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Hello @Dave-1
Thank you so much for sharing your gabion retaining wall project. What an awesome build, seeing it come together was fantastic. The spirals you made to hold the cages was ingenious, it certainly saves you from having to individually stitch up the ends of the cage. Your efforts have really paid off as the front of the cages look fantastic.
Again, thank you for sharing such an inspirational project.
Eric
Fantastic project @Dave-1!
You have created a stunning feature retaining wall that has added some lovely curb appeal to your home. Thank you for sharing your process, I am sure many of our Workshop members will be inspired to tackle their own retaining wall.
Katie
🙂 Thank you
I have actually planted around 12 cherry tomatoe plants along the wall for the past season... Thye have gone nuts! Thye love the reflected heat and the heat that is shed from the concrete during the evenings. I will see if I have an updated photo
Dave
Well done @Dave-1!
I'm wondering if gabion retaining walls need any foundation? While you did compact the soil, I'm thinking having compacted road base might give you a better foundation. Was that an option you considered?
Hi @TheHandySqirrel
Let me tag @Dave-1 to make sure they are aware of your kind words and questions. I believe the gabion walls bulk and weight serves as its own foundation as it slowly settles into the ground. It is an ideal retaining wall as it lets water through and does not hold it behind itself.
@TheHandySqirrel
Thank you 🙂
One of the things about gabion walls is the general rule I follow of -
If the wall is 400 wide then 800 High is the max ish I should be.
Where I live there is a heavy clay content in the soil and with the large footpriint of a gabion wall think along the lines of lying on a bed of nails, the weight is distribuated across the surface. Road base would maybe have made it more solid but I figure the sheer weight of the cages work in their favour. Any settling will happen as the cages are filled.
I did Tamp the ground but what isnt seen is that I mostly shaved the ground to create a level surface (kept the ground compact/intact that way)
The section of the wall in the middle (where you can see a smaller cage at the very front is actually the only area that I was concerned with as I had dug a deep trench through for stormwater. By all rights I should have filled and tamped and filled and tamped every foot or so but I was stuffed after backfilling it all so was happy to just get the pipe buried.
I am about to post some free standing cage project and these are 300mm by around 900mm high. These have not moved in the past 8ish years.I will try and tag you when I post them. And yes I have a bunch of different Gabion walls, sizes and uses.
Hope this answers your questions, If not just ask some more 🙂
Love this. I am now wanting to put this in around our garden after our house refurb. it looks so great. Well done 😊
@Dave-1 This is amazing 🤩 im just fascinated with how your putting it together …
Do you offer these to others as a landscaper?
That’s interesting 🧐 I’ll remember that for when my wall goes in !!
I'm sure @Dave-1 will be delighted to hear that you're excited about their project @MeganCooper. We have a range of gabion cages that you could use to create your own wall. We can also order you the rocks for the cages through our supplier, ANL.
Since you're a fan of this project, I trust you'll be keen to check out this step-by-step guide on How to build a DIY gabion potting bench.
Please let us know if you have any questions about building your own gabion wall.
Mitchell
@MeganCooper
🙂 Thank you for the compliment! No I do not offer them to landscapers lol But as @MitchellMc said Bunnings have a range of the gabion baskets.
I have used them and they are very easy to put together and stand up very well. In fact I was sitting on one in the sun I had built as a windbreak for a coffee tree yesterday. I will see if I can post the project today. Must say Bunnings rocks with the cages 🙂 Pun intended!
Re - The footings question.
Gabion walls generally dont require a footing from what I have read and also experienced.
I have Free sanding walls that have stayed true to vertical for a decade.
I have freestanding walls that have maybe moved 2cm off vertical in 5 years (the movement was in the first year as it was half compacted dirt half dirt in situ)
And I have a large tall gabion wall that retains soil, and deals with a large amount of water.
Non of these have a concrete foot or any footings other then compacted dirt (undisturbed soil)
I have stacked two of the Bunnings baskets on top of each other and they are solid. Three I have not done tho would probarly do. The ground underneath was only shaved of grass and leveled that way.
I will tag you for the small wall build when i post it.
Thanks 🙏 so much for your detailed reply. My next question 🙋♀️ is do you build these commercially?
Megan
I’d love to be able to see one on site if you’re in Sydney … I’m half way through a large project that needs some retaining.
megan
Around an hour and a half South of Sydney. But I would suggest to cruise around a few neighbourhoods especially hilly ones. Once I started looking to see who else had a Gabion wall they were everywhere! From a fence post style with corrorgated tin between them to actual retaining walls on a sloping block. Message me if you head down South. If you are considering a wall I'd sugest to by one of the 800*400*400 baskets and put it together and then sit it around where you want. It really gives a great idea for what it will look like. The baskets are $57.00ea last time I looked (On monday 🙂 )
Hi @Dave-1
Saw this in the featured projects post & commented there but adding this here with the rest.This looks great & has inspired me. The back of my property is fill & just falls to ground level. I've been thinking about a timber/concrete sleeper retaining wall so I can reduce the fall & better support hedging. This looks like a more manageable DIY solution for me, altho barrowing rocks 30m from the front to the rear to fill the gabions isn't inspiring 😉 I don't have any waste rocks so I'll have to get something from a landscape yard, maybe river rocks. The rear boundary also slopes down a hill, falling maybe 0.5m so I could either dig it out to level or maybe make the gabions a different height.
Can you explain how you made the "windings" that you used to link the gabions together please? My back boundary is about 20m so will need to join a few 🙂 I'm going to head down there now to see how it would work.
Cheers, Peter
Afternoon @pete_brig
Just posted the answer in the "Featured projects"
