Good Morning all and happy Mother’s Day to all the Mums on the forum.
I have a quick question and would be grateful for your advice. I have a job where the garden is on a slope and the customer wants it raising 4 sleepers high from the bottoms and levelling/turfing.
The sleepers I plan to have anchored into the the ground with thunder bolts bedded into mortar, then placed a geo textile membrane and gravel up again the sleeper on the inside where the soil will come into contact. It is only 4 sleepers high on one side so I don’t ever suspect any problem with drainage or a build up of water on the inside of the sleepers.
The question i have is can i removed the old turf and use it to back fill turning it upside down and compacting as I go along. And then of course the final stage use a nice grade of top spoil. If I do this will I need to allow time for it to settle, maybe ask the customer to water the solid for a couple of days before I come back and again compact level and turf. Will this sink in several months?
I suspect many would say take it all out and re grade with a sub base compacting over several levels etc etc but of course this is more expensive and again the area I am filling is 4 sleepers high from the bottom part of the garden gradually levelling to one sleeper high at the top?
I would be very grateful if anyone can share any experience on this please. Have you or someone you know tried this and if so did it work?
Many thanks,
Mark
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Replies
It will almsot certainly sink a bit over a few months. If you're on sandy soil you might get away with it especially fi there's more soil than earth, I've buried lots before but tracked it in with a digger.
Four sleepers high (assuming side on, so 800mm) on a concrete footing has bugger all retaining strength other than it's own weight. Any pressure (water build up etc) and the sleepers and the footing will just move. Best to drive or concrete in either timber (not softwood unless the customer wants to do it all again a few years later) or steel supports and bolt the sleepers to these.
Hi Ben,
Thank you for you reply it is very much appreciated. It is four sleepers laid on the side so 400mm heigh 200mm wide, bolted into the ground, interlocked on all four corners etc and fastened together throughly. Do you think this will be enough or should I insert some scaffold poles in the corners and strap them?
Thanks again for the advice re the filling