Retaining walls?

[GazCro]

was working on a third plus Giles .. plenty of drainage and a lot of what is behind it is virgin undisturbed ground, plus the tallest part is a curved wall (in the right direction) ... none of it is taller than three times the footing width.
Going 2/3rds'd 've meant disturbing a large volume of virgin ground and banging in a hell of a lot more loose backfill

Your extra third goes on the toe in front. It's why the key is the bond between wall and footing as for the wall to go over the footing has to lift.

 

[Canal Navvy]

i really like the look of the durisol blocks as you can face them with cladding/slips/tiles etc

Made in the land of the Dragon also.

Durisol for retaining walls | Woodcrete ICF | Durisol UK

For build projects on sloping sites or those that have below-ground elements which require retaining walls, Durisol is the ideal build material.

www.durisoluk.com

Also liking the look of those, looks like they'd take a render easily
Can see them being a lot easier to "sell" to the hippy/green set than the polystyrene alternatives

 

[GazCro]

Also liking the look of those, looks like they'd take a render easily
Can see them being a lot easier to "sell" to the hippy/green set than the polystyrene alternatives

They ain't cheap though, certainly not up here anyway.

 

[Giles]

my two experiences of icf were it was a nightmare ended up blowing out and having to prop a lot of it or pour in 1m lifts

 

[GazCro]

The actual building of them tbh isn't my job i just dig the hole and move on. But my own shed needs 60m of retaining wall when i eventually get around to it. Highest point retains 2.4m and comes down to about 1.2 but probably average 2m. I've got spec from another job local to copy, i know my ground is better and loading/traffic behind is less so it will be over rather than under spec.

 

[Storrsy]

I dunno- I do loads of retaining walls using nothing but dry stone granite- an engineer would probably have a fit- but often they're just replacing what has lasted 100 years or so. With dry stone you just need a bit of batter and some nice big lumps- I guess it's the natural alternative to Lego blocks. Haven't had one fail to be fair.
Finished height of this one I did last year was 7ft.
And last one was a restoring sections of retaining dry stone wall

 

[Furniss]

I dunno- I do loads of retaining walls using nothing but dry stone granite- an engineer would probably have a fit- but often they're just replacing what has lasted 100 years or so. With dry stone you just need a bit of batter and some nice big lumps- I guess it's the natural alternative to Lego blocks. Haven't had one fail to be fair.
Finished height of this one I did last year was 7ft.
And last one was a restoring sections of retaining dry stone wall

Lovely

 

[Canal Navvy]

- an engineer would probably have a fit- but often they're just replacing what has lasted 100 years or so.

I once had a complete stranger who'd spotted my working clothes in the chip shop queue start ranting about structural engineers. Turned out he had had a not very constructive conversation about the unsuitability of using wooden pegs to hold a green oak frame together, he wanted stainless steel

Your walling does like properly good and in keeping

 

[V8Druid]

Lovely

yeh real quality job

 

[Storrsy]

yeh real quality job

Thanks- I wouldn't go that far! But generally where I live there's granite everywhere so it's what's always been used to do such tasks. Another one I did- it's pretty rustic to be fair but cleared a pile of granite and made use out of it in the process- the shovel leaning against the rock at the back gives an idea of size of some of these rocks- so pretty confidence it will be there for a year or two.. another one in progress- but forgot to take final pic.

 

[Storrsy]

I once had a complete stranger who'd spotted my working clothes in the chip shop queue start ranting about structural engineers. Turned out he had had a not very constructive conversation about the unsuitability of using wooden pegs to hold a green oak frame together, he wanted stainless steel

Your walling does like properly good and in keeping

Some things should never change- if it's not broke why fix it! It's like wooden field gates- used to be held together with wooden pegs/dowels and would last for decades- now they use some kind of metal stud no doubt for speed but had many come apart.

 

[Smiffy]

I once had a complete stranger who'd spotted my working clothes in the chip shop queue start ranting about structural engineers. Turned out he had had a not very constructive conversation about the unsuitability of using wooden pegs to hold a green oak frame together, he wanted stainless steel

Your walling does like properly good and in keeping

There is one of the oldest houses in the country just down the road one of only 4 pre black death surviving.
It has no foundations just flagstones laid on the mud then the timber frame built off them.
Its surprisingly warm as cob walls and whilst it's a stone roof it had staw placed in the loft space originally.
Timber framed with some really ugly knotty bits of wood.
It really is the ultimate in green sustainable building. However show that to any engineer and I'm sure they would argue until there blue in the face that it is a physical impossibility

 

[6feetdown]

over 450mm

Or 2 steps high on a flight

 

[Gunners]

I dunno- I do loads of retaining walls using nothing but dry stone granite- an engineer would probably have a fit- but often they're just replacing what has lasted 100 years or so.

Those are some lovely natural walls, excellent work.
And whilst no engineer was involved, they aren't holding up a track or building, so the risk is less, and you are following good practice with the batter, larger stone at bottom, its free draining etc The principles are all there

 

[JD450A]

Engineers just piss me off tbh.... They are essential for some things but most of the time they are a arse covering waste of time.

Rule of thumb.... If you can get a toe behind the wall 1/3rd of the height, if in front at least 2/3rds with at least a sixth behind the wall..... Will of course need starter bars cast into the slab.

You can reduce the footing by tieing a wall back into the bank by using anchors. Or by angling the wall backwards.

R.e Sleeper walls. Posts 1/3rd underground, and preferably installed with backslope on the wall.

I do like some of the precast solutions available at present.

Oh and gabions are wank.

Fyi none of this advice is fact.... It's mearly a form of nostalgia.

 

[Storrsy]

I’m like @Gunners done nearly every style of retaining wall and fixed a few failing ones, 1 rule is engineer designs it or we suggest to the engineer how we want to to do it and he does the math.

some good hand lay systems like the cribbing and the American style interlocking concrete blocks ones

we do a lot of cast in situ concrete walls then clad in stone they work well but need experience in steel fixing shuttering erc, everyone thinks Gabion are cheap and quick but in order to get them looking great you need to spend the time hand stacking and straightening then you have sharp wires that catch on everything.

weve done a few now with precast concrete panels placed into rsjs then clad in stone

lego blocks are good but heavy 5.5 will lift close in but really need 8 or 13 ton, they don’t look the best when done but are super quick, £60 a block from my supplier.

done some of the 4“ round posts as well driven in next to each other or sleepers on end or fixed to concrete post behind etc

as has been said relieving water pressure with drains and weep holes is critical

I suppose Lego blocks could always be stone clad couldn't they if appearance was important. Are they just bedded on compacted stone?

 

[Giles]

I suppose Lego blocks could always be stone clad couldn't they if appearance was important. Are they just bedded on compacted stone?

Yeah can clad them or for £200 a block they’ll cast the stone in the mould for you

 

[diggerjones]

Has anyone mentioned these yet?

 

[Storrsy]

Yeah can clad them or for £200 a block they’ll cast the stone in the mould for you

I like that alot. Got to be a quick way of knocking up a asthetically pleasing retaining wall surely. Do engineers like Lego blocks though

 

[GazCro]

Yeah can clad them or for £200 a block they’ll cast the stone in the mould for you

Might look ok on a motorway embankment but would look wank as a garden wall imho.