GABION RETAINING WALL CONSTRUCTION with cost saving panels | Full Walkthrough with Audio - Part 2

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Hi this is a follow-on from my Gabion  Retaining Walls video which was Part One of the Steep Driveway to Flat Driveway series. During the early stages of our retaining wall  investigation we knew we needed a tall  retaining wall that was about 2m in height.   We also knew that we wanted a natural look  to the wall as we we live in a rural lane,   we're surrounded by trees and hedges, it made  sense to keep it made from natural products.   Other things to consider were the proximity to  the road, plus the space we had available for   the driveway project and easy access to the wall  for any future repairs. We'd also seen a number   of retaining walls in the local area that were  being pushed over by water pressure due to the   lack of weak holes or render popping off due to  the wetness which we definitely wanted to avoid.   The first option which i'm sure lots  of people investigate is a dense block wall   or hollow block wall with reinforced rebar  and concrete down the centre. This would have   required a structural engineer to get involved  due to the height we required, plus we knew that   the finish in brick would be costly. Render  wasn't an option as we knew it would need   regular maintenance due to the damp conditions.  Quotes we got were also very high between £10,000-£20,000.   So we then looked at a more natural  sleeper retaining wall. We absolutely love the   vertical sleeper look. However, you would need  to put a third of your sleeper in the ground   and as we had already reached the chalk, rock  and flint layer due to the removal of the trees,   digging a trench another meter down was just not practical.   So we also looked at horizontal sleeper  walls. This could be an option, but they   would require some sort of stabilization both with  vertical rebar attachments down into the ground   and also horizontal securements across the backs  of the sleepers for the size of wall we were after.   This is something we could do ourselves which  would save hugely on labour costs, however, at   some point the sleeper wall would need to be  replaced - a sleeper would need to be replaced   or even the whole wall would need to  be replaced once the sleepers had had enough.   As the new garage wall would be near the  retaining wall we felt this was possible, but   not likely a probable solution. It just wouldn't  give us the access that we would need to replace   2.5m length sleepers. So then I  started looking at gabion retaining walls. Now   this system really did interest me. Especially  as they could be faced with natural materials   to give us the look we wanted, but use any heavy  material placed inside them to do the retaining.   Also they're a porous structure so the issue of  water heaving out the wall would be alleviated.  There would also be nothing to rot over time  and therefore would have less maintenance than   a sleeper wall. We had been saving the brick rubble  from our internal house renovations   for the actual driveway base, but now we could  use them as a recycled infill for the gabions.   It was also something else that I could build  alongside my husband without the need of getting   contractors in except for the initial digging  of course. The only negative about the gabions   is that they take up a lot more space than the  other retaining wall solutions, but as a    2m tall by 1m deep wall would still  leave us with around 8m of usable space for the garage in the driveway, we felt it  was okay to give over the extra space required.   Now that I knew which type of retaining wall  I was going to build, I came up with a design   that I mocked up in excel. I  had worked out what we needed   was a 9m length approximately 2m tall with a short dog-leg return on the end,   and then a 5m length section 1.5m tall.   Then finally, a 4m section 1m tall. Even though the baskets would reduce in   height, this is to take into account the gradient  uphill back towards the drive entrance. The actual   level of the baskets is maintained at 1.5m for that second 9m section.   Now that I had my design worked out, I started to  look at the gabion construction in more detail.   I came across a highly informative website called  Fine Mesh Metals. The quality of their gabions,   the abundance of sizes, the vast amount  of case studies and installation guidance   easily persuaded me to  purchase my gabions from them.   They were very helpful when I emailed them my  design and guided me on what I needed to purchase.   I decided to go with 4mm fronts to  help reduce the sagging (as I was an amateur and   needed all the help I could get!) I also had to be  very careful that I chose the correct orientation   of the baskets and that they were opening on  the correct face. I wasn't sure whether to go   with the traditional gabion limestone or give the  baskets a more modern look with Scottish cobbles,   so I purchased the corresponding hand  laying partitions to allow me to do that.   Lastly, I selected the helicoils and some lacing wire that came for constructing the baskets to join them together. The website explained that the baskets should start   about 50cm below your finish level,  placed at a five to six degree angle against   the soil you're retaining, and they  should be placed on firm level ground.   For our retaining wall construction, we  knew that the completed driveway would   finish part way up the gabions, so we started at  the ground level that resulted from the digger.   When he removed the tree stumps, one rookie mistake we made is that   the digger followed the line of our boundary  as opposed to cutting in square to the house.   This means our retaining wall is at a  slight angle to the house and could lead to   visual issues once the garage is squared up to  the house. But fast forward this didn't actually   cause a huge issue visually and i think this was  down to the fact that the gabion wall was along   our boundary. Not all boundaries are square to  your house so the the slight skew is forgiven.   