The recent thread about a retaining wall problem prompted me to post this
picture of a very recently built retaining wall locally. I would be quite
interested in opinions on it. My impression is that building control may not
have had very much input:

https://ibb.co/0BLp1bT


It is about 3m high and about 6m long. The near bit is in front of an
existing retaining wall but the two thirds of the length away from the camera
has replaced a retaining wall nearer the road. It is built of roughly
rectangular stones about one to three tons in weight and laid dry on top of
each other in rough courses, four to five. Below the lowest visible course
some similar stones have been buried, but not as single stones for the whole
thickness of the wall and there are no formal foundations. The road is an
official "C" road. There is a (as in the picture) a house a few metres back
from the top of the wall.

I see this as a disaster waiting to happen, but am I being too pessimistic?


PS there is no material in the horizontal beds between the stones, but some
very tasteful ferns have been planted in some of the gaps at the corners of
the stones.


--
Roger Hayter

On 08/03/2021 22:38, Roger Hayter wrote:
The recent thread about a retaining wall problem prompted me to post this
picture of a very recently built retaining wall locally. I would be quite
interested in opinions on it. My impression is that building control may not
have had very much input:

https://ibb.co/0BLp1bT


It is about 3m high and about 6m long. The near bit is in front of an
existing retaining wall but the two thirds of the length away from the camera
has replaced a retaining wall nearer the road. It is built of roughly
rectangular stones about one to three tons in weight and laid dry on top of
each other in rough courses, four to five. Below the lowest visible course
some similar stones have been buried, but not as single stones for the whole
thickness of the wall and there are no formal foundations. The road is an
official "C" road. There is a (as in the picture) a house a few metres back
from the top of the wall.

I see this as a disaster waiting to happen, but am I being too pessimistic?


PS there is no material in the horizontal beds between the stones, but some
very tasteful ferns have been planted in some of the gaps at the corners of
the stones.

I have no experience of retaining walls, but looking at it, I'd say it's
going to take a fair bit to shift hose big stones.

Roger Hayter wrote

The recent thread about a retaining wall problem prompted me to post this
picture of a very recently built retaining wall locally. I would be quite
interested in opinions on it. My impression is that building control may
not have had very much input:

https://ibb.co/0BLp1bT

It is about 3m high and about 6m long. The near bit is in front of an
existing retaining wall but the two thirds of the length away from the
camera has replaced a retaining wall nearer the road. It is built of
roughly
rectangular stones about one to three tons in weight and laid dry on top
of
each other in rough courses, four to five. Below the lowest visible
course
some similar stones have been buried, but not as single stones for the
whole
thickness of the wall and there are no formal foundations. The road is an
official "C" road. There is a (as in the picture) a house a few metres
back
from the top of the wall.

I see this as a disaster waiting to happen, but am I being too
pessimistic?

Yep, nothing is going to move them now.

PS there is no material in the horizontal beds between the stones, but
some very tasteful ferns have been planted in some of the gaps at the
corners of the stones.

On 08/03/2021 22:38, Roger Hayter wrote:
The recent thread about a retaining wall problem prompted me to post this
picture of a very recently built retaining wall locally. I would be quite
interested in opinions on it. My impression is that building control may not
have had very much input:

https://ibb.co/0BLp1bT

I built a similar wall about twenty years ago. Mine was made from stones
that could be lifted by a JCB, and smaller ones. The wall was 4 metres
high so I had to build an ad hoc scaffold. It was keeping back ground
five metres high, the top metre being sloped back at 30 deg to the
horizontal.
I put in a concrete foundation and used concrete as mortar. I put weep
holes along near the bottom, and low down behind the wall left a gap
that I filled with rubble to allow the water to find the weep holes.
I angled the wall back at about 10 deg to vertical, and used smaller and
smaller stones as I worked my way up.
I planted the nooks and crannies with flowers, and to encourage moss
sprayed the wall with diluted cow ****. This worked well.
After I'd built the wall (it took me months) I was immensely strong, but
I lost the strength quite quickly.
The wall hasn't moved at all.

Bill

On 08/03/2021 22:38, Roger Hayter wrote:
The recent thread about a retaining wall problem prompted me to post this
picture of a very recently built retaining wall locally. I would be quite
interested in opinions on it. My impression is that building control may not
have had very much input:

https://ibb.co/0BLp1bT


It is about 3m high and about 6m long. The near bit is in front of an
existing retaining wall but the two thirds of the length away from the camera
has replaced a retaining wall nearer the road. It is built of roughly
rectangular stones about one to three tons in weight and laid dry on top of
each other in rough courses, four to five. Below the lowest visible course
some similar stones have been buried, but not as single stones for the whole
thickness of the wall and there are no formal foundations. The road is an
official "C" road. There is a (as in the picture) a house a few metres back
from the top of the wall.

