Walls

[Lannatyne]

Key points:

• Our boundary wall is entirely on our land, and is fully rendered / painted on the outside, as well as the inside.

• A development is being built on the land adjoining us

• The developer has raised the natural level of the land by about 1/2 metre

• So, I have an extra 50cm of soil height against my wall

2 questions -

1) Any proper rules about the impact of raising land levels that the developer should abide by?

2) If not, any risk to my wall of increased pressure due to the amount of soil, or damage caused by damp / water?

Thanks for replies.

[gregb]

I am not aware of any rules on raising the level of land. However, it was clearly not polite of him to use your wall as a retaining wall without asking you, and it could very well cause damage to the wall. I would inform him officially in writing that the wall was not engineered for this purpose, and politely ask him to pay for his own engineering study and build his own wall that is approved for the amount of soil he has applied.

If he does nothing and you do nothing and his actions do break your wall, I believe your sole relief is going to be a civil suit in a Thai court for damages. That could take years.

However, if this is entirely your wall, on entirely your property, why not simply break open the wall along the bottom to the level of the soil on the adjoining property. Just leave the posts and remove the bricks and cement up to the level of the soil.

This should relieve the pressure and allow the soil from the adjacent property to flow onto your land without causing your wall to collapse. You can add a suitable cosmetic finish where the bricks were removed for aesthetic reasons on your side. That could be as simple as painted plastic.

Thereafter, if his soil does migrate to your property, you can either clear it yourself or try to demand that he pay to have it removed, although if it has gotten this far it is likely he will not be responsive to your requests for removal.

If you explain (this time in person) that this is your intention if he does not correct the situation, I expect he will do something rather allowing that side of the property to be supported by nothing and subject to erosion.

Sometimes people just don't think, and you have to try unorthodox approaches to get people to act responsibly. Just treat the situation as you would if a natural phenomenon had caused the soil to rise on the outside of your wall. What would you do in that case, if you couldn't remove the soil directly? Be creative.

[xen]

If you can't negotiate with the developer then at least i would be drilling some weep holes with a masonary drill along the base of the wall to alliate any pressure caused by wet soil and moisture. You should not have to do it but it may save your wall until a better solution can be achieved.