We wanted to push our garden back by about 1.5/2m to give us more space immediately outside the house. We currently have a 1m high retaining wall holding the garden back, so we would need to get rid of this, push back and have a new retaining wall about 1.2m high and 7.5m long.
I looked at sleepers, I looked at block walls I looked at skips, I've looked at putting the waste soil down me trousers and shaking it around the village a la Great Escape.
Then we lost interest owing to money, being bothered, access etc.

Then our nice new neighbours told us they were thinking of pushing their garden back and would we like to do it at the same time. He suggested sheet piling as this would give an instant retain and then just get your digger in to get rid of soil, dig out behind the piling to the depth of the clay, put in crushed stone for drainage and job done. Apart from making it look nice, which I shall put to one side.

Which leads me to my question. Has anybody any experience of this?

My second question is: Whaddya reckon to this:
http://www.plasticpiling.co.uk/produ...-sheet-piling/
used in conjunction with driven steel tubes down the hollows as the main structural strength? These are attractive as they could be driven with a hand held driver like this
http://www.plasticpiling.co.uk/atlas...d-pile-driver/
and not with a huge piling machine/JCB.

All opinions welcome!

Ta David

David Wrote in message:
We wanted to push our garden back by about 1.5/2m to give us more space immediately outside the house. We currently have a 1m high retaining wall holding the garden back, so we would need to get rid of this, push back and have a new retaining wall about 1.2m high and 7.5m long.
I looked at sleepers, I looked at block walls I looked at skips, I've looked at putting the waste soil down me trousers and shaking it around the village a la Great Escape.
Then we lost interest owing to money, being bothered, access etc.

Then our nice new neighbours told us they were thinking of pushing their garden back and would we like to do it at the same time. He suggested sheet piling as this would give an instant retain and then just get your digger in to get rid of soil, dig out behind the piling to the depth of the clay, put in crushed stone for drainage and job done. Apart from making it look nice, which I shall put to one side.

Which leads me to my question. Has anybody any experience of this?

My second question is: Whaddya reckon to this:
http://www.plasticpiling.co.uk/produ...-sheet-piling/
used in conjunction with driven steel tubes down the hollows as the main structural strength? These are attractive as they could be driven with a hand held driver like this
http://www.plasticpiling.co.uk/atlas...d-pile-driver/
and not with a huge piling machine/JCB.

All opinions welcome!

Ta David





What does the digger sit on whilst it's digging out behind the
sheet piling?

--
Jim K


----Android NewsGroup Reader----
http://usenet.sinaapp.com/

On Wednesday, 5 April 2017 17:09:04 UTC+1, jim wrote:
What does the digger sit on whilst it's digging out behind the
sheet piling?

The land uphill of the sheet piling.

Getting it back to the hire shop downhill of the sheet piling might be interesting.

Owain

Wrote in message:
On Wednesday, 5 April 2017 17:09:04 UTC+1, jim wrote:
What does the digger sit on whilst it's digging out behind the
sheet piling?

The land uphill of the sheet piling.

Er... How big a hole are you imagining digging behind the sheet? I
was imagining a ~12? trench....

--
Jim K


----Android NewsGroup Reader----
http://usenet.sinaapp.com/

On Wednesday, April 5, 2017 at 6:19:12 PM UTC+1, wrote:

What does the digger sit on whilst it's digging out behind the
sheet piling?

The land uphill of the sheet piling.

Getting it back to the hire shop downhill of the sheet piling might be interesting.

"Ah! That's that job finished!" looks around "Sh*t. It's the painted bathroom floor allover again."

Seriously, there is an exit through the neighbour's garden.

On Wednesday, April 5, 2017 at 5:09:04 PM UTC+1, jim wrote:
snipppety snip


What does the digger sit on whilst it's digging out behind the
sheet piling?

--
Jim K


----Android NewsGroup Reader----
http://usenet.sinaapp.com/

Good question!
If he can dig out perpendicular to the piling, the lawn. If not, then I don't know. My understanding is that I'd probably need to dig down to the clay layer, which is a foot or so, so could do it by hand.

On 4/5/2017 5:01 PM, David wrote:
We wanted to push our garden back by about 1.5/2m to give us more space immediately outside the house. We currently have a 1m high retaining wall holding the garden back, so we would need to get rid of this, push back and have a new retaining wall about 1.2m high and 7.5m long.
I looked at sleepers, I looked at block walls I looked at skips, I've looked at putting the waste soil down me trousers and shaking it around the village a la Great Escape.
Then we lost interest owing to money, being bothered, access etc.