If the wall had been lower down, the retaining  part of our driveway for example, then it really   should be square to the house otherwise it will  look funny once completed at an angle. To stabilize the ground further we  laid down the black woven geotextile.   At this point, I wasn't clued up on  the different types of geotextile.   We had used the black woven textile under the  house rubble as we had read it was perfect   for stabilization under a driveway. However,  further research showed that the non-woven   geotextile actually has better filtration  and drainage qualities for our purpose.   Both are good for ground stabilization. So we  continued to use the black woven geotextile under   the baskets to help prevent any uneven sinking  once the the 2m high structure is full.   We also laid them on 20mm of pea gravel to  help even out any slight undulations and to aid   drainage. The baskets arrived part made up. You  just need to lay them down flat and lift the   sides and secure with short pieces of the lacing wire in multiple places up and down every join.   So about every two or three squares  is ideal to help reduce the bulging.   On the front face, we were using  the slightly thicker 4mm mesh panels and we secured   the front face with the helicoils. They are  more visible than the little pieces of wire   you can cut, but in our opinion a neater finish  to the front of the baskets. The 2m wide   baskets also have a partition in the middle that  needs securing down the centre of the basket.   Again with the helicoil at the front, but just the  pieces of lacing wire at the back.   Lay out the baskets on the gravel and geotextile.  You must check that they're level across ways,   but also have that five to six degree slope from  front to back, into the slope, to aid the retaining.   We used a string line for the front of the  baskets to ensure they were all in line. Space had to be left behind the baskets for  the 80mm by 25m perforated drainage pipe that we had bought. This was wrapped in  a portion of that white non-woven geotextile.   It was originally purchased at 4.5mx11m in size, but we cut it in half   providing two 2.25mx11m pieces.  We wrapped the pipe in that 0.25m of   spare geotextile laid it down the back behind  the gabions, securing it by placing some   gravel on top. The geotextile prevents  the soil from entering the drainage pipe.   The excess of the geotextile is then pulled up vertically to line the back of   the gabion wall. Now the lower level of baskets in line,   we then started filling the baskets. Initially  we used the traditional limestone fill   to face the front, but I couldn't use the hand  laying partitions at the front of the basket as   the limestone was just too large and uneven that you just could not use them.   I used brick to support the  limestone against the front, but you could see the   brick through some of the gaps. I quickly changed  my mind and I moved on to the Scottish cobbles.   The cobbles we bought were 80-120mm in size  to ensure that they didn't fall through the holes.   Before adding the cobbles, I  cut a piece of black woven geotextile just   larger than the meter square for each basket. I then  placed it inside the basket against the partition-   inside the main section of the basket not inside  the little thin partition itself. As I added   the cobbles, I found that the partition moved out towards the middle of the basket.   With the different sizes of cobbles, each one pushed out the base as it wasn't secured at the bottom.   So, in order to stabilize the partition,  I realized that lining the back of the   partition with the bricks first kept the  partition in its place and made it a nice   tight fit for the cobbles. As i slotted them down  into the partition, about a third of the way up   i would put a piece of wire tie from front  to back and then also left to right across the the   length of the gabion. The 3mm lacing wire  was cut off the reel about   1.5m in length threaded through in the same place in each gabion. So four spaces up   four spaces from the left and then from the other  side four spaces up four spaces from the right etc.   Then loop the wire back through the way you  came catching the basket on the other side of the   the space and twisting the wire itself around  to prevent it coming loose in the middle of the   basket. If it wasn't tight enough, as it needs to be taut, take a set of pliers,   grip the middle of the wire and  twist them inside the basket.   This puts a kink in the wire enough  to make it taut and maintain the gabion shape. When it's filled, it's important to do  this both ways- though I have to say I did   fewer side to side, it was mainly front to back  that were the most important to stop the bulge.   Also remember to only use the helicoils along  the front joins of the baskets. In the beginning   we we forgot about this. As I'd  only just ordered enough to do the fronts   of the baskets, we ended up running out as we'd  started using them to secure the partitions!   We had to get more delivered to finish off  the job. Of course you can't get them out   once you fill the basket! So we just had to  accept that we'd used about 10 incorrectly.   We filled the main portion  of the baskets with the brick rubble   that we had from our house renovations. It  was old retaining walls, an old fireplace, broken   concrete garden ornaments- anything that we could  find in the garden that was heavy and solid.   However, we did have to order extra recycled brick  which we managed to find from Mainland Aggregates online.   It was perfect- whole and part bricks. They don't  seem to offer the same product anymore, but I   did see an alternative on their website called  Recycled Gabion Fill which is bits of brick   concrete & asphalt. It's perfect if you're going  to use the facing partitions with the cobbles.   