Advice on retaining wall - please help!

[trainingdaydenz]

After a succession of quotes and I am totally confused with the different ways that landscapers are proposing how they will deal with the drainage and rain water.

Many have said different ways and the landscaper I like said they do it this way. Photo to follow.

My garden is a different level so a couple of steps need building and a retaining wall in my small garden. Then a patio will be laid at the front of the retaining wall/steps.

I'm either having sleepers or concrete blocks with cladding.

I've been told that holes are drilled through so water can escape and then a drain is put on the side. Is this the right way of doing it?

He sent this picture as an example of how he does it. So the to the left hand side is in front and to the side of the wall.

He said Drilling on each brick/concrete block a hole on the button line will deal with water. Is this a good way to deal with water on a sloped garden.

Isn't a structural engineer best placed to design a retaining wall? Or at least advise you on design.

It's a very small wall I thought landscapers do these day in day out. I'm concerned about the water more than anything. It's just the all say different things and it's very confusing.

I'm not sure a structural engineer would come and look at a small garden retaining wall.

How high is it, does the land above it slope much, is your soil sandy, stony or sticky clay?

And if the patio is at the low level, how is/will that be drained

It's no more than 3 foot, there is quite a slope and the drainage of the patio will probay be either avo drain or stone.

Once again I have had lots of different opinions on how the patio drsinage will work. I have asked to do it to building regs and lots don't want to d OK nit that way as they have to f OK a little e more digging f oh wn and look levelling.

I've had a succession of cowboys and liars (until I put things in writing). but also legit bali registered landscapers who ghost, as one admitted in their words they get lazy and like to have perfect access conditions and can't be bothered with the digging for building regs.

Quite frankly I'm at my wits end with it all.

It looks muddy and perhaps stony soil.

• Once again I have had lots of different opinions on how the patio drainage will work. I have asked them to do it to building regs and lots don't want to do it that way, as they don't think it is necessary if they install an aco drain along the house and they don't want to d a little more digging and levelling.

You can either do it that way, with holes through the wall, or you can put a nobbly membrane directly on the back of the wall, with clean stone behind, then a cloth type membrane to seperate the stone from the back filled soil. At the base of the wall at the back under the clean stone you put perforated pipe that feeds into a drain somewhere. Or you can do both together. Like this.

Eta: the nobbly membrane is only really for if you need to keep the wall dry - if it's part of a building, it's a sort of damp proof / tanking.

Thank you for this diagram. @GrannyAchingsShepherdsHut

It seems he just wants to put the holes in and the drain at the side. I just wanted to know if how he dies it is an effective way to do it.

Why not just use sleepers?

Sleepers are what I was k leaning towards but I'm told they just tot and don't last plus all the quotes I've received say things like we are not responsible for any splitting, bubbling etc.

Plus even with sleepers I need to know how they deal with drainage of rain water from the slope in my garden.

If there is aggregate (largish stones) behind and under the sleepers, then they will last donkeys years. The sleepers will let water past and the gardener will organize the drainage.
They rot when they have soil against them. Hence they last for years on railways, the stones let the water drain.

I love clicking on these threads just to learn things.

Oh well that is a relief to know - thank you so much for that. So I will have to ensure that they have stones and not soil against them to last.

I know nothing about this but I do know you should watch this video about retaining wall drainage.

https://www.instagram.com/explaining.everything/reel/C_S66X_SF5z/

Thank you @ItsAllSoBleak I'll take a look now

Lol and there's me paranoid about my tiny wall .

Examples of retaining walls. https://retainingwallsolutions.co.uk/retaining-wall-price-comparison/

Patio could run off onto bed or lawn or use a permeable block so water drains through. www.marshalls.co.uk/gardens-and-driveways/driveways/permeable-paving

I built a retaining wall which sounds about the same height as you are planning .

it’s just the structure atm and will be clad in not sure what yet and have something on the top. 🙂. For the drainage behind it I concreted up to the holes filled with pea gravel then a membrane on top to stop soil going into the gravel.

its been built 3 years now and not once have I ever seen any water come out the holes. I’m not sure where it goes when it’s pouring down but it’s not out of those holes,

we have a big stone wall on one side of our property about 7 foot high and over 20 meters long it also has holes along the bottom of it about 2m apart , they are drainpipe size holes and I’ve never seen any water come out of those either ?

At the height your planning I wouldn’t worry about drainage too much.

Really @Diyextension that is a relief. I am so worn down with landscapers telling me different things. I'm impressed with what you have done and wish I could do these things myself, as I really have had bad experiences dealing with trades.

I've just had a landscaper (probably not trained at all) tell me the sleepers will just rot and I told him what the PP said about backing with stone and putting it on and he just didn't reply.

I had a retaining wall put in after our extension took a chunk out of our sloped garden over a decade ago.

The wall is probably no more than 90cm tall and although that doesn't sound very tall it is holding an entire garden behind it. My wall is built from foundation blocks which are designed to be in the ground for building house foundations. Behind that wall on the garden side is a French drain which is the same as DIY's photos. But mine is behind the wall because the water will pass through the soil and then collect behind the wall and create pressure. I have that grid drain connected to a house drain, membrane on top, pea gravel on top of that to allow water to soak down. I did a lot of research at the time to find the options.

The patio in front of the wall has a slight slope to it but does collect rain in very heavy downpours but does drain. Around the patio we have a border of stones to allow water somewhere to drain off to. My foundation block wall is clad in red cedar planks, the top also has red cedar and we can sit on the wall due to the height. I did want it plastered and painted but my plasterer said they don't last and the plaster will blow at some point.

@sewingitalltogether That dou da like a good option. I'm glad it's lasted.

I've just had some very nice landscapers round to quote. What a relief and a difference. Didn't whinge and whine about not having the perfect access.

They didn't argue about me wanting it done to building regs (others have belitted me and said things like well people with massive houses don't mind a drain going towards the house and not being to building refs)!

My gut is telling me that these are the ones although they are not Bali registered (one who was Bali registered tried to con me anyway so there you go. . They have a few reviews on Google and done photos and a website so hopefully they are legit.

They said they put a damp proof membrane behind the sleepers and didn't seem to know about putting stone there.

Apparently they do irrigation too and they are doing the fall away from the house and an aco drain in front of the sleepers iirc.

Does this sound OK. They have availability as people want their work done after Christmas.

@trainingdaydenz sounds good. A membrane will also protect the sleepers.