Browse Forums Building Standards; Getting It Right! 1 Oct 04, 2009 12:27 am We have bought a block in Perth - an old suburb (Yangebup) that still has a few new developments. We met our northern neighbour today, who said he will be raising his block by 500mm which means he will need to retain it... unless we decide to raise ours as well. We can't afford to raise our block, nor do we want to raise it.. our street is already elevated. Our block also already has a 1.5m high retainer wall on the front boundary (ie there will be a sloping driveway, driving UP into the garage). Our southern neighbours (block still for sale) will be about 300mm below us BUT! the developers have retained it with limestone blocks. Plus there is also a 1.5m high limestone retainer wall at the back of our land. Northern Neighbour is on the same level as us and with no wall out the front. He said today that he will be using those pre-fab concrete retaining panels instead of limestone blocks, because it is cheaper. He then said "I don't see the sense in using limestone blocks if its going to be covered in sand, but of course, you will see it from your side". So here ****** the problem... my partner and I thought "ok, we can handle that. It would be nice to keep with the limestone theme considering we have it on the 3 other boundaries, but thats ok". But then we googled this concrete panel stuff, and saw that you shouldn't mount a fence on it (we've all agreed to have colourbond fence). It also says that a fence should be mounted to the side of the wall, with a fill of sand between the retainer and fence. We obviously don't want this retainer wall on the boundary (as he plans) if it then means the fence needs to be installed BESIDE the retainer, which will then come into our property rather than being on the border. The other issue is that according to the council fencing regulations, the boundary fence needs to be 1.8m above the highest block.. so do we now need to pay more for fencing because he wants to raise his block? We will be going to speak to someone at our council, just to clarify what should/shouldn't happen, and what we can do, but in the meantime, what would you do? Has anyone been in the same situation? Oceanic with Nautilus upgrades. Handover 8 September 2010 Re: Neighbour raising their block/retaining wall - Perth 2Oct 04, 2009 11:03 am Hi Oceanus, Welcome to the forum and sorry your 1st post is based upon a building problem rather than the fun side of building. I have sort of been through a similar situaion with a previous neighbour and we approached the dividing fences association for our guidelines. As well as your council who quite often don't want to have anything to do with anything fence related you will find someone who can guide you with your rights.(Although it is blurry) I have a couple of suggestions. 1. Consider asking if he would be prepared to go halves in limestone retaining which may work out similar costings for him doing his panels without your financial assistance and give you what you will ultimately want for the look of your house. 2. Could you do 1 row of limestone yourselves anyway, at the proposed panel section area so later on you can mount your fence along side his panels in your limestone 3. Wait until he does what he has to do, let him build his way and then do what you have to later to make it suit you. Forget the stress... 4. Make sure it is built to all requirements...ie... if there is a alot of soil agianst the panels will he be adding a moisture barrier etc 5. Will it actually look not so bad if it were painted or planted out.... 6. Simply ask him about the height of the fence and will he be putting it on his high side other wise he will be able to look over your fence very easily. 7. Do you already have plans? can you swap your house so your dead side of the house runs down there or your garage area with a big parapet wall? Can I add, no one from any organisation will ever come out and inspect and tell one person to do their fence a certain way.... With that in mind, if you have to make your fence higher you just might have to, to keep your privacy.....unfortunatley you can not stop soemone from raising the height of their land and retaining it how they want so you have to just try and make it work for you. I know its frustrating but I have been there and now with hindsite we know we will never go through the stress again as once it was all said and done it really wasn't as important as it was to start with. We didn't love it but we managed to work around it. Good luck and I hope someone can guide you in the right direction. Re: Neighbour raising their block/retaining wall - Perth 3Oct 04, 2009 1:23 pm Thanks PK. My Partner and I have been watching the forums for a few months now.. hiding in the background taking in all the advice, suggestions and things to look out for during our build. We're building the Nautilus (or rather, the Oceanic with upgrades) with Dale Alcock. I'll try to upload our plans later, but basically, both sides of the house will be dead, with the living being at the rear. I guess our main concern is how he plans on doing this wall. The impression