Retaining wall

naf123

I will be needing to build a fairly big retaining wall (about 1.5m) high. Instead of concrete, has anyone done sheet piling - is there a mini sheet piling machine? 
Thanks

FreeBear

Are you wanting something attached to a mini digger ?

I suspect it may be a bit specialised and very few plant companies would have one for hire.

weeg

I've never sheet piled something that small. It's a really expensive option. You need to go down by the same amount as you are holding up. Unilogs might be a viable option.

ARH_2

As above sheet piling does seem overboard that size. Depending on the application and loading, concrete blockwork with reinforcing bars has the potential to be sufficient.

naf123

Thanks all. I have a big building with 5+ meters walls next to the garden. I thought sheet piling would  be a quick efficient way to build the wall before evacuating the garden (don't worry, I will get a structural engineer to do the specifications , but I wanted to understand if sheet piling is an option) If @weeg says that I need to go down as much I am holding up, does it mean I need to sheet pile down 5 meters?

weeg

naf123 said:

Thanks all. I have a big building with 5+ meters walls next to the garden. I thought sheet piling would  be a quick efficient way to build the wall before evacuating the garden (don't worry, I will get a structural engineer to do the specifications , but I wanted to understand if sheet piling is an option) If @weeg says that I need to go down as much I am holding up, does it mean I need to sheet pile down 5 meters?

No - it's the finished height. So on a 1.5m finished wall, you'll be down 1-1.5m, depending on a whole bunch of things. 

There will also be limits on how close you can really go to an existing building without undermining it's foundations.

naf123

Piling 3 meters doesn't should like a big deal....its probably a whole lot cheaper and quicker than building a concrete wall! Thats why I asked! 
Yes I know - I probably will have to be at least 1m away from the existing building to avoid touching its foundations.  

weeg

naf123 said:

Piling 3 meters doesn't should like a big deal....its probably a whole lot cheaper and quicker than building a concrete wall! Thats why I asked! 
Yes I know - I probably will have to be at least 1m away from the existing building to avoid touching its foundations.  

No, it's very unlikely to be cheaper. It's a specialist trade that needs some pretty big equipment usually, plus paying for a structural engineer. And you may well need to be more than 1 m away from the building. You don't just need to avoid touching it's foundations - you need to be far enough away to avoid affecting the ground supporting the foundations. You may also need to take the lateral load from the foundations on the back of the wall.  
 What's the ground?

naf123

Thanks. Re ground - Typical London. Must be combination of clay and soil