Hi, Can I fill and top up the garden soil to the edge of the timber? There is a retaining wall and fence in place. If I do this, will the soil or water drain toward the neighbouring property?
Thanks.
Hi @nagumuthu,
It's important to note that a fence is not a retaining wall.
There may be a retaining wall or sleeper beneath the fence that is designed to retain soil, but once the soil level goes above the top of that, you're then relying on the fence itself to hold the soil back.
From your photo, it looks like the top of the sleeper between the lawn and garden bed may be above the bottom of the fence line, potentially even higher than the bottom of the palings. Because of that, I don't think you'd be able to safely fill the soil right up to the full height of the front sleeper.
What you could likely do is run a second set of sleepers along the fence side to match the height of the front sleeper and hold it in place with sleeper pegs. That would give the soil a much more solid backing instead of relying on the fence itself.
Regarding water runoff, increasing the soil height slightly is unlikely to cause additional water to escape onto the neighbour's side. Most surface water would likely have been moving in that direction already.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Mitchell
Thanks @MitchellMc. That's a good idea to get the sleepers on the other side, near the fence. Appreciate your guidance and the suggestion.
