Garden fence and retaining wall - I want it removed

katieort

ElephantBoy57 said:

katieort said:

Unfortunately it doesn't say on mine whose boundary is whose, but they have said its their fence anyway

Where is the boundary? Is it the tall fence, the short wall or in the middle?

If you take out the wall, that does not automatically mean that your garden boundary goes right up to the tall fence.

The fence is the boundary, and I'm not 100% accurate as I can't really tell exactly, but the fence/posts are either straddling the boundary line or are on their side of the boundary. The fence is the same all the way along the garden, but the wall is only on the first section of the garden, so the wall definitely isn't the boundary, its a good 2 feet away from the fence too.

katieort

unforeseen said:

If you take the wall and soil away, you will need to provide something to retain their land as it appears that your land has been lowered not theirs raised, based on the fact that the wall is well within your land

The wall was built much later, probably within the last 5 years or so roughly as there was hedgerow there before (checked google earth history) and the front section of my garden is all concrete, and there are drains/manhole covers etc all at this level, so can't have been lowered. I suspect we are slightly downhill compared to the neighbours. Ill take a quick pic and show you in a moment..

katieort

Land all over this bit is concrete and there are drains etc. Theres also one of those big rectangular drain cover/manhole things just behind from where I took the photo. So this is all the original level. The previous owners from what I can work out from old satellite photos took out the hedge which formed the boundary and the fence was put up, the wall was also put up around the same time to make a patio sort of area with flowers and plants in the space between.
And the wall is 100% not original and is a diy job as it is so poorly built! You can't tell from the pics, but its just terrible and wonky and just really bad! Ha! Hence why we want rid!

MovingForwards

I would just take some of the soil out by the post and see if the post goes into the ground and the gravel board sits on the ground. If it does, check another post. 

You are being over cautious when 10 minutes of digging / shifting will give you the answers.

Tazboy36

Hi katieort
I do a lot of work like this. 
Looking at your fence it looks like someone took the time to do it right. Get a tape measure and measure the fence boards if 6ft the concrete posts should be 8ft 
Long. Get a spade and dig a hole at the side of the post till you hit concrete measure from concrete to top of post to see height and work it out from 8ft to see what is below ground. 
Also measure from the concreat holding the fence post to the top of your soli. 
Don't be worried about going out to edge of the concert and digging on down to see how deep it is the fence won't move with one hole.
Tbh looking at the photos. Your be fine to remove the wall its only holding a bit of soil. 
As for retaining walls no need all you need is some dwarf wall kerb edging if you really need anything about £5 each here in NI.
You wouldn't need many but you may need a hand getting them in place. 
I honestly would remove the wall and go from there it is in your property and its not a retaining wall. 
Good luck

gwynlas

From the photo it looks like a single dkin decorative wall. If it was a retining wall it would be double skinned or blockwork.

katieort

Tazboy36 said:

Hi katieort
I do a lot of work like this. 
Looking at your fence it looks like someone took the time to do it right. Get a tape measure and measure the fence boards if 6ft the concrete posts should be 8ft 
Long. Get a spade and dig a hole at the side of the post till you hit concrete measure from concrete to top of post to see height and work it out from 8ft to see what is below ground. 
Also measure from the concreat holding the fence post to the top of your soli. 
Don't be worried about going out to edge of the concert and digging on down to see how deep it is the fence won't move with one hole.
Tbh looking at the photos. Your be fine to remove the wall its only holding a bit of soil. 
As for retaining walls no need all you need is some dwarf wall kerb edging if you really need anything about £5 each here in NI.
You wouldn't need many but you may need a hand getting them in place. 
I honestly would remove the wall and go from there it is in your property and its not a retaining wall. 
Good luck

Thanks for your advice, very helpful!
I didn't even think to just measure the post! Ha! Just done so, and its 6 foot from the dirt upwards, another foot in the dirt next to the wall, and then likely goes another foot beneath that (approx). Looks like it should be okay then, might get a bit of dirt falling from under the gravel boards, but don't think it will compromise the integrity of the fence really which is good news!

markin

It looks to me like its been dug out for a flat patio area, you have to retain their soil and repair the fence if you want to move the retaining wall to the border. 

It looks like you can safely take off 4/5 courses of brick, but if you take the rest away and the soil up to the fence rain will start washing soil away from under the fence and onto you new patio.

A photo from garden looking back at the house and patio would be nice.

katieort

markin said:

It looks to me like its been dug out for a flat patio area, you have to retain their soil and repair the fence if you want to move the retaining wall to the border. 

It looks like you can safely take off 4/5 courses of brick, but if you take the rest away and the soil up to the fence rain will start washing soil away from under the fence and onto you new patio.

A photo from garden looking back at the house and patio would be nice.

Didn't see this reply before, just taken more photos of the area. I don't believe it has been dug out as you suggest due to the placement of the doorway, the ground where the wall is, is about a foot higher, but the bottom of the door is only about half that.
Not to mention the drain you can see over to the left next to the bin, and another water meter hole next to it, which I don't think will have been altered (lowered). I think that this whole section by the back door was just generally built lower, as the opposite side is also higher too as you can see from the wall over there. (that side has more room, and the wall actually built properly so it fine to keep as it is)