Retaining Wall - Weep Hole’s poorly done - Any advice?

Grippo

I recently had my garden levelled, with a retaining wall built and Astro turf fitted.

The project as a whole went well. The wall itself was built well. But the smooth concrete render finish was poor I feel. And in particular the weep holes were very poor to say the least !
Initially 10 - 20mm gaps were left between some of the blocks at lower levels to allow water to drain through. But when the scratch coat was applied some of the holes were covered. I highlighted this to the builder who has appeared to kept the remaining holes clear. But where the were initially covered he has slashed the cement to make it look like there are holes there.

The render is very patchy and the holes look terrible. It has really spoiled the job for me.

Does anyone have any ideas how I could get this rectified and improved? I have attached some photos to show the holes closer up.

Thank you.

stuart45

Is there a proper drainage system behind the wall? Weep holes won't really work properly without it.
They are better done by sticking plastic pipes through the wall and cutting them flush with the face of the wall. Small weeps get blocked up easily in retainers.

Grippo

stuart45 said:

Is there a proper drainage system behind the wall? Weep holes won't really work properly without it.
They are better done by sticking plastic pipes through the wall and cutting them flush with the face of the wall. Small weeps get blocked up easily in retainers.

I don’t think there is a proper drainage system behind the wall. It’s just been backfilled.
Does that mean the weep holes are pretty much useless anyway?

stuart45

Grippo said:

stuart45 said:

Is there a proper drainage system behind the wall? Weep holes won't really work properly without it.
They are better done by sticking plastic pipes through the wall and cutting them flush with the face of the wall. Small weeps get blocked up easily in retainers.

I don’t think there is a proper drainage system behind the wall. It’s just been backfilled.
Does that mean the weep holes are pretty much useless anyway?

Yes, they will soon block up.

Eldi_Dos

To help appearance some Inbrass slotted vent covers would give a better finish than the bare slots.

GDB2222

When it rains, won't all sorts of mud and stuff come through those holes onto your nice new astro turf?  Until they stuff up, of course.

Don't you want to drain the water off somewhere else altogether, anyway, rather than using the astro turf as a soak away?


If it fills up with water, will the wall fall over? 

Who specified this work?

stuart45

NHBC regs for retaining walls are that anything over 600mm needs to be engineer designed. LABC say over 1000mm.
The type of subsoil makes a big difference. Heavy clay will hold the water, whereas a free draining one like chalk won't cause so much of a problem.
The main cause of failure in a retaining wall is hydrostatic pressure.
Maybe a perforated pipe along the bottom inside  to take the water away from the astro turf would be better here.