I see this as a disaster waiting to happen, but am I being too pessimistic?


PS there is no material in the horizontal beds between the stones, but some
very tasteful ferns have been planted in some of the gaps at the corners of
the stones.


feck that looks heavy enough and BC wouldn't be able to say say
squat......these are massive stones and it ain't 3m high either......

On 09/03/2021 06:37, Jimmy Stewart wrote:
On 08/03/2021 22:38, Roger Hayter wrote:
The recent thread about a retaining wall problem prompted me to post this
picture of a very recently built retaining wall locally. I would be quite
interested in opinions on it.Â* My impression is that building control
may not
have had very much input:

https://ibb.co/0BLp1bT


It is about 3m high and about 6m long.Â* The near bit is in front of an
existing retaining wall but the two thirds of the length away from the
camera
has replaced a retaining wall nearer the road. It is built of roughly
rectangular stones about one to three tons in weight and laid dry on
top of
each other in rough courses, four to five.Â* Below the lowest visible
course
some similar stones have been buried, but not as single stones for the
whole
thickness of the wall and there are no formal foundations.Â* The road
is an
official "C" road.Â* There is a (as in the picture) a house a few
metres back
from the top of the wall.

I see this as a disaster waiting to happen, but am I being too
pessimistic?


PSÂ* there is no material in the horizontal beds between the stones,
but some
very tasteful ferns have been planted in some of the gaps at the
corners of
the stones.


feck that looks heavy enough and BC wouldn't be able to say say
squat......these are massive stones and it ain't 3m high either......
and it is laying back on itself.......

On 09/03/2021 06:38, Jimmy Stewart wrote:
On 09/03/2021 06:37, Jimmy Stewart wrote:
On 08/03/2021 22:38, Roger Hayter wrote:
The recent thread about a retaining wall problem prompted me to post
this
picture of a very recently built retaining wall locally. I would be
quite
interested in opinions on it.Â* My impression is that building control
may not
have had very much input:

https://ibb.co/0BLp1bT


It is about 3m high and about 6m long.Â* The near bit is in front of an
existing retaining wall but the two thirds of the length away from
the camera
has replaced a retaining wall nearer the road. It is built of roughly
rectangular stones about one to three tons in weight and laid dry on
top of
each other in rough courses, four to five.Â* Below the lowest visible
course
some similar stones have been buried, but not as single stones for
the whole
thickness of the wall and there are no formal foundations.Â* The road
is an
official "C" road.Â* There is a (as in the picture) a house a few
metres back
from the top of the wall.

I see this as a disaster waiting to happen, but am I being too
pessimistic?


PSÂ* there is no material in the horizontal beds between the stones,
but some
very tasteful ferns have been planted in some of the gaps at the
corners of
the stones.


feck that looks heavy enough and BC wouldn't be able to say say
squat......these are massive stones and it ain't 3m high either......
and it is laying back on itself.......
you want to go looking for ****s that build retaining walls with
blockwork not hugh stones or even gabbons.......

Roger Hayter wrote:

My impression is that building control may not have had very much
input:

I'm building* a house that requires a retaining wall and building
control have confirmed they have zero interest in the retaining wall,
other than guarding against people falling off it, and even they're
"guidelines" rather than hard rules from part K.

https://ibb.co/0BLp1bT

Can't see them rocks going anywhere, but depending on what's on the
other side, it might not satisfy the fall protection "guidelines".

Mine will be "one ton lego" blocks, they come in various designs that
loosely interlock and doesn't need any formal design for walls up to 2m
high, you can just buy them and stack them, above that height the
supplier designs/approves.

https://redi-rock.imgix.net/media/images/Texture_Pages/Redi-Rock_Retaining-Walls-Cobblestone-dimensions.png


[*] it's been on pause for a year.

On 09/03/2021 06:57, Andy Burns wrote:
Roger Hayter wrote:

My impression is that building control may not have had very much
input:

I'm building* a house that requires a retaining wall and building
control have confirmed they have zero interest in the retaining wall,
other than guarding against people falling off it, and even they're
"guidelines" rather than hard rules from part K.

Buil**** ...in Scotland anyway we delt with loads of proposed retaining
and failing retaining walls ....stone concrete gabions brick block or
timber ......

williamwright wrote:

I built a similar wall about twenty years ago. Mine was made from stones
that could be lifted by a JCB, and smaller ones. The wall was 4 metres
high so I had to build an ad hoc scaffold. It was keeping back ground
five metres high, the top metre being sloped back at 30 deg to the
horizontal.
I put in a concrete foundation and used concrete as mortar. I put weep
holes along near the bottom, and low down behind the wall left a gap
that I filled with rubble to allow the water to find the weep holes.
I angled the wall back at about 10 deg to vertical, and used smaller and
smaller stones as I worked my way up.

