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"You could potentially shotcrete" You could stop water draining through the retaining wall and turn it into a dam, which will not end well. My back garden/yar
by gerdesj 3y ago
"You could potentially shotcrete"
You could stop water draining through the retaining wall and turn it into a dam, which will not end well.
My back garden/yard has a 40m drop to a lawn. The levels are managed by dry stone walls. Soil here is heavy clay with really heavy clay sub soil, so efficient drainage is imperative.
As well as drystone walls, consider gabions which can form phenomenally tough retaining walls. You can plant on them too rather than having to weed drystone walls. Gabions are much more resistant to plants forcing joints apart than drystone walls.
- toomuchtodo 3y agoYou would still need humans to erect the gabions though, no? Trying to understand the best optimization use case for this product and best fit final results. Please excuse my knowledge gaps! I’m am trying to fill those gaps.
- gerdesj 3y agoWhat problem are you trying to fix?
- toomuchtodo 3y agoReduction in human labor for building these types of structures. The world is getting old fast, but infrastructure is still required, both new and maintenance of what exists today. Also, job assistance that reduces the toll on humans in this industry. This prevents treating the human as a consumable when the automation can be human driven, increasing quality of life and potential career longevity (if desired). Not replacing humans, to be clear, but helping them build better with less effort. Thank you for indulging me. I hope to eventually leave tech to build things that are needed that are built to last (I too am getting old fast).
- jacquesm 3y agoYou can fill gabions that have been pre-made by using a mini excavator. Or you can do it by hand but that's pretty labor intensive, unless you like wheelbarrows and buckets I would advise against it. Personal experience and all that ;) The important thing with gabion is to realize that they still need careful planning, anchoring, leveling and possibly a foundation to ensure that they aren't going to shift over time.
- throw0101b 3y ago> You could stop water draining through the retaining wall and turn it into a dam, which will not end well. Which is why gravel backfill with a perforated pipe at the base (that drains to day light) is specified by many/most building codes.
- schiffern 3y agoSo what you're saying is we made a problem for ourselves, and then we hacked on additional cost (and plastic) to fix it? I'm starting to see the advantages of this dry stone wall technique.
- throw0101b 3y agoA 'sealed' retaining wall where the stones are interlocked or even glued/mortared together would probably have a higher load capacity than one made dry/unadhered. Or someone could simply like the aesthetic of a more 'filled in' wall, regardless of practical considerations.
- rootusrootus 3y agoEh, the perforated pipe technique can efficiently collect the water and move it somewhere else entirely. It's nice that dry stone can just let water fall through, but then it just runs out at the base. Which might be fine, but you might still want a french drain anyway.
- scythe 3y agoI don't understand. You don't need to fully coat the wall with shotcrete in order to stabilize the rocks. There could still be holes.