Land has been topped off, house almost finished, but............

[Will B Good]

......now it looks like we need to plan drainage and put in some kind of retaining wall/mattress.

 

One side of the land is now sitting 2m above an adjoining pond and the whole plot gently slopes toward the pond. There is already surface erosion taking place.

 

Sorry, no pics, should have thought ahead.

 

1) Has anyone experience of putting in a diverting, open top culvert......is it worth it if we are to build a retaining wall/mattress?

 

2) Should we be putting in 'soak aways' behind the retaining wall/mattress to drain the 'below surface' water?

 

3) My initial idea and preference is to scrape back the slope to minimize the gradient and then go for a Gabion mattress....anyone done this? If so, did you do it yourself or did you employ a contractor?

 

Thanks for any guidance.

[sanuk711]

What happened to your Noisy Neighbors?................can you divert the water run off to them............

[Will B Good]

2 minutes ago, sanuk711 said:

What happened to your Noisy Neighbors?................can you divert the water run off to them............

Hahaha.....funny you should say that....got a separate plan for drainage on that side........

[KhunLA]

I stopped the erosion at the 1st house build, as lot need to be raise, and it sloped in the back.  Not as drastic, 2m, as yours, but maybe 1.5m.  Just stone & concrete was enough around the 3 sides of the perimeter.

 

Edited March 10, 2022 by KhunLA

[Will B Good]

3 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

I stopped the erosion at the 1st house build, as lot need to be raise, and it sloped in the back.  Not as drastic, 2m, as yours, but maybe 1m.  Just stone & concrete was enough around the 3 sides of the perimeter.

 

I am just wondering........if I scrape it back to a relatively gentle gradient, I might get away with just vegetation to hold it together or maybe throw in terrace or two. There is enough space between the house and the pond to do that I think.

[Will B Good]

4 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

I stopped the erosion at the 1st house build, as lot need to be raise, and it sloped in the back.  Not as drastic, 2m, as yours, but maybe 1m.  Just stone & concrete was enough around the 3 sides of the perimeter.

 

Do you filter/treat your water supply?...as an aside.

[Denim]

1 hour ago, sanuk711 said:

What happened to your Noisy Neighbors?................can you divert the water run off to them............

But first offer to build a 6 foot water proof wall around their property  then pray for rain.

[KhunLA]

4 minutes ago, Will B Good said:

Do you filter/treat your water supply?...as an aside.

We had very good, deep well water.  Did run it through an inexpensive 3 stage countertop filter, for cooking & drinking, just as a precaution.  Supposedly took out 99% of whatever.

 

[Will B Good]

7 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

We had very good, deep well water.  Did run it through an inexpensive 3 stage countertop filter, for cooking & drinking, just as a precaution.  Supposedly took out 99% of whatever.

 

Ha!....One last question if I may......lawns looks lush....what grass did you use......turf or seed.....cheers.

Edited March 10, 2022 by Will B Good

[KhunLA]

18 minutes ago, Will B Good said:

Ha!....One last question if I may......lawns looks lush....what grass did you use......turf or seed.....cheers.

Strangely, none.  It was barren, well, weeds.  We put down a layer of good topsoil, mixed with a lot of cow manure, from neighbor.  Unbelievable, from the topsoil and what the cows passed, we got an excellent lawn after a couple seasons of weed pulling.  I wouldn't walk around barefooted, scorpions, but looked quite nice.  Surprised the hell out of me ???? go figure.

 

Hired a couple local gals, that meticulously, went through the lawn, pulling every little weed.  Did that twice a year, maybe.

 

Quite the opposite, with a small patch in front of the house, which we actually sodded, and never seemed to take root and not amount to much of a lawn.  Gave up their, and put white stone down and planted some palm plant that took with no effort.

Edited March 10, 2022 by KhunLA

[Will B Good]

3 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

Strangely, none.  It was barren, well, weeds.  We put down a layer of good topsoil, mixed with a lot of cow manure, from neighbor.  Unbelievable, from the topsoil and what the cows passed, we got an excellent lawn after a couple seasons of weed pulling.  I wouldn't walk around barefooted, scorpions, but looked quite nice.  Surprised the hell out of me ???? go figure.

 

Hired a couple local gals, that meticulously, went through the lawn, pulling every little weed.  Did that twice a year, maybe.

 

Quite the opposite, with a small patch in front of the house, which we actually sodded, and never seemed to take root and not amount to much of a lawn.  Gave up their, and put white stone down and planted some palm plant that took with no effort.

That worked out well I must say.....555

[Chris.B]

No good without photos.....

 

[LarrySR]

Rock & plants might be the answer.

 

[Will B Good]

1 hour ago, LarrySR said:

Rock & plants might be the answer.

 

Could be...more attractive than a Gabion mattress....cheers 

[sometimewoodworker]

Best is to use Vetiver grass, you may well be able to get it free or very low cost from the department of agriculture 

[Will B Good]

3 minutes ago, sometimewoodworker said:

Best is to use Vetiver grass, you may well be able to get it free or very low cost from the department of agriculture 

Freaky................Just been reading about that.......cheers.

[malathione]

22 minutes ago, sometimewoodworker said:

Best is to use Vetiver grass, you may well be able to get it free or very low cost from the department of agriculture 

That's exactly what I did. Gentle slope with vetiver. Held up well for the 4 years I lived there.

[Will B Good]

2 minutes ago, malathione said:

That's exactly what I did. Gentle slope with vetiver. Held up well for the 4 years I lived there.

Brilliant....thanks for that.

[Encid]

On 3/10/2022 at 3:01 PM, sometimewoodworker said:

Best is to use Vetiver grass, you may well be able to get it free or very low cost from the department of agriculture 

Great tip... thanks!