Soil retaining wall alternative

I'm getting ready to level a plot in my back garden for a steel shed. The plot has an overall slope of about 15 degrees, higher in places, lower in others. Doing the math on a 3m wide shed (allow 4m including surround), I would have a soil wall with a height of 1m, after levelling.

I'm happy to have this vertical, sloped or stepped, but I would prefer not to build a retaining wall for cost reasons. I've been looking at reinforced soil slopes and geosynthetics online, but the tend to be used in large commercial projects. Any ideas on a cheaper alternative to a brick wall?

Lumen

Gabion baskets?

Thanks for the suggestion. I was looking at those alright. They displace a lot of space and the wire degrades, and it seems like they often come empty (e.g. 1m x 0.5m x 0.5m for about 50e) and you need to source your own rock to fill them, so not sure if they stack up against a wall.

Fine Cheers

I was going to suggest stone gabions too. There is a timber crib type system also.
For just 1m height, I suggest sloped ground with some ground covering plants and a french drain at bottom.
You could lay a few sleepers on flat to help reduce angle slope but up to you.

Lumen

Deleted User wrote: »

Thanks for the suggestion. I was looking at those alright. They displace a lot of space and the wire degrades, and it seems like they often come empty (e.g. 1m x 0.5m x 0.5m for about 50e) and you need to source your own rock to fill them, so not sure if they stack up against a wall.

The service life depends on the spec, see

https://www.geo-coastal.ie/products-services/retaining-walls-slope-stabilisation/weld-mesh-gabions-mattresses/

(random search result for stainless gabion baskets)

In terms of space, 50cm deep is a problem? You could presumably turf over the top if you wanted less visual impact.

The Continental Op

If OP doesn't want to build a wall for cost reasons then they can cross gabions off the list. By the time you have bought them, bought suitable fill, filled and positioned them they cost more than a block retaining wall.

looksee

I was doing the same sums for a similar wall, possibly a bit higher but curved - concave - with little stress from the backfill (its already been standing as a small cliff for years). I went round all kinds of possibilities and have come back every time to a block wall. I am proposing to build it single block but with a good few piers - probably every 4 blocks. I will face it with (sawn, treated) timber, then grow things up it.

(this may all eventually translate as someone else will do the block work, depending on how it goes )

MicktheMan

If the space permits, how about a tiered used tyre wall, maybe 4 or 5 courses high, backfilled with topsoil and planted with herbaceous or other plants of choice?

Thanks for the feed back all. Food for thought.

Calahonda52

8 1 by.5 by.5 gabions: 8 by 46 = 348
3 tonne stone: 3 by 40............= 120

So 500 euro

This is pricing for a job I am at, if you put a vertical layer of crushed stone inside, and under, the gabion, with a vertical geo textile layer , the mesh will never be 1oo% wet

Murph85

The concrete Lego blocks? But possibly no cheaper than a wall...

The Continental Op

Old synthetic material coal sacks filled with soil and stacked like sandbags. Narrow edge out. Cover the ends in Mypex to stop UV degradation, unless you can cover the ends in soil. Some years ago (must be at least 30) buried a load of old coal sacks in our garden and I still dig the odd one up as good as the day it was buried.