Construct retaining wall / slope stabilization cost-effectively

But I must also honestly admit that, despite the pictures, I find it difficult to imagine the situation.

Hello Webmaster-uk

You have to fill 1 m² of wall with 211 liters of concrete. Use 0/16 gravel. Mix max. 1:4. Now you can calculate how much you need. Buy a concrete mixer. And not the cheapest one. Then get started. Proceed as I wrote above. Then you have made the most out of the property. And now you still have space to dig.

Steven

I have to honestly admit, though, that despite the pictures I find it hard to imagine the situation.

Leaving the fir trees standing causes me a bit of "apprehension" because I can still easily fell them myself now and the property is already undergoing change. If the fir trees grow even taller, I will simply have a total barrier, may have to have the fir trees felled by professionals, and then I have the problem that the garden I have created up to that point will be "destroyed" and I will then have to remove the ugly tree stumps, which could otherwise easily be covered with soil.

Therefore, the thought is rather to bring them down and have the distant view and plant shrubs on the piled-up area below.

Hello Webmaster-uk

One square meter of wall you have to fill with 211 liters of concrete. Use 0/16 gravel. Mix max. 1:4. Now you can calculate how much you need. Buy yourself a concrete mixer. And not the cheapest one. Then get started. Proceed as I wrote above. Then you have gotten the most out of the property. And now you still have space to dig.

Steven

Yes, the question would be only, walls at 2 meters and fill ground level or, for example, only make the wall to 1.20 meters and have a slope, which I would then plant accordingly. That would then cost me only about half the material for almost half the height.

There is enough soil available for filling. On the other side of the property, a pond (possibly a swimming pond) is to be dug out and an 8,000 liter concrete cistern will be installed, whose soil is also to be used for filling. And some construction debris (stones) would also still be available.

That’s why I wrote to prune the fir trees. The ideas city dwellers have about the deadness of tree stumps need to be revised, forester Peter Wohlleben explains - just google Woodwide Web.

I like Winniefred’s idea of interplanting.

So as a city person, I wouldn’t exactly describe myself as living in a community of 10,000 souls.

Nevertheless, I want to avoid "unnecessary" effort by relocating the trees in a few years. The firs are more ugly than beautiful anyway. So the decision that the firs will be removed is final.

Since, as described above, open water is to be on our property and the adjacent property is used by a small kindergarten, I also want to prevent a small child from eventually ending up in the pond after climbing over the fence. We don’t need to talk about supervision duties here, but you never know, even if a wall doesn’t directly protect against that, at least the little ones won’t even know something like that exists on our property.

The question, considering our terrain and the planned height compensation currently in place, as can be seen in the pictures, is whether it makes more sense to build a high wall or a smaller one, for example around 1.20 meters, and then catch the last 80 cm with as steep a slope as possible that is planted appropriately for stabilization.

The more I think about it, the more I believe I would prefer a small wall, since the slope probably won’t "swallow" much ground.

Still, I find it quite difficult to decide, for whatever reasons :-/

If the fir trees definitely have to go, here’s an idea or suggestion based on what my best friend did: They had a thuja hedge next to the neighbor’s property that looked completely misshapen and terrible (it was also several meters high and would have looked even worse after trimming). But they turned necessity into a virtue and completely stripped the thujas bare (all branches off) leaving only the desired height of the trunks. They used these as "fence posts" and I believe filled the gaps with willow rods. This way they didn’t have to remove stumps and also saved themselves the trouble of setting new posts. In front of the fence, they now store their wood. Maybe that could be an option for you too. As far as I know, fir trees treated this way do not sprout again (although I would consult a professional about this). Then you would still have the roots holding the ground and you could definitely do something with the trunks; just continue to use them as a fence and plant shrubs in front of or between them. After a few years, the trees wouldn’t be visible anymore. Also, this would definitely be very cost-effective and create an ecological niche.

Just throwing out an idea.