Garden landscaping question

[Heltor Chasca]

[QUOTE 4881559, member: 45"]Our back garden slopes upwards away from the house. We have a level patio and then a retaining wall about 3 feet high. Above this the lawn slopes up and away.

I'd like to add another 5-6 feet to the patio.

What's the best way of doing this without the garden falling in when I start to dig it out? And how do you build a retaining wall into the slope?[/QUOTE]

Another opinion: based on where you are, the soil is full of clay so it should retain it's structure for some time. You will have to excavate further than 5-6 foot to take in to account the retaining wall. This should be double skinned with face up blocks and then your decorative walling tied to that structure. Backfill with clean stone and make sure you have weep holes. If this is going to be more than 1m I would get advice from a structural engineer. Think hard about the sides of the retaining wall if these are going to be on your boundary. You want to keep in mind the levels and structural integrity of your neighbour's property.

Depending where you are in North Somerset, I have some contacts to do bits of the work including removing the spoil.

 

[Heltor Chasca]

What about raised decking instead?
We had that done as our garden slopes. Provided a nice wee sun trap as it's higher than the patio.

A good option which I have done for clients. Much cheaper than excavation. Box, out, think.

 

[Ian H]

Our place is similar. Behind the house is a retaining wall and the garden slopes up from that. The garage is a little further back and built into the land. A fig tree against its back wall had caused a subterranean leak, so I had to dig 4' down to uncover the base and remedy the problem. The fig went and the area is now a terrace at a higher level, though still below the garden. The subsoil is pure, sticky clay (we are very near the site of an old pottery), and the excavation remained stable for the month or so before I back-filled it.

The excavation.

The terrace today

 

[Tiger10]

Move house!!

 

[Mrs M]

A good option which I have done for clients. Much cheaper than excavation. Box, out, think.

This is ours

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Just dig it out and see what happens.

 

[Dayvo]

To give the impression of having a larger garden, without having to do any back-breaking work, you need to rig up a series of full-length mirrors strategically placed around the existing garden.

 

[Dave 123]

Leave the garden how it is, just move your house forward by 6 feet.

 

[captain nemo1701]

Be careful with increasing the load on your retaining wall. I would take advice from a structural engineer. You may need to have a Atterberg plasticity tests done on the clay to obtain engineering parameters. The wall may need reinforced to cope with extra loading. Plasticity tests will cost you about £30 to £40 a shot.

 

[Levo-Lon]

I wonder how the Egyptians ever managed

 

[Levo-Lon]

Not too much height difference..
Cant see any problems,just logistics access and cost.
Have a chat with a few local landscape firms and then you will know whats what

 

[Randomnerd]

Doesn't look anywhere near as bad as first described. A good retaining wall in drystone would be around £100 per m2 including stone and backfill. Removing spoil is labour and skips, so long as access is sufficient.

 

[Heltor Chasca]

Nothing stopping you now. That's a pretty straightforward project. Watch your neighbour's side, depending on where they have terraced back to.

A good rule of thumb to work to is: make the patio wide enough to fit a table and one and a half chair's gap. Otherwise you'll have bruises on your butt from kicking yourself for not digging out more.

A friend had a path terraced with a retaining wall up to her front door. Made it too narrow so you can't walk up it with two shopping bags without crab-walking. As for a bike with panniers that's a big gripe.

Good luck.

 

[rich p]

My daughter had a similar issue with a very steep garden and was quoted between £2k and £9k, to clear a 4m wide, 1.5m deep and 1.5m high chalk mass to give her a 'prison yard' play area outside the back door to their 4 terrace garden.
In the end I built a single skin block wall which cost 2 parts of fark all and has been fine.
The builders/landscapers wanted to go into overkill with reinforcing rods, 60cm foundations etc.
She has now proper plans for an extension whereby my handiwork will be demolished but the surveyor said that it would have been fine but building regs would require more certainty. I accept that of course but his point was that the bedrock chalk hadn't shifted for millions of years.
Having said that, I'm a know nothing, know-all!