Retaining wall ideas
Discussion
Hi, I'm looking at building a retaining wall approximately 600mm high up the slope of our driveway so it will be stepped as it goes up the gradient. Has anyone got some examples of some nice retaining walls for ideas please? I'm probably going to go for brick but any other ideas are welcome. The main constraint is minimising the width of the wall to limit how much drive space is taken up by the wall i.e. no thicker than double skinned.
Gabions are the obvious choice if you're DIY although if you insist on some kind of masonry one of the proprietary interlocking block systems that go together without mortar would do fine. Given the low height to be retained the choice is wide, pretty much any practical retaining scheme can be made to work, even brick, although I can't think why anyone would want it.
I have a few retaining walls....
Did a DIY wall with these interlocking dry blocks. Looks very good, very strong, easy to do if a little time consuming and required the shovelling of lots of stone and carrying of lots of blocks. The corners were a bit of a pain in the arse and the stairs even more so, but it's not difficult, just takes some time.
https://colinwell.com/products/colinwell-allan-blo...
Also have a couple of walls done by a contractor which were proper L shaped foundations, rebar and concreted filled block, cladded in wood. Look good, incredibly strong (you could drive a car across the top of them easily enough!), but expensive and not DIY.
There is also one wall which is simply 900x600 flag stones leant against the soil. It's not vertical, but leans back slightly. Has been there 40 years. Not very pretty, but very cheap and easy to install. Easily removed too, as there is no concrete, nothing at all other than gravity holding it all together!
Did a DIY wall with these interlocking dry blocks. Looks very good, very strong, easy to do if a little time consuming and required the shovelling of lots of stone and carrying of lots of blocks. The corners were a bit of a pain in the arse and the stairs even more so, but it's not difficult, just takes some time.
https://colinwell.com/products/colinwell-allan-blo...
Also have a couple of walls done by a contractor which were proper L shaped foundations, rebar and concreted filled block, cladded in wood. Look good, incredibly strong (you could drive a car across the top of them easily enough!), but expensive and not DIY.
There is also one wall which is simply 900x600 flag stones leant against the soil. It's not vertical, but leans back slightly. Has been there 40 years. Not very pretty, but very cheap and easy to install. Easily removed too, as there is no concrete, nothing at all other than gravity holding it all together!
Murph7355 said:
We used engineering bricks for ours. Mainly because there was already a retaining wall built of them. Probably 600mm at it's highest, maybe a bit less, and built to go to near nothing at the top of the slope.
Considered sleepers, but ultimately consistency won out.
Looks very nice.
Do you have any photos please?Considered sleepers, but ultimately consistency won out.
Looks very nice.
Murph7355 said:
Apologies OP - forgot to do this...
Not the best photo, but you get the idea...
The intent, eventually, is to edge the whole drive with the same bricks, so the wall blends into edging....but the expense isn't a priority at the moment.
Thanks for sorting that out, it's useful seeing different ideas.Not the best photo, but you get the idea...
The intent, eventually, is to edge the whole drive with the same bricks, so the wall blends into edging....but the expense isn't a priority at the moment.
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