I will put a vote in for Railway sleepers over concrete bricks. Concrete bricks don't look good even with plants in them and they are not kid friendly. Since you mentioned having kids over, wooden sleepers are much more kid friendly.
The drain will become a problem if you start leveling the garden. If it were my garden I would leave the slope where the first fence panel is, then level the remaining bit past the drain pipe where the last 2 fence panels are. It would require the fence to be rebuilt. To me it looks like a rushed job to save on removing one skip of soil from each property anyway... but that would then ultimately be your cost + rebuilding the fence which would then need to be straightened. Its just been whacked into the ground by the looks of things anyway, again, cheaper than making it last.
But I think the best option is to just level a patio area at the end of the garden and pave it so your garden furniture will be straight, then leave the rest sloping as is. That would be most practical and easiest and still look good.
Oh WoW..that looks so cool..Thank you so much for putting in your time into this. I so want the split levels even more now. Just concerned about building the retaining wall in the middle and the costing of it..
I will put a vote in for Railway sleepers over concrete bricks. Concrete bricks don't look good even with plants in them and they are not kid friendly. Since you mentioned having kids over, wooden sleepers are much more kid friendly.
The drain will become a problem if you start leveling the garden. If it were my garden I would leave the slope where the first fence panel is, then level the remaining bit past the drain pipe where the last 2 fence panels are. It would require the fence to be rebuilt. To me it looks like a rushed job to save on removing one skip of soil from each property anyway... but that would then ultimately be your cost + rebuilding the fence which would then need to be straightened. Its just been whacked into the ground by the looks of things anyway, again, cheaper than making it last.
But I think the best option is to just level a patio area at the end of the garden and pave it so your garden furniture will be straight, then leave the rest sloping as is. That would be most practical and easiest and still look good.
Thanks for your suggestions. Yes I'm not planning to mess with the drain pipe and anything I'll do either 2nd level or just levelled area will be the back of the garden.
How deep is the foundation for the brick wall, especially at the points where you will be digging out next to it?
What will you do against the dividing fence to retain the soil without risking rotting the fence?
How deep is the drain and where do the pipes run?
The brick wall runs down to the patio level. Not sure about how deep the drain is but therr are 2 more square and 1 round man hole in the patio area.
Unless the otherside of the wall is patio level along its whole length it's likely that the foundations will step up to follow the slope.
I'd lift the manhole cover and check. It's an odd place for a manhole. You might (should) have a drainage plan in your purchase details though so maybe check there too?
The brick wall is patio level all along the length and there is car parking on the other side of the wall. Ok I'll check the paperwork first to find more details about the manhole. So annoying to have it there in the garden!!
Have a dig at the base of the wall, I suspect the brick will stop at the soil level and it will be concrete blockwork below. The blockwork should step out quite a bit as well to make the wall thicker. If you level out from the existing sleepers you may end up with exposed blockwork rather than brick.
Ok I'll dig over the weekend and check how far down the brick wall goes..Thanks
We converted our sloped garden into two terraces and love it. We have a trampoline and a shed on the second terrace. Definitely couldn't have put the trampoline on a slope! Mine has a brick wall retaining the bottom terrace and the builder put drainage holes in the wall. Just fyi I never see water coming out of them so not sure how necessary they are lol
We converted our sloped garden into two terraces and love it. We have a trampoline and a shed on the second terrace. Definitely couldn't have put the trampoline on a slope! Mine has a brick wall retaining the bottom terrace and the builder put drainage holes in the wall. Just fyi I never see water coming out of them so not sure how necessary they are lol
@Safflower Would you mind sharing a picture of your garden showing the two terraces? Did you create the 2nd terrace yourself or got it done from a landscaper?
We converted our sloped garden into two terraces and love it. We have a trampoline and a shed on the second terrace. Definitely couldn't have put the trampoline on a slope! Mine has a brick wall retaining the bottom terrace and the builder put drainage holes in the wall. Just fyi I never see water coming out of them so not sure how necessary they are lol
@Safflower Would you mind sharing a picture of your garden showing the two terraces? Did you create the 2nd terrace yourself or got it done from a landscaper?
Sure. A landscaper did it about 12 years ago. Please ignore the state of my garden! It's a work in progress right now Lol I have to say we do love the "sunken" patio that the terrace gives us. So does our cat as you can see haha
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The drain will become a problem if you start leveling the garden. If it were my garden I would leave the slope where the first fence panel is, then level the remaining bit past the drain pipe where the last 2 fence panels are. It would require the fence to be rebuilt. To me it looks like a rushed job to save on removing one skip of soil from each property anyway... but that would then ultimately be your cost + rebuilding the fence which would then need to be straightened. Its just been whacked into the ground by the looks of things anyway, again, cheaper than making it last.
But I think the best option is to just level a patio area at the end of the garden and pave it so your garden furniture will be straight, then leave the rest sloping as is. That would be most practical and easiest and still look good.