As you can see from the photo's, our neighbours land is higher than ours and there is a stone retaining wall in place, which has so far lasted the 26 years since the house was built.
There was a low 4' fence on this retained land and some scaffolding planks had been used to attempt to keep the soil from leaning against the fence posts and panels, but ultimately they rotted and also the weight of soil behind them helped the posts and panels to fail in high winds. In 26 years, there have been 3 fences built along this length and we have now decided to plant a hedge instead. Before doing this, we need to build something more permanent to hold the soil back.
The following photos hopefully give an indication of the area that needs to be retained. The orange plumb line indicates the line of the new retaining wall, so as you can see it is set back by just under a metre from the front of the existing stone retaining wall.
The length of the wall is just short of 17 metres:
The existing stone retaining wall is 80cm high:
My estimates are that the retaining height will need to be between 15cm and 30cm along the 17 metre length. This is measured from the top of the existing stone wall to the orange plumb line you can just about see in the photos.
The garden next door slowly slopes down to the boundary. Over the years, the surface has been covered in plastic sheeting and stones spread on it, which has raised the height a little more, and this allowed cars to be parked on this area, but the current owners tend not to do that.
I'm looking for some ideas on the best/easiest/cheapest way of doing this, but using a method that will be more permanent that the scaffolding boards used by previous owners. I did wonder if concrete paving slabs buried in a trench and held in place with concrete might be a reasonable solution, but I'm not sure how strong this would be. Not sure if I want to take on a job like this myself, so I may get a landscaper or builder in to do the work.
I would appreciate any thoughts on the best way to build this small (secondary) retaining wall, the aim of which will be to protect the newly planted hedge from the soil and stones from the garden next door.
There was a low 4' fence on this retained land and some scaffolding planks had been used to attempt to keep the soil from leaning against the fence posts and panels, but ultimately they rotted and also the weight of soil behind them helped the posts and panels to fail in high winds. In 26 years, there have been 3 fences built along this length and we have now decided to plant a hedge instead. Before doing this, we need to build something more permanent to hold the soil back.
The following photos hopefully give an indication of the area that needs to be retained. The orange plumb line indicates the line of the new retaining wall, so as you can see it is set back by just under a metre from the front of the existing stone retaining wall.
The length of the wall is just short of 17 metres:
The existing stone retaining wall is 80cm high:
My estimates are that the retaining height will need to be between 15cm and 30cm along the 17 metre length. This is measured from the top of the existing stone wall to the orange plumb line you can just about see in the photos.
The garden next door slowly slopes down to the boundary. Over the years, the surface has been covered in plastic sheeting and stones spread on it, which has raised the height a little more, and this allowed cars to be parked on this area, but the current owners tend not to do that.
I'm looking for some ideas on the best/easiest/cheapest way of doing this, but using a method that will be more permanent that the scaffolding boards used by previous owners. I did wonder if concrete paving slabs buried in a trench and held in place with concrete might be a reasonable solution, but I'm not sure how strong this would be. Not sure if I want to take on a job like this myself, so I may get a landscaper or builder in to do the work.
I would appreciate any thoughts on the best way to build this small (secondary) retaining wall, the aim of which will be to protect the newly planted hedge from the soil and stones from the garden next door.