All sounds good, today they'd probably say just use compacted MOT type 1
instead of a concrete base, put geotextile against the back face, and
use perforated drain pipe instead the rubble at the base ...

On 9 Mar 2021 at 07:07:43 GMT, "Chris Hogg" wrote:

On 8 Mar 2021 22:38:09 GMT, Roger Hayter wrote:

am I being too pessimistic?

Yes

What if some of the lower stones sink more at the front and the upper ones
slide off? Or the soil behind the wall gets very wet and forces out some of
the middle blocks?

--
Roger Hayter

On 09/03/2021 08:59, Roger Hayter wrote:
On 9 Mar 2021 at 07:07:43 GMT, "Chris Hogg" wrote:

On 8 Mar 2021 22:38:09 GMT, Roger Hayter wrote:

am I being too pessimistic?

Yes

What if some of the lower stones sink more at the front and the upper ones
slide off? Or the soil behind the wall gets very wet and forces out some of
the middle blocks?

stones used as foundations are called footings rather than foundations
what they used to do in the past and it worked well.....

On 09/03/2021 08:59, Roger Hayter wrote:
On 9 Mar 2021 at 07:07:43 GMT, "Chris Hogg" wrote:

On 8 Mar 2021 22:38:09 GMT, Roger Hayter wrote:

am I being too pessimistic?

Yes

What if some of the lower stones sink more at the front and the upper ones
slide off? Or the soil behind the wall gets very wet and forces out some of
the middle blocks?

That's what engineering calculations are for...


--
"Nature does not give up the winter because people dislike the cold."

ۥ Confucius

On 09/03/2021 09:41, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 09/03/2021 08:59, Roger Hayter wrote:
On 9 Mar 2021 at 07:07:43 GMT, "Chris Hogg" wrote:

On 8 Mar 2021 22:38:09 GMT, Roger Hayter wrote:

am I being too pessimistic?

Yes

What if some of the lower stones sink more at the front and the upper
ones
slide off?Â* Or the soil behind the wall gets very wet and forces out
some of
the middle blocks?

That's what engineering calculations are for...


stone...titter titter....

On 09/03/2021 07:07, Chris Hogg wrote:
On 8 Mar 2021 22:38:09 GMT, Roger Hayter wrote:

am I being too pessimistic?

Yes

totly

On 08/03/2021 22:38, Roger Hayter wrote:
The recent thread about a retaining wall problem prompted me to post this
picture of a very recently built retaining wall locally. I would be quite
interested in opinions on it. My impression is that building control may not
have had very much input:

https://ibb.co/0BLp1bT


It is about 3m high and about 6m long. The near bit is in front of an
existing retaining wall but the two thirds of the length away from the camera
has replaced a retaining wall nearer the road. It is built of roughly
rectangular stones about one to three tons in weight and laid dry on top of
each other in rough courses, four to five. Below the lowest visible course
some similar stones have been buried, but not as single stones for the whole
thickness of the wall and there are no formal foundations. The road is an
official "C" road. There is a (as in the picture) a house a few metres back
from the top of the wall.

I see this as a disaster waiting to happen, but am I being too pessimistic?


PS there is no material in the horizontal beds between the stones, but some
very tasteful ferns have been planted in some of the gaps at the corners of
the stones.


Agree with you. Might be OK now, wouldn't like to speak for 50 or 100
years time. Although any dangerous distortion should be visible before
it collapses.

"Roger Hayter" wrote in message
...
On 9 Mar 2021 at 07:07:43 GMT, "Chris Hogg" wrote:

On 8 Mar 2021 22:38:09 GMT, Roger Hayter wrote:

am I being too pessimistic?

Yes

What if some of the lower stones sink more at the front

No reason why they should.

and the upper ones slide off?

Very unlikely indeed even if the lower stones sink more at the front.

Or the soil behind the wall gets very wet and forces out some of the
middle blocks?

Again, no reason why it should.

On Wed, 10 Mar 2021 03:53:55 +1100, cantankerous trolling geezer Rodent
Speed, the auto-contradicting senile sociopath, blabbered, again:

FLUSH the trolling senile asshole's latest troll**** unread

How are things at 03:53 am in Australia, you abnormal trolling senile pest?
Everything still dark outside? Everybody, except you, still sleeping,
cretin?

--
Website (from 2007) dedicated to the 86-year-old senile Australian
cretin's pathological trolling:
https://www.pcreview.co.uk/threads/r...d-faq.2973853/