Needless to say, when we bought our house last year we had the property inspected for all the usual things… no problems there. We also asked the over-paid ‘experts’ to check on the wooden retaining walls which ran down the length of the house and across the back. We asked the right questions: was it properly built? was it safe? was it legal? We were assured that it was. Right questions – wrong answers.
It all began when I called someone in to clear this area and plant some bushes along the fence.
“I’ll certainly do that for you”, said the landscaper. “But, you’re wasting your time, the retaining walls are failing”.
Even I could see what he was talking about! Even worse, the ‘lawn’ was completely uneven.
We took a second, third and fourth opinions and decided there was nothing for it but to replace the walls and have the garden levelled and extended. Estimates ranged from $8,700 to $48,000 – the latter being just for replacing the walls – no turf or, for that matter anything else. Bearsy and I are incapable of half-doing a job. So we decided on a concrete wall – it seemed daft to spend money on wood, which is only ‘sort’ of guaranteed to last 15 years. It amazes us that so much is built of wood in Queensland which has so many wood eating beasties! So just three weeks ago a crew arrived and the garden was torn up!
Today they assure us it will be finished by Wednesday this week. Watch this space!
Boadicea's Chariot 
Wow, that’s what I call gardening! 🙂
Oh heavens, what a job!
Will it leave you overlooking others now or being set on a plinth being overlooked by all?
Maybe it needs some flowering bushes or something on the upside of the walls to break the military fort look.
It looks like it was a good thing you did it to avoid your garden removing itself elsewhere as a mudslide.
The house on the right is higher than us – but they have a very tall fence and lots of trees – so they don’t overlook us.
We will end up overlooking the neighbours on the left – but we (or rather the landscapers!) have planted a row of fairly good-sized bushes, which should in the fullness of time provide privacy. But the fence is quite some distance from the boundary – so it won’t be too much of a problem.
The nearest house to the back is quite some distance away and there is a creek and a lot of trees in between. We can’t see them and they can’t see us!
Pictures of the finished garden will be posted!
Boa, in one house I owned in Lancashire ther was a hillside spring which went mental during rain storms. Luckily it decanted itself between two properties. Do you have one, by any chance?
My sister in law (in Edinburgh) has some wooden terracing but it is done with vertical railway sleeper sized timber edge to edge (about 5ft above the lower level).
The way it was done was to excavate (where necessary) back from the face, stand the ‘sleepers‘ up and then secure them individually back with cables to small stacks of concrete building blocks. Then fill the whole lot in with hard core at the base to supply stability and drainage.
It’s been up now for 10+ years with absolutely no sign of movement. The face is about 20yds wide with a gap in the centre for steps.
I suppose that in the ‘Old Country’ we have more knowledge of how to do things properly – that is when we feel like it.
Janus
The creek is well below the level of the very lowest part of our property. We did the checks on whether this area was flooded in the Brisbane floods of 2011 and it wasn’t even vaguely affected.
Further to my reply.
I had not seen the later pictures of the galvanised posts and concrete inserts. I don’t wish to depress you, but that is not the correct way to do this. Short of a full retaining wall the secret is to tie the supports back into the slope.
Hi Jazz!
I rather suspect, after talking to my neighbours, that the retaining wall was put up by the owner / builder from whom we bought the property. I hesitate to comment on their nationality! It certainly wasn’t Ozzie – we had a couple of chilli plants and a ‘curry’ tree in the garden…
We have had to deal with a number of their ‘short-cuts’ – like sorting out 10+ foot curtain rails held up by half inch screws… I’m lucky that the rails and curtains did not fall on my head! The house, itself, was built by an extremely reputable company – we wouldn’t have even considered it otherwise.
When the landscaper ‘tapped’ the retaining wall with his machinery – it went down faster than a house of cards! The metre high walls were supported by a fence post (not a railway sleeper as is customary) only 400 mm in the ground. The steel posts have almost as much underground as they have above.
Had we lived in Edinburgh, we would have had no problem with wood. – but here there are, as I said, far too many beasties that like to eat wood!
I thought all timber in OZ and NZ was treated. The stuff you show in the pictures (all bowed out) looks treated.
Anyway best of luck with what you are doing.
Jazz: wood can be treated but over time the potency decreases and it becomes vulnerable.
Jazz and Christopher. Landscape wood here used to be pressure treated with Creosote (wonderful stuff) or Arsenic solutions both of which were pretty effective over long periods of time. Recently these have been outlawed by the Greens so now treated lumber rots or is eaten very quickly. Concrete panels are probably a better choice.
Boadicea: Maybe now you will be able to cut the grass without the abseiling gear?
What a nightmare, Boadicea.
Best of luck, and I hope that they have solved the problem.
Aramainta
It hasn’t been too much of a nightmare. We ended up using the company that told us about the problem. The guys who work for him are a great bunch – all cheerful! They turn up at around 6.30 am (in fact one has just got here at 6.10) and work like crazy – sometimes until 5.00 pm. They clean up after themselves every day – so no muck has walked into the house. Quite a feat when one considers how much earth has been moved around us!
We have turned what was a fairly unusable area into a large garden. It has rather amazed me just how big it is. We’ve gone for easy care – not being gardeners – mainly hardy turf and flowering ever-green bushes. The lower part of the garden is wild – and will remain that way!
Glad to hear it is an improvement, Boadicea.
It really makes a difference when you have workman who are clean and tidy, cheerful and hard-working.
I dare say it wasn’t something you had planned or budgeting for, but all things considered if you end up with an improved and pleasant garden which you can enjoy, it may not have been such bad news after all.
LW: exactly. The older treatments held up much better and some people still have buckets of it sitting around. They try to use it whenever possible.