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1 Retaining Wall Specification Update 2012

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Aditya Thasale
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23 views2 pages

1 Retaining Wall Specification Update 2012

Uploaded by

Aditya Thasale
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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®

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
FOR SIMPLE RETAINING WALLS

PREAMBLE
The following notes form part of a series of technical specification leaflets
designed to give guidance on particular aspects of the craft of dry stone walling.
Before giving detailed guidelines, several points should be understood.

 Stone supplied must be clean. Dismantling of existing structures should be


done by hand.
 The difference between good and bad work is probably greater than any other
skill. It is essential to obtain the services of a qualified waller, particularly with
prestigious projects. DSWA operates the only tiered, national, practical skills Back of wall well packed with Inner skin roughly built with
certification scheme in dry stone walling. large rough stone throughs well supported.
 The waller can obviously only work with the stone supplied: specify a
style/design that can be built with available material.
Sections through a Scottish-style retaining dyke and a Yorkshire-style (right) retaining wall.
 Where possible, match stone type and style to the tradition of the area.

GUIDELINES  The foundations must be hard and level. Insert a foundation course in all
For practical purposes, retaining walls may be divided into two types: “domestic” instances, ensuring these stones and subsequent building stones are placed
walls, under 1.5m in height and not subject to heavy loading such as field walls lengthways into the wall. The width of the base of the wall is usually one-third
with a substantial difference in ground level on either side, garden retaining walls to one-half of the finished height.
or ha-ha. These notes refer to these “domestic” walls.
 The batter (inward slope) should be 1:6 for maximum strength and longevity;
The second type are fully load-bearing walls and a civil engineer should be greater if there is any doubt about the likely effect of lateral pressure. Such
consulted at all times. However, dry stone in civil engineering work is a very pressures are greatly increased by water saturation in wet spells, with wall
narrow field. DSWA Master Craftsman Certificate holders who regularly failures increasing markedly at such times. Low walls can be built with less
undertake large-scale contract work would assist engineers in designing safe batter, sometimes almost vertically, but there may be a pay-off in terms of
sections. durability.

A retaining wall may be formed by building a standard wall with carefully laid  Lay throughstones as frequently as their availability permits, choosing stones
back-fill. However, in some regions many retaining walls are “single skin” only, that tie back as far as possible. Ideally, they should be tied into the bank
whereby only the outer face is built up, back-filling as work proceeds, using behind, with extra excavation if necessary.
carefully placed stones of sufficient size to support throughstones.
 Particular attention should be paid to the face stones, so as to ensure that each
There are many variations with retaining walls, but the following points are one runs into the wall and not along the face. It is important to use as large
almost universal. face stones as possible. The bedding planes should be parallel to the base.

 In forming a new retaining wall, the banking must be cut back to a distance at  Use selected, heavy copes (top stones) particularly if the wall is backfilled to
least equal to half the height of the finished wall. If the material behind the the top. Occasionally, a wall is topped with large, heavy stones laid flat to be
wall is loose or liable to slumping, cut back further and/or slope the face of the level with ground on the higher side.
bank away from the wall.
DRY STONE WALLING ASSOCIATION
OF GREAT BRITAIN

Front elevation showing weep ®


holes in a Yorkshire-style
retaining wall

SPECIFICATIONS FOR
SIMPLE RETAINING
 Dry stone walls are free draining. However, where the hearting is solid (where
soil has been incorporated in garden terracing), or where crushed waste is
WALLS
employed, construct weep holes for drainage at 2-3m intervals, more
frequently where water is a problem. It is not uncommon to find water from
rock strata, field drains, etc when cutting back the bank - and this should be
taken away by constructing drains or drainage channels in the foundation to
prevent water erosion.

FURTHER INFORMATION
For more details about the work of the Association please contact:

Dry Stone Walling Association


Lane Farm, Crooklands,
®
Milnthorpe, Cumbria LA7 7NH
tel: 015395 67953
www.dswa.org.uk
Registered as a charity in England and Wales no. 289678

Ref: leaflets/retspec  DSWA Revised 2006 Reprinted 2008, 2012

The reprint of this leaflet was generously sponsored


by
DSWA Pennine Branch

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