Sheet piles for a garden retaining wall

[David]

We wanted to push our garden back by about 1.5/2m to give us more space imm ediately outside the house. We currently have a 1m high retaining wall hol ding the garden back, so we would need to get rid of this, push back and ha ve a new retaining wall about 1.2m high and 7.5m long. I looked at sleepers, I looked at block walls I looked at skips, I've looke d at putting the waste soil down me trousers and shaking it around the vill age a la Great Escape. Then we lost interest owing to money, being bothered, access etc.

Then our nice new neighbours told us they were thinking of pushing their ga rden back and would we like to do it at the same time. He suggested sheet piling as this would give an instant retain and then just get your digger i n to get rid of soil, dig out behind the piling to the depth of the clay, p ut in crushed stone for drainage and job done. Apart from making it look n ice, which I shall put to one side.

Which leads me to my question. Has anybody any experience of this?

My second question is: Whaddya reckon to this:

used in conjunction with driven steel tubes down the hollows as the main st ructural strength? These are attractive as they could be driven with a han d held driver like this r/ and not with a huge piling machine/JCB.

All opinions welcome!

Ta David

[newshound]

I did something similar (actually terracing a slope) with the aid of a Series 3 JCB. I had a lot of spare stone from a very old, degraded dry stone wall, and had a guy build me a mortar bonded wall about a metre high using this.

I bet it is not cheap

But you will need a big compressor.

[Mark Allread]

No experience of what is being suggested her but have you thought about using gabion baskets filled with stone? Instant retaining wall and attractive to look at (in my view - others may differ).

[Mark Allread]

:) - no, but I have seen them used quite extensively including as the structural outside wall of a building. I can't remember precisely where now but I think it may have been at, of all places, the NS&I site at Blackpool. Earth Centre, Doncaster also, apparently has one.

Putting 'Gabion wall of building' into an image search brings up lots of images.

[harry]

mmediately outside the house. We currently have a 1m high retaining wall h olding the garden back, so we would need to get rid of this, push back and have a new retaining wall about 1.2m high and 7.5m long.

ked at putting the waste soil down me trousers and shaking it around the vi llage a la Great Escape.

garden back and would we like to do it at the same time. He suggested shee t piling as this would give an instant retain and then just get your digger in to get rid of soil, dig out behind the piling to the depth of the clay, put in crushed stone for drainage and job done. Apart from making it look nice, which I shall put to one side.

structural strength? These are attractive as they could be driven with a h and held driver like this

[David]

I've seen the thing they rent with it - see pic in background of

both a two man job I'd say

[David]

Yes, we have. And agree that they are attractive to look at. Thing about t his is it's whack in the piles, dig the dirt from in front and you're done (yes, that easy...).Also self-draining. But we'd have to dig back another metre to allow for the volume of the gabion - roughly another 9 cubic metre s of clay.

Nevertheless - still in the running I'd say

[David]

Lego! For men!

These look good.

Also saw

[newshound]

Colleague of mine did this himself. Very hard work, he reckoned.

[Andy Burns]

Sounds pretty back-breaking, especially if it's wet and/or needs lifting out of the hole.

I had to spread 3 of those not-quite-ton bags of MOT type 1, which took me half a day, not even going up hill, and easier stuff to handle than clay.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Hire the minidigger

[Capitol]

I've done it a few times, bit of a patience exercise but not bad. You have to allow for the skip hire costs though.

[Capitol]

You'd need a crate of spinach to lift those!

[dennis]

looks like a hydraulic one to me as it has a return pipe.

[newshound]

Sorry I wasn't very clear. Obviously the digging needs a digger. He said that filling the gabions by hand and ensuring a neat, void free front face was hard work.