Then our nice new neighbours told us they were thinking of pushing their garden back and would we like to do it at the same time. He suggested sheet piling as this would give an instant retain and then just get your digger in to get rid of soil, dig out behind the piling to the depth of the clay, put in crushed stone for drainage and job done. Apart from making it look nice, which I shall put to one side.

Which leads me to my question. Has anybody any experience of this?

I did something similar (actually terracing a slope) with the aid of a
Series 3 JCB. I had a lot of spare stone from a very old, degraded dry
stone wall, and had a guy build me a mortar bonded wall about a metre
high using this.


My second question is: Whaddya reckon to this:
http://www.plasticpiling.co.uk/produ...-sheet-piling/

I bet it is not cheap


used in conjunction with driven steel tubes down the hollows as the main structural strength? These are attractive as they could be driven with a hand held driver like this
http://www.plasticpiling.co.uk/atlas...d-pile-driver/
and not with a huge piling machine/JCB.

But you will need a big compressor.


All opinions welcome!

Ta David

On Wednesday, April 5, 2017 at 5:34:27 PM UTC+1, newshound wrote:
snippety snip
But you will need a big compressor.

I've seen the thing they rent with it - see pic in background of

https://media.licdn.com/mpr/mpr/shri...NWVlOGEzMg.jpg

both a two man job I'd say

On 05/04/2017 17:34, newshound wrote:

used in conjunction with driven steel tubes down the hollows as the
main structural strength? These are attractive as they could be
driven with a hand held driver like this
http://www.plasticpiling.co.uk/atlas...d-pile-driver/

and not with a huge piling machine/JCB.

But you will need a big compressor.

looks like a hydraulic one to me as it has a return pipe.

On Wed, 05 Apr 2017 09:01:02 -0700, David wrote:

We wanted to push our garden back by about 1.5/2m to give us more space
immediately outside the house. We currently have a 1m high retaining
wall holding the garden back, so we would need to get rid of this, push
back and have a new retaining wall about 1.2m high and 7.5m long.
I looked at sleepers, I looked at block walls I looked at skips, I've
looked at putting the waste soil down me trousers and shaking it around
the village a la Great Escape.
Then we lost interest owing to money, being bothered, access etc.

Then our nice new neighbours told us they were thinking of pushing their
garden back and would we like to do it at the same time. He suggested
sheet piling as this would give an instant retain and then just get your
digger in to get rid of soil, dig out behind the piling to the depth of
the clay, put in crushed stone for drainage and job done. Apart from
making it look nice, which I shall put to one side.

No experience of what is being suggested her but have you thought about
using gabion baskets filled with stone? Instant retaining wall and
attractive to look at (in my view - others may differ).

Mark Allread Wrote in message:
On Wed, 05 Apr 2017 09:01:02 -0700, David wrote:

We wanted to push our garden back by about 1.5/2m to give us more space
immediately outside the house. We currently have a 1m high retaining
wall holding the garden back, so we would need to get rid of this, push
back and have a new retaining wall about 1.2m high and 7.5m long.
I looked at sleepers, I looked at block walls I looked at skips, I've
looked at putting the waste soil down me trousers and shaking it around
the village a la Great Escape.
Then we lost interest owing to money, being bothered, access etc.

Then our nice new neighbours told us they were thinking of pushing their
garden back and would we like to do it at the same time. He suggested
sheet piling as this would give an instant retain and then just get your
digger in to get rid of soil, dig out behind the piling to the depth of
the clay, put in crushed stone for drainage and job done. Apart from
making it look nice, which I shall put to one side.

No experience of what is being suggested her but have you thought about
using gabion baskets filled with stone? Instant retaining wall and
attractive to look at (in my view - others may differ).


Were you in the army? :-)
Bit utilitarian IMHO.
--
Jim K


----Android NewsGroup Reader----
http://usenet.sinaapp.com/

On Wed, 05 Apr 2017 17:50:00 +0100, jim wrote:

Mark Allread Wrote in message:
On Wed, 05 Apr 2017 09:01:02 -0700, David wrote:

We wanted to push our garden back by about 1.5/2m to give us more
space immediately outside the house. We currently have a 1m high
retaining wall holding the garden back, so we would need to get rid of
this, push back and have a new retaining wall about 1.2m high and 7.5m

No experience of what is being suggested her but have you thought about
using gabion baskets filled with stone? Instant retaining wall and
attractive to look at (in my view - others may differ).


