Hi Freckle I'm building two houses in the backyard – the land is huge. The DA is with Council now.
Just not sure which material I should go with for the retaining wall and how much each option would cost.
I'm assuming your building to sell so esthetics will be important. I'm also assuming you'll do nothing until you're at the landscape stage.
The ground is fairly solid and height really isn't an issue so stacked masonry is probably you best bet all round. I say that because on your site a stacked interlocking stone/brick style has an indefinite life span.
If you google "masonry retaining walls" and search images rather than web you'll get a whole range of fairly straight forward schematics and plenty of illustrative masonry designs from stone wall to stacked block to the mortar jointed versions.
You'll just need to know what councils minimum requirements might be. A simple footing be it compacted gravel or sand then a stacked brick configuration will probably offer the cheapest per mtr rate as well as esthetic considerations. Just about a DIY job if your at all handy with a few tools. I'd hire in a cpl of labourers to do the heavy lifting and layout. A good source of casual labor are the removal companies. They usually have a few guys floating around looking for filler work.
A tip when you do long run walls. Over time they tend to walk and bulge out of line. You can mitigate this by curving walls or changing angles as in a zig zag style.
My vote for tip of the year. I actually learnt this the 'hard' way with one of my developments.
Regards
Shahin
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TheFinanceShop wrote:My vote for tip of the year. I actually learnt this the 'hard' way with one of my developments.Regards
Shahin
Only way to avoid that is to over engineer it structurally which is costly.
Another way to avoid heavy footings is reduce the height of walls (hence wall load on footings) by terracing. That can leave you with further landscaping opportunities such as plantings.
Well I'm going to budget $20,000 for the retaining walls, because I have no idea how much they might cost if they're masonry.
alfrescodining wrote:Well I'm going to budget $20,000 for the retaining walls, because I have no idea how much they might cost if they're masonry.Get a meter rate (X height) from the suppliers. Ask about returns. Budget on 40 meters incase of curves shaping etc. You can get general labourers for $20/hr. Don't use labour hire companies Need 3 probably. A dude with a bobcat to do site prep a few cube of gravel to backfill and bob's your uncle. I'd say a good weeks work.
Problem with masonry walls are the footings required.
The smallest footings allowable in the AS 4678 – 2002 is still a costly design with a substantial heel and toe.
The interlocking blocks as mentioned earlier, do not require such a substantial footing, as the hydrostatic pressure behind, has better chance of escape.
The biggest mistake people make when building retaining walls is a lack of "Adequate" drainage!
What ever you believe is adequate for your purposes – double it!
Hydrostatic pressure is the reason most walls fail!
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