Fencing atop crib retaining wall

[Akasa]

Hi,

I need to replace a fence at the rear of a property. At the edge of property boundary there is a drop of 35 feet or so supported by a concrete crib retaining wall. Currently the fence posts are about two and a half feet foward from the top of the retaining wall.

My question is how close to the top of the wall can I place the new posts

Thanks in advance.

 

[r896neo]

As close as practical really. You are not going to adversely affect a big concrete crib wall whatever you do so its a question of what is in the ground really. It is most likely backfilled for a couple of feet with large 2 inch clean stone or similar so you won't be able to get a post hole in that stuff.

It would be fair to assume the guy who put up the existing fence had your conundrum too so a similar line to it is a safe bet

 

[RoscoM]

The existing fence will most likely be running inside the crib wall itself if it is only two and a half feet from the face as they tend to be a little wider than that.

I would stick to the existing line as said above,mainly because any further back and you will be into the "wedge fill" which will/should be even more compacted than the material between the cribs themselves. Well that and I wouldn't want to be working much closer than that to a 35ft drop!