Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 Nov 17, 2015 1:37 pm Hi all, I am working through options to put in a maximum 1m high retaining wall to extend the flat area of our backyard. As we back on to a bush reserve there are a lot of large boulders in immediate view and it is a feature of the suburb we live, therefore a large boulder retaining wall would be a good "fit" for the environment. In addition this option would reduce the need to drill for posts for a timber retaining wall, and due to the nature of the area it is unknown if we would have to drill through rock to do this, something I want to avoid for cost reasons. Has anyone had any experience with installing one of these and were they more cost effective than timber of modular block walls? I was thinking of the large 2-3 man rock size - there are plenty of "floaters" already on our property that could be used and we could buy the rest. Access to the backyard is possible with a small, narrow width excavator, not sure about a bobcat yet. Thanks in advance for any replies Re: Boulder Retaining Wall - Cost effective? 2Nov 19, 2015 8:00 pm Check out Livpal5 's thread she just got it done and it looks awesome. It was very cost effective $3000? viewtopic.php?f=31&t=75739&p=1299716#p1299716 Re: Boulder Retaining Wall - Cost effective? 4Nov 20, 2015 6:14 pm Hey mate I'm up for the same thing. I have a mate who is a landscaper and does this kind of thing. Block / brick walls most expensive, followed by concrete sleepers @$350 a mt2, then timber sleepers then rock boulders. I will use rocks at the front as I think they look far better than the others, concrete sleepers on the side as take up less space. I personally am worried about creating a snake habitat by stacking the rocks up so will be spaced apart and partly in the soil. We will use weed mat and plant with water wise creepers and grass. Not sure of the price yet. But it is 24 mts long and 600 - 800mm high. I'll need about 25 ton. In S.A limestone and moss rocks are $180 ton delivered, nice flat bluestone $110, and normal blue boulders $55. The size you mention " large 2-3 man rock size " will take something bigger than a bobcat I would think - 6 ton excavator? I'm looking at 600 - 800 kg around 600 x 600 x 600 to 800mm in size each, and I'm hoping to do it with my old back hoe. Our Build Here: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=74037&p=1255246#p1255246 Re: Boulder Retaining Wall - Cost effective? 5Nov 30, 2015 2:05 pm That's the sort of wall I was thinking of, although mine will probably have to be a little bit higher in some areas. Livpal5, do you know what sort of machine they used to bring those boulders into your property and are they just dry-stacked or did they need to use concrete for the footings? How about drainage behind the wall? Re: Boulder Retaining Wall - Cost effective? 6Nov 30, 2015 2:09 pm claypot Hey mate I'm up for the same thing. I have a mate who is a landscaper and does this kind of thing. Block / brick walls most expensive, followed by concrete sleepers @$350 a mt2, then timber sleepers then rock boulders. I will use rocks at the front as I think they look far better than the others, concrete sleepers on the side as take up less space. I personally am worried about creating a snake habitat by stacking the rocks up so will be spaced apart and partly in the soil. We will use weed mat and plant with water wise creepers and grass. Not sure of the price yet. But it is 24 mts long and 600 - 800mm high. I'll need about 25 ton. In S.A limestone and moss rocks are $180 ton delivered, nice flat bluestone $110, and normal blue boulders $55. The size you mention " large 2-3 man rock size " will take something bigger than a bobcat I would think - 6 ton excavator? I'm looking at 600 - 800 kg around 600 x 600 x 600 to 800mm in size each, and I'm hoping to do it with my old back hoe. Hi Claypot, I was thinking of the sort of boulders shown in Livpal5's picture above. What sort of area is your wall going in, a steep slope? Do you need any structural engineering done beforehand for your wall or is it within exempt development guidelines? Re: Boulder Retaining Wall - Cost effective? 7Nov 30, 2015 3:44 pm Hi bg100 They are dry stacked im pretty sure there was nothing mentioned about concrete. And im also pretty sure it was a bobcat anything bigger would not have fit around the back. Re: Boulder Retaining Wall - Cost effective? 9Dec 01, 2015 5:24 pm Hey bg100, Ours is only 600 - 800 mm high x 20 mts It is at the front of the house, on 10 acres so we have heaps of space. So I'm going to taper it back over 2 meters or so. The rocks won't be on top of each other more set into the ground a bit and will have a few small water wise plants amongst it. If you click on the link below next to our build here you will see the front of the house. My mates price wasn't so flash, I guess he still needs to pay his workers and feed the family! So I'm going to do it myself with my loader, will need to use smaller rocks though Rocks are HEAVY, 1 mt2 bluestone is 2700 kg - 2.7 ton. So I'll be limited to around 600mm2 sizes (600kg each), deliver for $55 ton and I'll get 24 ton to do the front I expect to have some left over too. "was thinking of the sort of boulders shown in Livpal5's picture above" hard to tell but some of those look to be 700 - 800 mm2. 926 - 1382kg Our Build Here: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=74037&p=1255246#p1255246 The last home I lived in didn't have a pool and when i went to sell it the agents were not happy, even telling me to put one in to sell the place. The agents weren't happy… 2 4239 Thank you again Simeon.. I will call my certifier for that. Have a good day 4 5179 Thanks for the insights, that makes perfect sense, and yeah, I will be leaning on the experience of the excavator operator entirely. 6 16122 |