Were you in the army? :-)
Bit utilitarian IMHO.

- no, but I have seen them used quite extensively including as the
structural outside wall of a building. I can't remember precisely where
now but I think it may have been at, of all places, the NS&I site at
Blackpool. Earth Centre, Doncaster also, apparently has one.

Putting 'Gabion wall of building' into an image search brings up lots of
images.

Mark Allread Wrote in message:
On Wed, 05 Apr 2017 17:50:00 +0100, jim wrote:

Mark Allread Wrote in message:
On Wed, 05 Apr 2017 09:01:02 -0700, David wrote:

We wanted to push our garden back by about 1.5/2m to give us more
space immediately outside the house. We currently have a 1m high
retaining wall holding the garden back, so we would need to get rid of
this, push back and have a new retaining wall about 1.2m high and 7.5m

No experience of what is being suggested her but have you thought about
using gabion baskets filled with stone? Instant retaining wall and
attractive to look at (in my view - others may differ).


Were you in the army? :-)
Bit utilitarian IMHO.

- no, but I have seen them used quite extensively including as the
structural outside wall of a building. I can't remember precisely where
now but I think it may have been at, of all places, the NS&I site at
Blackpool. Earth Centre, Doncaster also, apparently has one.

Putting 'Gabion wall of building' into an image search brings up lots of
images.


Mmm what's the life expectancy of gabions?
assuming they are made from galvanised wire...

Istr they were invented for armies to knock up temporary defensive
positions in open ground so presumably a finite life must be
expected?

--
Jim K


----Android NewsGroup Reader----
http://usenet.sinaapp.com/

On 08/04/17 16:12, jim wrote:
Mark Allread Wrote in message:
On Wed, 05 Apr 2017 17:50:00 +0100, jim wrote:

Mark Allread Wrote in message:
On Wed, 05 Apr 2017 09:01:02 -0700, David wrote:

We wanted to push our garden back by about 1.5/2m to give us more
space immediately outside the house. We currently have a 1m high
retaining wall holding the garden back, so we would need to get rid of
this, push back and have a new retaining wall about 1.2m high and 7.5m

No experience of what is being suggested her but have you thought about
using gabion baskets filled with stone? Instant retaining wall and
attractive to look at (in my view - others may differ).


Were you in the army? :-)
Bit utilitarian IMHO.

- no, but I have seen them used quite extensively including as the
structural outside wall of a building. I can't remember precisely where
now but I think it may have been at, of all places, the NS&I site at
Blackpool. Earth Centre, Doncaster also, apparently has one.

Putting 'Gabion wall of building' into an image search brings up lots of
images.


Mmm what's the life expectancy of gabions?
assuming they are made from galvanised wire...

Istr they were invented for armies to knock up temporary defensive
positions in open ground so presumably a finite life must be
expected?

Infinite. The wire merely holds them in place until teh soil and plants
have covered them and bound them in place

I once dug uo some old chicken wire 'oh that's the hen coop I made in
1940' said my (then [1986] landlord) and that there tree was actually a
willow branch I stuck in the corner, that sprouted "

--
The New Left are the people they warned you about.

On Wednesday, April 5, 2017 at 5:50:01 PM UTC+1, jim wrote:
Mark Allread Wrote in message:


Were you in the army? :-)
Bit utilitarian IMHO.

Agreed - not exactly pretty. I was thinking of cladding in featheredge painted white. Otherwise, it'd be a bit like sitting in a drained canal.

On Wednesday, April 5, 2017 at 8:53:35 PM UTC+1, David wrote:
On Wednesday, April 5, 2017 at 5:50:01 PM UTC+1, jim wrote:
Mark Allread Wrote in message:


Were you in the army? :-)
Bit utilitarian IMHO.

Agreed - not exactly pretty. I was thinking of cladding in featheredge painted white. Otherwise, it'd be a bit like sitting in a drained canal.

Oops - thought you meant the piling. Quite like the gabions - OK when planted.

On 05/04/17 17:50, jim wrote:
Mark Allread Wrote in message:
On Wed, 05 Apr 2017 09:01:02 -0700, David wrote:

We wanted to push our garden back by about 1.5/2m to give us more space
immediately outside the house. We currently have a 1m high retaining
wall holding the garden back, so we would need to get rid of this, push
back and have a new retaining wall about 1.2m high and 7.5m long.
I looked at sleepers, I looked at block walls I looked at skips, I've
looked at putting the waste soil down me trousers and shaking it around
the village a la Great Escape.
Then we lost interest owing to money, being bothered, access etc.

