Have a good day 4 1327 |