he gave us from what he was describing, is that he is putting the retainer on the boundary instead of having the fence on the boundary. As mentioned in my first post, apparently a fence can't be mounted onto these panels, so that would lead to the fence being installed either IN his property, or IN ours. Obviously we're happy enough if he wants to put the fence within his property, but DP doesn't want our land narrowed because of what he wants to do with his land. Either way, DP and I are quite rational (i know that will probably change the deeper we get into this building caper), and don't think this will turn into a disaster.. we'll contact NN and just see if he does realise that the fence can't be mounted on it - maybe he doesnt know. I'm sure it will turn out ok Oceanic with Nautilus upgrades. Handover 8 September 2010 Re: Neighbour raising their block/retaining wall - Perth 4Oct 04, 2009 10:03 pm I think youve misinterpreted was he is planning to do. what he is saying is he is going to put the retaining on the boundary and bring the fence inside his property line where it will have posts concreted into the ground. If he cant put the fence on top of the retaining it needs to come in from the retaining to be installed and he cant do that on your property without your permission but it also wouldnt make any sense to put the fence on the low side (your side) for a couple of reasons. If it were me and I had limestone retaining on all other sides I would look into what the limestone retaining will cost and go halves in it with him if it's affordable. It will look much nicer from your side and if half of the cost is cheaper or comparable to the concrete blocks Im sure he would go for it. the fence will still be full height above the top of the retaining wall so it wont affect what fencing gets installed. There would just be no logical reason to install the fence on your side of the retaining and he may not want to impose on you by asking to have the retaining wall on your property which is another option if you really want the fence right on the boundary line but it would narrow the space a little on your side. Re: Neighbour raising their block/retaining wall - Perth 5Oct 05, 2009 8:38 pm Thanks Piscean, but we're 99% sure from the way he was describing it to us, is that WE would be seeing the retaining wall with fence on top. His words were "Of course, I won't see the panels but you will". After looking at his plans more closely (which he gave us a copy of) it actually shows that the retaining wall is on HIS side of the fence, so now we're thinking that maybe HE has misinterpretted what his architect and builder have drawn up. Either way, other half is going down to the council tomorrow to get further info. Thanks for the ideas. Oceanic with Nautilus upgrades. Handover 8 September 2010 Re: Neighbour raising their block/retaining wall - Perth 6Oct 05, 2009 9:53 pm Oceanus2 Thanks Piscean, but we're 99% sure from the way he was describing it to us, is that WE would be seeing the retaining wall with fence on top. His words were "Of course, I won't see the panels but you will".. yep he wont see the retaining from his side because he is on the high side, it will be at ground level on the high side and will only be seen from your side which is why I suggested you think about the limestone blocks. It wont make any difference to him what the retaining is made of because he wont see it which is why he has opted for the concrete panels. Oceanus2 After looking at his plans more closely (which he gave us a copy of) it actually shows that the retaining wall is on HIS side of the fence, so now we're thinking that maybe HE has misinterpretted what his architect and builder have drawn up. If the retaining is going on the boundary and he puts the fence on your side it will be about shin height on his side of the fence and totally useless to him and it doesnt make sense that it would be drawn up that way. He cant put the retaining on the boundary and move the fence line over on to your property anyway, but there's nothing stopping him however from moving the fence back in to his own property to allow enough room for the posts to be concreted in. Re: Neighbour raising their block/retaining wall - Perth 7Oct 06, 2009 12:14 am yep, understand your point. I suppose what we're going to have to do is lodge something with the council to say we don't want to see the retaining wall from our side. According to an info sheet on our council's website, if you raise or lower the 'natural level of land' on your property then YOU have to have the retainer on YOUR property.. the 'natural level' has to be kept the same as it initially was on the boundary line. Our boundary is just over 32.5m long but he only wants to raise the back 3/4 of his property... times 2 maybe 3 courses high of limestones blocks equals a LOT of money that we can't afford with our budget. I'm sure it will work out ok Oceanic with Nautilus upgrades. Handover 8 September 2010 there is a standard besser block wall pdf somewhere online with footing sizes, also have a look at dincel. 1 2899 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 |