Then our nice new neighbours told us they were thinking of pushing their
garden back and would we like to do it at the same time. He suggested
sheet piling as this would give an instant retain and then just get your
digger in to get rid of soil, dig out behind the piling to the depth of
the clay, put in crushed stone for drainage and job done. Apart from
making it look nice, which I shall put to one side.

No experience of what is being suggested her but have you thought about
using gabion baskets filled with stone? Instant retaining wall and
attractive to look at (in my view - others may differ).


Were you in the army? :-)
Bit utilitarian IMHO.

Until you grow rock plants all over em.


--
All political activity makes complete sense once the proposition that
all government is basically a self-legalising protection racket, is
fully understood.

On Wednesday, April 5, 2017 at 5:48:53 PM UTC+1, Mark Allread wrote:

No experience of what is being suggested her but have you thought about
using gabion baskets filled with stone? Instant retaining wall and
attractive to look at (in my view - others may differ).

Yes, we have. And agree that they are attractive to look at. Thing about this is it's whack in the piles, dig the dirt from in front and you're done (yes, that easy...).Also self-draining. But we'd have to dig back another metre to allow for the volume of the gabion - roughly another 9 cubic metres of clay.

Nevertheless - still in the running I'd say

David Wrote in message:
On Wednesday, April 5, 2017 at 5:48:53 PM UTC+1, Mark Allread wrote:

No experience of what is being suggested her but have you thought about
using gabion baskets filled with stone? Instant retaining wall and
attractive to look at (in my view - others may differ).

Yes, we have. And agree that they are attractive to look at. Thing about this is it's whack in the piles, dig the dirt from in front and you're done (yes, that easy...).Also self-draining. But we'd have to dig back another metre to allow for the volume of the gabion - roughly another 9 cubic metres of clay.

Nevertheless - still in the running I'd say



So how deep in front of the piles would you go? What will be
happening at that new level? Patio? Lawn?
--
Jim K


----Android NewsGroup Reader----
http://usenet.sinaapp.com/

On Wednesday, April 5, 2017 at 9:40:23 PM UTC+1, jim wrote:

So how deep in front of the piles would you go? What will be
happening at that new level? Patio? Lawn?
--
Jim K

Not thought it through. But it's already about 150mm lower than it will be in the future owing to getting rid of the old concrete at the back. Gravel patio, with pavig area for tabel and chairs.

David Wrote in message:
On Wednesday, April 5, 2017 at 9:40:23 PM UTC+1, jim wrote:

So how deep in front of the piles would you go? What will be
happening at that new level? Patio? Lawn?
--
Jim K

Not thought it through. But it's already about 150mm lower than it will be in the future owing to getting rid of the old concrete at the back. Gravel patio, with pavig area for tabel and chairs.


Ah so if you wanted things to grow you'll need enough extra depth
for topsoil &, crucially it sounds from mentions of clay,
drainage.

--
Jim K


----Android NewsGroup Reader----
http://usenet.sinaapp.com/

On 4/5/2017 8:51 PM, David wrote:
On Wednesday, April 5, 2017 at 5:48:53 PM UTC+1, Mark Allread wrote:

No experience of what is being suggested her but have you thought about
using gabion baskets filled with stone? Instant retaining wall and
attractive to look at (in my view - others may differ).

Yes, we have. And agree that they are attractive to look at. Thing about this is it's whack in the piles, dig the dirt from in front and you're done (yes, that easy...).Also self-draining. But we'd have to dig back another metre to allow for the volume of the gabion - roughly another 9 cubic metres of clay.

Nevertheless - still in the running I'd say


Colleague of mine did this himself. Very hard work, he reckoned.

newshound wrote:

David wrote:

we'd have to dig back another metre to allow for the volume of the
gabion - roughly another 9 cubic metres of clay.

Colleague of mine did this himself. Very hard work, he reckoned.

Sounds pretty back-breaking, especially if it's wet and/or needs lifting
out of the hole.

I had to spread 3 of those not-quite-ton bags of MOT type 1, which took
me half a day, not even going up hill, and easier stuff to handle than clay.

On 05/04/17 22:17, Andy Burns wrote:
newshound wrote:

David wrote:

we'd have to dig back another metre to allow for the volume of the
gabion - roughly another 9 cubic metres of clay.

Colleague of mine did this himself. Very hard work, he reckoned.

Sounds pretty back-breaking, especially if it's wet and/or needs lifting
out of the hole.