Remember to make sure that the baskets are filled  right to the top before adding the second layer.   The weight of the material in the top baskets  will sink down into the bottom layer and misshape   the base of your gabion. The lid of the basket  of the bottom layer must also be secured well.   Before adding that second layer remember to add 2-3 bits of lacing wire curled around along the   three sides of the gabion basket and then the  helicoil along the front join to seal the lid.   You must also secure that front helicoil into the  base of the second layer.   I always left that as the last job. Once  we started the second layer, we then threaded the   helicoils through so it attached the top basket  to the bottom basket and secured the lid of the bottom basket.  You repeat filling the baskets on  the second layer exactly like you did on the first.   As the second layer gets more stable and full, I  then started to back fill behind the gabions.   The non-woven geotextile is pulled up taut behind the  basket so that soil cannot enter the gabions.   If this isn't done, it could be washed through to the front of the basket and would look unsightly.   There was the second layer of black woven geotextile, but it's not as good at filtration as the   white non-woven geotextile. So it's important you  pull that up behind before you start your backfill.   The 90 degree return baskets at the end of  the run also need to be placed at that 5-6 degree   angle back into the bank. This meant I  had to support    the right side of the baskets as you look  at them with other flat stones underneath   to help keep the basket at the correct angle.  The section of   baskets to the left of the main 2m high  section were definitely the most tricky part,  I had to make sure that the tops of the baskets  were maintained at the same height as it was   the bottom level that changed. I had to dig  this out by hand to make sure it was accurate.   Unfortunately, I ran out of the brick fill for this  section so I tried something new and ordered   a couple of ton of the 20mm shingle gravel with lots of large and small woven rubble bags.   I would fill a bag 3/4 full and then tie it off with a cable tie.   The large bags were too heavy to lift into place  so I started them off with a few scoops of gravel   before placing them inside the basket to  finish filling them up. I used a couple of old   black flower pots fitted together so that you  couldn't see the holes and I would just scoop it   out of the tonne bag, then scoop it straight  into my rubble bags. I used the small bags to fill   in the gaps between the large bags. I have to say  that the this method did make inserting the cross   wires (bracing wires) much more difficult. I also found that the top smaller baskets did move when the   earth was backfilled at a later date as they just  weren't heavy enough to retain the soil in situ.   In hindsight, this would be fine for a small low  wall, but not for anything over 1m tall.   It's also very important to tie the backs of  the baskets on an upper layer to the one below it  at the back, which i had forgotten to do on  this lower level which contributed them moving   forward when the earth was backfilled. Annoyingly,  my lovely straight line as seen in the original   image now has a slight curve in it. The  solution to resolve this is to dig out the fill,   push the baskets back, connect them properly  and then fill back, but I'll do that another day!   With regards to finishing the tops of the  baskets, I didn't in the end lay another piece   of black geotextile and a layer of cobbles on  the top. I found this look very uneven as there   were dips in the layers of bricks underneath the  black geotextile and the cobbles of course are   all different sizes. It also was a massive  leaf trap with all the hedges that we have   and it would mean that I would have to  fish out leaves all the time from the gaps.   So instead, what I plan to do, is lay some of  the white non-woven geotextile over the top.   I will then put a thin layer of soil over that  geotextile and grow rockery-type plants near the   edge so that they can drape over in time. This is  definitely a project for a keen DIY-er and you can   do it! Remember, you just need that level starting  point, make sure you've got the correct angle slope   back towards the soil, and then it's just a case  of filling them up and securing them properly.   All together we spent approximately £5000 on that 20m long retaining wall at  9m by 2m tall and the rest at 1.5m tall. This included   the tree removal, the man and his digger, the  gabion baskets and their bits, the drainage   pipe, the geotextile sheets and bags, the  gravel, the recycled brick and the Scottish cobbles.   That was a saving of between £5-£15000 because we did it ourselves!   I hope you found this useful. Please feel free  to leave any questions in the comments and I'll   do my best to answer them. Remember we're just  DIY-ers doing it our way in our set of circumstances.   Thanks for watching. I hope to get the next  part of the Driveway Series out soon which   will involve all the groundworks that  we did to get it level and retained.
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Channel: OurHomeProjects - Karen
Views: 272,528
Rating: undefined out of 5
Keywords: Gabion, gabion wall, gabion baskets, retaining wall, garden wall, steep driveway, retaining wall on sloped backyard, gabion basket, gabion retaining wall, garden retaining wall, wire baskets, gabion construction, gabion baskets how to build, gabion basket installation, gabion wall construction uk, sleeper wall, gabion wall construction, retaining wall construction, build a retaining wall, cheap retaining wall, budget retaining wall, how to build a retaining wall, diy wall
Id: zIwbbXTy25A
Channel Id: undefined
Length: 20min 3sec (1203 seconds)
Published: Wed Feb 03 2021
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