Help - need some advice please!

jaggyjim

Firstly let me apologise if I am posting this in the wrong section but really could do with some help.

After many many months of deliberating and searching, we eventually took the plunge and employed a landscaping firm to deal with our large sloping back garden. We had the garden split into 2 levels across its width with the area at the bottom of the garden (lower level) actually built up slightly so that there are only 3 steps down.

As its subsequently transpired they had not retained that lower garden along the bottom fence and the soil started caving away with all the torrential rain we have had recently.
The landscaper has finally been out to take a look at the garden and ordered additional timber to retain this. When I spoke to him today he said what he is planning to do is to remove the back fence, leaving the fence posts in position. Strap the additional timber to the fence posts to act as a retaining wall for the lower garden (about 2 ft high) and the replace the fence, backfill the area with topsoil and relay the turf.

My concern is that the fence posts were put up to carry the weight of the fence and so would they be able to cope with the weight/pressure of the lower garden? I know he is doing this because it saves him the time/effort/money in putting in additional posts but I would feel better if he were to put at least 1 half height post in between each existing fence post.

I really don;t want the fence to start buckling under the pressure and potentially affect the entire back fence including my neighbours. Is that likely to happen or not? If anyone has any experience/advice they can share I would be most grateful.

Thanks

ian103

its fairly common practice to use concrete posts and a 300mm gravel board to restrain the ground, 600mm on timber posts could be too much if just 100x100mm timber posts, a better more robust solution is to use 900x600 concrete slabs laid on edge, the bottom 300mm is laid in wet concrete in a trench, once the concrete is set the earth is then put back. Other options but potentially more costly is log roll wall (either 100 / 200mm circular posts - again laid in concrete - they are alledgely guaranteed for 15 years but its timber and buried) or sleeper laid vertically