I had to spread 3 of those not-quite-ton bags of MOT type 1, which took
me half a day, not even going up hill, and easier stuff to handle than
clay.


Hire the minidigger



--
If I had all the money I've spent on drink...
...I'd spend it on drink.

Sir Henry (at Rawlinson's End)

Andy Burns wrote:
newshound wrote:

David wrote:

we'd have to dig back another metre to allow for the volume of the
gabion - roughly another 9 cubic metres of clay.

Colleague of mine did this himself. Very hard work, he reckoned.

Sounds pretty back-breaking, especially if it's wet and/or needs lifting
out of the hole.

I had to spread 3 of those not-quite-ton bags of MOT type 1, which took
me half a day, not even going up hill, and easier stuff to handle than
clay.



I've done it a few times, bit of a patience exercise but not bad. You
have to allow for the skip hire costs though.

On 4/5/2017 10:17 PM, Andy Burns wrote:
newshound wrote:

David wrote:

we'd have to dig back another metre to allow for the volume of the
gabion - roughly another 9 cubic metres of clay.

Colleague of mine did this himself. Very hard work, he reckoned.

Sounds pretty back-breaking, especially if it's wet and/or needs lifting
out of the hole.

I had to spread 3 of those not-quite-ton bags of MOT type 1, which took
me half a day, not even going up hill, and easier stuff to handle than
clay.


Sorry I wasn't very clear. Obviously the digging needs a digger. He said
that filling the gabions by hand and ensuring a neat, void free front
face was hard work.

On Wednesday, 5 April 2017 17:01:04 UTC+1, David wrote:
We wanted to push our garden back by about 1.5/2m to give us more space immediately outside the house. We currently have a 1m high retaining wall holding the garden back, so we would need to get rid of this, push back and have a new retaining wall about 1.2m high and 7.5m long.
I looked at sleepers, I looked at block walls I looked at skips, I've looked at putting the waste soil down me trousers and shaking it around the village a la Great Escape.
Then we lost interest owing to money, being bothered, access etc.

Then our nice new neighbours told us they were thinking of pushing their garden back and would we like to do it at the same time. He suggested sheet piling as this would give an instant retain and then just get your digger in to get rid of soil, dig out behind the piling to the depth of the clay, put in crushed stone for drainage and job done. Apart from making it look nice, which I shall put to one side.

Which leads me to my question. Has anybody any experience of this?

My second question is: Whaddya reckon to this:
http://www.plasticpiling.co.uk/produ...-sheet-piling/
used in conjunction with driven steel tubes down the hollows as the main structural strength? These are attractive as they could be driven with a hand held driver like this
http://www.plasticpiling.co.uk/atlas...d-pile-driver/
and not with a huge piling machine/JCB.

All opinions welcome!

Ta David

http://www.eliteprecast.co.uk/interl...FZMy0wodW4IIUg

On Wednesday, April 5, 2017 at 8:01:44 PM UTC+1, harry wrote:

http://www.eliteprecast.co.uk/interl...FZMy0wodW4IIUg

Lego! For men!

These look good.

Also saw
http://www.externalworksindex.co.uk/...aining-blocks/

harry wrote:
On Wednesday, 5 April 2017 17:01:04 UTC+1, David wrote:
We wanted to push our garden back by about 1.5/2m to give us more space immediately outside the house. We currently have a 1m high retaining wall holding the garden back, so we would need to get rid of this, push back and have a new retaining wall about 1.2m high and 7.5m long.
I looked at sleepers, I looked at block walls I looked at skips, I've looked at putting the waste soil down me trousers and shaking it around the village a la Great Escape.
Then we lost interest owing to money, being bothered, access etc.

Then our nice new neighbours told us they were thinking of pushing their garden back and would we like to do it at the same time. He suggested sheet piling as this would give an instant retain and then just get your digger in to get rid of soil, dig out behind the piling to the depth of the clay, put in crushed stone for drainage and job done. Apart from making it look nice, which I shall put to one side.

Which leads me to my question. Has anybody any experience of this?

My second question is: Whaddya reckon to this:
http://www.plasticpiling.co.uk/produ...-sheet-piling/
used in conjunction with driven steel tubes down the hollows as the main structural strength? These are attractive as they could be driven with a hand held driver like this
http://www.plasticpiling.co.uk/atlas...d-pile-driver/
and not with a huge piling machine/JCB.

All opinions welcome!

Ta David

http://www.eliteprecast.co.uk/interl...FZMy0wodW4IIUg


You'd need a crate of spinach to lift those!