Rubble Retaining Wall Design
Sun, 24 Jan 2010 02:07:39 +0000
Given there is only so long that you can look at a pile of dirt, clay and broken building materials, it didn’t come soon enough when we had our landscaping sorted.
We recruited the services of Mark Gabell & Associates for the driveway and landscaping work which was a smart move as Mark and his team could then plan things out knowing how it will all fit together.
We vaguely knew what we wanted here and there, but hadn’t really considered the details too much - Mark was great at providing ideas and suggestions on how we can follow what we wanted, and then expand upon them to come up with a plan that would work - and stage it over the Christmas/New Year period.
So up first was the driveway, which you can read about on the previous post, which still looks stunning. And it’s even better now that the mulch has been laid as it was a pretty severe drop from the edge of the driveway to the ground, as we found out if we didn’t reverse from the garage on track.
The work around the back and front was done in some stages over a two week period, which started with simply laying the framework for the beds and path areas - simple stuff. Then filling the frames in, providing soil and mulch, compacting pathways and surface coating. And then the final step was laying the grass, and working on the front retaining wall and mulch.
Now it was great seeing everything come together, including the fine soil used for the beds and grass base. And waking up to see a small trail of paw prints where Hamish meanders down the side of the house. We just weren’t counting on a windy weekend where any gap in a window resulting in the furniture near the window getting coated in a fine layer of dirt. But, now with the grass laid and looking beautifully green, it’s now dust free.
Hamish still looks a little bit unsettled on the grass, and prefers to quickly cross to the garden bed then wander up the side on the mulch - but no doubt when the grass has settled and it becomes less spongey (it’s really really spongey) he’ll no doubt love it, including a range of sunny spots for him to snooze. But he can, at least, get outside and away from his kitty litter tray - something he was so used to before coming to live here.
Plant-wise, we have some ideas of what we want to do, but given February is no doubt going to be a scorcher, we have decided to leave plant purchases until it cools down a little bit - and that gives us some more time to determine exactly what we want to do. But in the interim, we at least have grass and beds ready to go.
Out the back we will be getting a veggie patch prepared too - but similarly that can wait until the cooler weather hits, and we can get things planted ready for the winter season.
In front of the bedroom window, Mark constructed a small retaining wall box, painted Woodlands Grey and then decorated with stained wooden beams. The soil and mulch then cascade around the sides, leaving a raised area for us to work with.
So here’s what we did all up:
- Side and Clothes Line base: Lilydale Topping
- Rear “path”: river pebbles (we thought 7mm, but after advice a larger size was chosen given 7mm are good at ending up in shoe soles and then scratching tiles)
- Driveway: Exposed Aggregate #5 (at Werribee Sand, Soil and Mix)
- Grass: Sir Walter Buffalo
- Mulch: Hammermill
You can find out more about Mark Gabell & Associates at his website, which also includes contact details and what their specialities are. I can’t recommended these guys enough - their quality of service, professionalism, idea generation and workmanship have been superb, and we both just love the finished product. Even if there are no plants, but hey, get the nurseries to look after them during the hot February weather - we can take possession after that…
*Update I think you will enjoy Ian’s input who has experienced his own disaster. Please read below first picture. Also a note from the Colorado Yurt Company.
Peter Sing of Sing Tiny House contacted me with a suggestion of getting the Tiny House Community to generate ideas and designs for housing for those who have lost their homes in the horrible earthquake in Haiti.
We should brainstorm ideas for basic emergency shelter and also more permanent shelter when Haiti starts to rebuild.
I have been trying to think of the best way to do this and think that by using the comments section of this post we can start generating ideas. If you have a design you would like to share email it to me at tinyhouseblog at gmail dot com (be sure and put the email address in the correct format) and I will then put together a post to show your potential designs. I will work on who to contact to submit our ideas too. Any suggestions are welcome. Let’s pitch together and see what we can do to help!
Below are a couple of pictures of some of the standard housing in Haiti.
I’m addressing your call for ideas to help out the Haiti Earthquake victims. Following Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, the biggest short term challenge will be getting people clean water or ways to purify water through solar or other means. Then comes waste treatment. Solve these problems first and you’ve got the disease factor at least limited. Food gathering and storage naturally would follow after that.
The next biggest challenge is to get housing for a lot of people quickly. There little time for framing or lengthy custom interior work and there may not be a lot of material available. One approach would be to use 20′ cargo containers with pre-canned interiors. Then set up an assembly line, most likely near a port, employ and feed people and start building these units and distribute them as needed. Set up multiple assembly lines. Use the same toilets, sinks, tables, etc so that you only design once and build many. There’s not too much room for variety here and these could be modified at a later date, but the idea is to get housing quickly.
Alternatively, tent structures like yurts and geodesic domes could go a long way but the availability of these custom units could be problematic.
Being no stranger to natural disasters (Ref: http://www.mercurynewsphoto.com/2008/05/fireaudioss/ , http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/05/23/summit.wildfire/index.html ), I felt compelled to answer your call for ideas using my own experience in the recovery (aka discovery) process that is still going on physically, mentally, and spiritually.
I gave the container assembly line some more thought on my drive into mid shift this morning. For this to effectively work, the system needs electricity to run the plasma cutters grinders, saws, and other tools. I doubt that electricity would be available from the local utility as it most likely suffered severe damage. Generators will only go as far as the available gas.
It’s certainly a challenge.
Ian McClelland
Also from Colorado Yurt Company
We are looking into the feasibility and logistics of getting yurts, tipis or tents to Haiti right now for temp and more permanent shelter. Would appreciate any feedback anyone has – especially if you’ve been involved in disaster relief or are familiar with the country. Thanks!
Jennie – Colorado Yurt Company
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