Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jan 16, 2022 9:38 am We’ve got a decent drop from our slab to side fence due to fill soil being brought in for an uneven block - any ideas what to do with this area? As our garage and laundry exit there we want it to be usable but not sure we can just build up to the fence? Also a bit nervous about the house sliding off the slope but trying to remind myself the builder knows what they are doing… Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Drop from slab to fence 2Jan 16, 2022 12:48 pm It'd be expensive but you could replace the fence with a retaining wall and raise the soil level, the fence looks pretty beat up so you could get a new fence at the same time. A bit cheaper would be a wooden retaining wall a few cm in from the fence. Then you get the space, but you'd be raised up compared to the fence so you might be looking over the neighbour. Re: Drop from slab to fence 3Jan 16, 2022 3:55 pm I would expect that the slab design would include piers under the edge beam as you have drainage running approx 500mm outside the slab edge, this would be within the zone of influence which the engineer would have taken into account, you can confirm this by checking your engineering plan. So slipping down the hill is not going to happen. There are also a couple of things I can see that suggests your builder/supervisor and concreter are actually quite good. (1) the vapour barrier (the black plastic) has been brought up the face of the edge beam and finished level with the current ground level, but they have even left enough to extend it to final finish ground level. (95%min of builders fail to do this), (2) the Rebate (where the bricks will sit) the concrete doesn't show any honeycomb spots, this means the concreters actually vibrated the concrete along the edge of the slab as well, not just the usual haphazard attempt, (3) your frame sits true just inside the edge of the slab, meaning your concreters knew how to measure and formed up a square slab and there were no pushouts. If the quality continues you should get a well build home! You can't just load soil against the fence as the moisture in the ground will rot the palings. You will need to retain! A retaining wall can't be build right on the boundary, a fence can, as it is to the "benefit" of both property owners, therefore when it needs to be replaced both owners equally share the cost as they equally share the "benefit". A fence is not a boundary! and can be placed anywhere by agreement. For ease of build you may elect to build it 300mm inside your boundary, you still own the 300mm land you still have rights over the 300mm land. A retaining wall is for the benefit of one! You, need a retaining wall to retain Your soil, to level Your block. So the benefit is Yours and therefore is owned by you and to be built on your block. The problem you have is the access is difficult to get machines into and you don't want to build a retaining wall & replace the fence at the same time. As already said you will have piers in the slab, so the slab/house is not placing load on the fill, the area of fill is not large and not very deep. Timber or concrete sleepers will need posts which means holes and concrete about 1200mm-1500mm X 450mm. It would appear you need about approx 1000mm in height, I would suggest, (once the brickwork is complete, so you're not slowing the build down) clear the soil back from the fence 500mm wide down to a firm base, get rid of the grass and veg and black soil, and install Ezi Wall retaining blocks, they tie together, they're easy to handle, they dry fit and they can be laid on a blue metal gravel base rather than a strip footing, otherwise the timber or concrete sleeper retaining wall will cost a ton! You will end up with a retaining wall within your boundary; and a gap between the retaining wall and the fence at the top of about 300-400mm, the fence has probably another 5yrs+ and can be redone when required. Good luck We are Expert Consultant's, and we are here to help. Hello everyone, After some suggestions and ideas about how to put a concrete path around the drop edge beam area on our new build. We are required to have a concrete path… 0 12871 The distance between my DEBs varies from 4.1m at the narrowest to 8.1m at the widest. 5 27305 I would like to build our new house with the rear section approx 1 metre out of the ground, I don't particularly like to go bearers and joists so concrete slab all the way… 0 3813 |