Scenic Rim Retaining Wall Builders000
Knock down and rebuild of a failing timber wall, Fernvale

Fernvale

Knock down and rebuild of a failing timber wall, Fernvale
Project
Wall type
Concrete sleeper
Suburb
Fernvale

Knock down and rebuild of a failing timber wall, Fernvale

What was wrong before

An old timber retaining wall ran down the side of this house in Fernvale, holding the gravelled yard level with the house. The timber was failing. The wall sits a strip inside the fence rather than on the boundary: a council easement runs through the back yard, so the owner gave up about two metres of land along the fence to keep it clear.

What was done

We knocked the old wall out and rebuilt it in concrete sleepers between steel posts, 0.6 to 1 m high over about 20 m, in two days, with a fence bracket on every post for the fence that goes along the top. A council sewer main runs under the line of the wall, so longer sleepers span over it rather than a post going in on top of it, and the stumps of the old trees along the strip were still in the ground, so those were cut around and spanned the same way. The photos below follow the job from start to finish.

Jake quotes every wall on this register and builds it. He uses the right auger for the job, 450 millimetres on some walls and 300 millimetres on others, and sets galvanised posts in 32 MPa concrete from the plant, with geofabric, 100 millimetre socked ag pipe and drainage gravel behind the wall.

01

The old wall

A timber sleeper wall held the gravelled side yard at house level, a strip in from the fence. The trees along that strip had been taken out, but their stumps were still in the ground.

The old timber sleeper wall down the side of the house, holding the gravelled yard, with tree stumps in the strip below it
02

Day one: the old wall out, the new posts in

The old sleepers and posts came out and went in the skip, and the line was dug with a small excavator. Then the holes for the new posts were drilled, the concrete pumped in, and the steel posts set and lined up. Each post carries a fence bracket, the plate standing up from its top, so a fence can go along the wall later.

The side yard with the old wall gone, the ground dug along the fence line and a small excavator at the far end
New steel posts set in a line along the dug edge of the gravelled side yard, a fence bracket plate standing up from each
03

Day two: sleepers in

The concrete sleepers went in between the posts, below the fence brackets. Where the council sewer main runs under the wall, and where the old stumps sat in the line, longer sleepers span the gap instead of a post going in. Cutting around the stumps added an hour or two.

Grey timber grain concrete sleepers in between the steel posts, fence brackets above them and old tree stumps at the foot of the wall
The new sleeper wall running down the side of the house between the gravel and the fence, the excavator at the far end
04

Drainage behind the wall

Drainage gravel went in behind the sleepers along the run, with fabric between the gravel and the soil, before the ground went back and the site was cleaned up.

Drainage gravel and white fabric going in behind the new sleepers, with the excavator on the gravel above
05

Along the fence

The new wall runs the length of the side yard, about two metres inside the fence, with the gravelled yard held level at the house again.

The new wall from the back corner, looking along the gravel and the fence towards the house
Rebuilds

Not answered here? Call us on 0488 844 741.

What people ask about replacing a wall

Things worth walking out and looking at: it leans out at the top, sleepers bow between the posts, the ground behind it is dropping, timber is soft at ground level, or water comes out of the face after rain.

A wall that's been leaning for two years will lean for another one, right up until the day it doesn't.

No, we don't do repairs. Once we alter a wall another contractor built, we may become responsible for work we didn't build.

So if your wall is failing, we'll quote a knock down and rebuild.

The ones we replace nearly always come down to the same three things: no drainage, hand mixed concrete, and small footings. A lot of them fail within a year or so of going in.

The worst one we've replaced cost its owners about $30,000 once the removal and disposal of the failed wall was included.

Why walls fail

We do. Removing and disposing of the old wall is part of the quote.

Yes. Fence brackets fix to the wall's steel posts and the fence stands on those. The brackets go on before the top two sleepers, so tell us when you ask for the quote, not once the wall is up.

We fit the brackets as part of the wall. The fence itself is a fencer's job, and we can put you in touch with one we trust.

Fence brackets, in order

29 people have written about what it was like, and they all write about the same things.

The thing people tell us most is that they can’t believe it’s only the two of us. After that, it’s how fast Jake works, how clean he leaves the site, and the quality of the wall.

Reviews published on Google. Names as the reviewers gave them.

Why people trust us with this

Taking out a wall that’s failed and building it again with the footings and drainage it was missing. It’s what we’re known for.

What we're known for

Knock down and rebuild is most of our work, and it's the job people ask us for by name.

The old wall leaves with us

Jake knocks it down and takes it away, then sets out the new one and starts digging pier holes, usually all on the first day.

We replace, we don't patch

Once we alter a wall another contractor built, we may become responsible for work we didn't build. So we quote it as a rebuild.

Built with what the first one was missing

Piers drilled with the right auger for the job, 450 mm on some walls and 300 mm on others, then 32 MPa plant concrete, steel reinforced sleepers, geofabric, a 100 mm socked ag pipe and 20 mm drainage gravel.

QBCC licence 15049372 (Jacob Spriggs)

Next

Tell us about the block

Six short questions, about two minutes. Brittany calls you back, then Jake comes out and measures the wall. Quotes are locked for 30 days, and the price only changes if you ask for extra work and approve it first.

A long timber look concrete sleeper wall with steps, running along a slope

Talk to us about your wall

Six short questions, about two minutes. Your details come first, so if anything cuts out halfway we can still call you back.

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