Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Oct 29, 2010 9:32 pm Hi all, Just after some advice about retaining walls.We are building in a new estate and our neighbours were required to get approval from us before putting up a retaining wall and fence. However..they didn't and now we are in bit of a dilema. So instead of having a combined retaining wall we are stuck with a retaining wall that is too small which means our dirt is pushing against the fence. Any suggestions on what to do. Is it possible to put another retaining wall next to the fence or does the neighbour have to fix it. It's difficult to describe so I have attached some pics. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ any advice would be great. Cheers, Timbo Re: HELP I need Retaining wall advice 3Oct 29, 2010 10:11 pm We have had to cut/fill therefore buidling the land up on that side..but if we were told that they were putting the retaining wall in place we would have told the builder to increase it by 500mm or so as per our engineering report to have a combined wall preventing this problem. Just not sure how to fix it Re: HELP I need Retaining wall advice 5Oct 30, 2010 5:41 am Did they pay for the entire wall&fence? Perhaps they didn't know how high the land is going to come up once you start building, so they just did what suited them at the time (although that's not an excuse for them). If you start a new small wall close to this one, not sure how it would all "fit" and hold, as these walls would very close. Probably best to re-do those bad sections. But what a pain for this to happen in the first place My signature is distracting people from my wise posts ... Re: HELP I need Retaining wall advice 6Oct 30, 2010 7:49 am Nice Frame Kodiak Data Cabling onFaceBook Consult*, Design and Installation Data, TV, Home Theatre/ AV Cabling, Multi Room Audio, IP CCTV and Door Intercoms Ask for a Quote. *DIY DATA Cabling Is Ilegal Re: HELP I need Retaining wall advice 7Oct 30, 2010 8:02 am This is an interesting problem. The idea of putting another wall close to the existing wall on your side of the existing fence will work but may not be allowed by your council. Some councils (most) have minimum distance rules between retaining walls. Would pay to check your council's DCP. If this is the case then the only option is to raise the height of the existing wall in it's current position. Question: Can the current retaining wall posts be extended in height without compromising the wall? If yes, then remove the fence, extend the posts and add more concrete in-fill panels and put the fence back on top. If no, then it gets a little bit more complicated as the existing posts need to come out and be replaced with longer posts. Access between the 2 buildings is now very restricted. You may be lucky and a really small excavator or a dingo would fit but that's about it. Last resort would be to do it all by hand. Who pays for what? Sorry I cannot comment on this. Suggest you talk to your neighbour. Good luck, I hope it all works out for you. Rgds Leonard. Re: HELP I need Retaining wall advice 8Oct 30, 2010 11:36 am Thanks all for your comments. It's bit of a messy situation and just wish they had consulted us before the put it up. It's a house and land package and we know who built it so we are following it up with them Re: HELP I need Retaining wall advice 9Oct 30, 2010 1:36 pm Sorry just trying to understand this in my head. Your neighbours cut their site, and you guys filled? I'm merely curious as our neighbours beside us have filled their site to quite a difference to ours. Just wondering who pays for the retaining wall. Sorry for the Off Topic post. Re: HELP I need Retaining wall advice 10Oct 30, 2010 1:45 pm I'm still getting my head around it aswell... Haha We didn't pay anything for the wall or fence as they just put it up without letting us know and without or consent. What was meant to happen is that they were to provide is with some sort of notification that the plan to put the wall up. If this happened we would have told them to increase it as we were filling our side and would have paid half. The encumbrance manager approved their plans on the basis they would consult us re the retaining wall and fence. Re: HELP I need Retaining wall advice 11Oct 30, 2010 7:36 pm I am in similar situation, but on a low side. My neighbour contacted me about a fence, at which point I learnt of their intention to instal a retaining wall to raise natural level. I told them I would like to cut my side, so can they send me details on what they are wanting to do. Next thing they put up the wall. Now completed with fence on top. The only way I am going to be able to cut within a metre of our boundary is if I get him to pull down all he has done. And now I found that water is soaking under the retaining wall and I can see the end of black ag pipe pointing out from under fence!!! Not looking forward to future arguements. And he has his place up for sale, so has no intention to fix. Any idea who how I should procede? Slab poured 21/04/2011 Frame finished 27/05/2011 Moved in 07/11/2011 Re: HELP I need Retaining wall advice 12Oct 30, 2010 8:45 pm @timbo Not sure about where you are but in my estate we aren't allowed to have a retaining wall as part of the boundary. It must be at least 300mm off the boundary either side. That would be my first question to address. From there it may be possible to batter the earth sloping from your house to the existing wall, but you should consult an engineer. Re: HELP I need Retaining wall advice 13Nov 01, 2010 10:33 am Timbo, If it was me, I'd look into moss rocks lining the side of your driveway as a form of retaining. It looks like you have enough room and will save you the hassle of putting in a wall. Plus if you line it with plants it'll look great. Send me a pm if you want the details of the company we used for our moss rocks. I'm very happy with the job they did. Re: HELP I need Retaining wall advice 14Nov 01, 2010 10:52 am Can't say for absolutely certain but from what I know and have experienced it is your responsibility to have a retaining wall on your side and cater for the difference in height as you have increased the natural ground level. However its a little interesting that your neighbour put a retaining wall on the boundry as normally this is not allowed. Nonetheless your builder should have added a retaining wall into the site costs as thats really not acceptable to raise the level by that but so close to the boundry without one. The rock wall is a good idea but that means you will most likely not be able to walk down beside your house on that side. As for the fence I'm assuming you didn't own the land when they built it so had no say in the design or height? I'm guessing your neighbour might have an issue with you being able to see into their yard so that may urge them to come up with a solution. The only solution I can think of is to put a retaining wall on your side as close to the boundry as possible allowing you to create a level path next to the house and bring the soil height up to the top of the slab. As for the fence you may be able to add on a colorbond fence extension (the lattice type) which would also be your reposnibility to pay for. Stuff like this makes me question whether slab with cut and fill is really the best solution for blocks that have that much fall from side to side. But thats a whole other issue. I don't think developers and councils should allow these problems to happen. Re: HELP I need Retaining wall advice 15Nov 01, 2010 11:20 am ultimately there are several options but a lot depends on the actual measurements (eg total drop from the finished level of the driveway to the top of the existing retaining wall (at different points along the fence line), the distance between the existing fence line and where the future paving edge will be / where the garage slab is). then you can decide what can be done: - moss rocks - various dry stack boral retaining wall blocks along fence line or driveway line - sleepers along driveway line - besser blocks mortered in and rendered - just create a battered garden bed Depending on the measurements you may not even need engineering / council. Versaloc is a mortarless besser block system that still needs a properly engineered footing. If you just do a 400x200 footing it will fail in time. At 17m long you need it… 1 15598 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 6888 Can anyone recommend a good/affordable retaining wall and fence builder that I can get a quote from located in Sydney? 8 45705 |