Hello, I hope everyone is enjoying the lovely Easter weather!
I have drawn up a fairly unambitious plan to deal with our lumpy sloped lawn that the builders created!
The garden slopes up away from the house and we sought advice from a landscaper and the best solution for this is to create a retaining wall at the midway point in the garden and level off each section. The portion in front of the house will be patio, then a sleeper wall built out of timber sleepers, 3-4 steps take us up to the second level with lawn and decking. Each section is flat, resolving the slope. The sleeper wall is 3 sleepers high, so 450mm high.
My question is with regards to making sure we ensure there is drainage for the wall. Is this really important (I think yes?!), if so, how to add it?
Is it a case of creating a section between the soil on top level and the wall and then filling with gravel? Do we need a drainage pipe or is the gravel enough?
Does the gravel need to sit under the sleepers?
Does there also need to be gravel infront of the sleepers between the wall and the patio?
Also, to fasten the sleepers to the ground, should we use concrete or mortar? Will concrete or mortar adhere to gravel securely of gravel needs to be below the sleepers?
Should there be a fourth sleeper sitting below ground level for stability?
Any advice appreciated please! I have researched online but getting a bit overwhelmed by many different methods.
One final note is, do we need planning permission to build a sleeper wall and steps this height? The landscaper we consulted said no as we are not raising any levels that don't already exist, but just want to make sure.
Thank you in advance.
Victoria