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Retaining-wall recommendations
I will outline why
a pine or hardwood timber sleeper retaining wall really should not
be used where you are trying to hold back an amount of dirt...
I
would not use
pine or hardwood
for the following reasons:
1 With time and
the exposure to the elements, the timber will rot, crack, and allow
termites’ to get in and eat out the timber.
2 The
time-intensive labour involved to keep them in good order by painting,
then to stop water and moisture and to lessen the exposure to the
elements.
3 The cost of
having a pest control man coming around to treat the timber sleeper
retaining walls for termites every six or twelve months for how
ever long you have your property (or for as long as the wall is in place)
would well out weigh the cost of putting it in, in the first place.
4 Massive pressure
from the dirt behind the timber sleeper retaining walls will, over time,
make the walls move outwards. The moisture held within the dirt does
not help, nor does the rain, as the dirt will soak up all the moisture,
making the dirt much heavier, thus more pressure against the wall
to make it move.
What would I use for a
retaining wall?
I would be far more inclined to use core-filled and
capped besser bricks, with good strong foundation steel reinforcing rods
and good drainage. I concede that using bricks for a retaining wall
is much more costly (when done correctly) but; it is there for ever
more and a brick retaining wall;
-
Does not need
maintenance
-
Does
not need to be termite treated
-
Does
not need painting
-
Does
not rot
-
Water
and moisture & exposure to the elements will not damage brick retaining
walls and;
-
Termites
can not do damage to brick retaining walls.
So why not do the sums
for yourself of concrete stumps versus timber stumps?
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