Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jun 26, 2011 6:18 pm We require 2 retaining walls ( meeting in the corner ) to support a 100m2 driveway. 9 metres along an existing fence on the boundary of the property turning in an L shape into another 18m stretch along an unfenced boundary, which sits of an easement. The start of the 9m wall is level with the floor of the garage and has a fall of 1400 going down to 400. We have been getting quite mixed messages about the technicalities of permits/engineers reports. If we put the retaining wall right against an existing fence, at 1.4m ... we are sure we will need a council permit. And I assume a permit will involve a civil engineer to do a report before the permit will be issued. Trying to establish what these costs will add to the mammoth walls we already have to pay for. Should we be getting an engineers report and then take that to a builder with the permit? Or do we get a builder to do this for us and include in his costings? - BJ - ' Less is more and none is perfect ' My thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=41828 Re: Retaining walls 2Jun 26, 2011 8:22 pm Rather than a report you will need an engineering design. The reason why an engineering design is needed above certain height is because if low walls fail no one is likely to be injured. above say 0.9m the chance of injury increases. Regardless of the height, if you want to make sure the wall doesn't fail it could be worth getting a design. Its likely that you builder knows designers who can quickly design a wall but they will charge a %age on top. Unless you have good contacts this may still be cheaper. 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. Render your bathroom walls, two opinions versus the one, makes you wonder. 3 6057 The spacing of the studs looks pretty large especially for a load bearing wall. 3 11109 Nope, only on the inside, I've literally has my ears to the brick outside and can't hear anything. I can sort of 'reset' the noise by pressing firmly on the studs. This… 10 11759 |