Gabions/ garden landscaping

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Have you used them in a project? Where did you source the materials from? If you have done it recently what was your rough cost per m3 I’ve read to reduce cost you can fill the centre with rubble and have facing stone on the outside.

I have as it goes although I suspect economies of scale may make my price info not that useful.

https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/23301559.3-5km-water-channels-teesworks-help-seah-factory-take-shape/

To achieve sound proofing you could face each side with stones and fill the centre up with earth as you go. I am a little unclear. Will you be retaining with them? You need to fill them well the weight of the ones above will make them settle and that's not to clever if they are 2m high and half a metre wide. You could do a one m base then a half metre top course leaving a step which you can plant up with whatever you fancy. Strawberries or sedums would be nice.

I like them but we would never normally use them if we didn't have to or at all if they are subject to flows. You should see the mess of some river walls I have seen.

That’s a bit bigger than our project!

Not retaining, free standing is the idea. Approx 3.5m long and ideally 2m high. Basically filling the gap where the garage door / facade used to be.

I’ve seen YouTube vids of people using scaffold poles concreted into the ground in the middle of the gambion to provide stability. Are you saying the could bend the cages and materials escape if too much weight above 1m?

Wife is quite keen on a wide cage on the bottom to provide a bench and then narrowor cages on top. I like the idea of planting climbers too, the frames would make instant trellis for them.

I’ve seen one design where someone has reused their old patio slabs cut up in to slices to give a kind of slate look, which could work too and save £££ on materials

I’m sure the curtain twitchers won’t like it as there is nothing else in the road like it, but it seems quite a practical solution. Got to be better than fencing

Also seen cool stuff like water features built in….could another route to combat traffic noise

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/7459155622102066/

I've gone slightly mad with them over the last couple of years, my house is on a steep plot with a falling down front wall retaining the lawn, and a falling down sleeper wall retaining the back garden.

I can't afford to pay a builder for my preferred option of brick walls, and although I could learn the art of bricklaying, I'm not sure a retaining wall is the place to learn as I'd hate to find I'd made a mistake and it start to crack/fall over!

I got my gabions from finemeshmetals gabionbaskets.co.uk and this is the first phase of my project (if you send in photos etc you get 10% off your next order)

My project:
https://www.gabionbaskets.co.uk/blog/item/kentish-ragstone-gabion-wall-with-gabion-steps-and-slab-tops

If you want it to look square and uniform and be able to deal with the odd person/postman walking along it, choose 4mm mesh.

1m square is huge and they need to angle back slightly so make sure you consider how much space they take up and how much soil you might need to excavate. You might be able to use 0.5x0.5 on the top 1 or 2 rows. I cut slot of mine down with an angle grinder where I could get away with even smaller ones.

In total I've got about 60 metres of 0.5m gabions, I had lots of hardcore but ended up going round and collecting more in my van from neighbours! I used Kent Ragstone, due to steep drive I had to pay quite a lot extra for bulk bags delivered by one of those moffet forklifts that sit on the back of lorries, loose tipper would be much cheaper. I had 10 bags of stone delivered and the gabions just have a single layer of rock facing over the rubble.

It's heavy work so I did the back garden in summer 21, front garden in winter 21-22, and I'm just using up the last 2 bulk bags and remaining gabions to level an area for a shed.

Edit: just noticed you literally want a wall rather than the more usual retaining method. Website above actually does a gabion fencing system I think.

Approx 3.5m long and ideally 2m high.

You could get Steve Bannon to help you fund raise.

Hedges and trees are good for noise abatement and look a bit more like the sort of thing you'd hope to encounter in a garden -  bit less Camp Bastion. 🙂

Once filled they are very heavy, so get them in position before filling.

Easy enough to do, but spend time getting the stone well placed so the finish looks nice but also remains solid and stable. The basket will remain in place but if the material settles you may end up with gaps which can be deformed easily.

Gabion helicoil closures are dead easy to use and look neater than wiring it closed yourself (and can generally be done with a cordless drill and screwdriver - insert screwdriver into drill bit so screwdriver handle is sticking out and that should fit the helicoil and you just squeeze trigger and the helicoil winds its way through the basket edges.

You can get different widths, if sound deadening, I'd go for the wider one, but that does mean more material to fill it.

I've used them to build bridge foundations with telegraph poles as the bridge spans. Intentionally left a bit of space on top so the poles would bend and settle in place (squashed down about 20mm but enough to keep the poles solidly in place).

Also used them to support the edge of a trail surface next to a stream.

I just meant you might get end up with a saggy wall. If it was me and I wanted gabions.

1m wide base they are normally sized on multiples of the mesh (at least they are when you are ordering them in quantities with three zeros on the endd. I would place facing stones and build a wall on each face. When you get a few hundred mm high I would then back fill with gravely sandy earth aka "any old shite you have lying around. Then continue up in the same manner. Finishing the top in gravel. Ready for half basket on top and a free draining shelf for placement of whatever you like.

The top row I would do the same but top off with topsoil and plant it with stuff that will trail.

The key thing is everything is absolutely rammed in. So it all plays nice. You could through spike too if you wanted but it's going to be a monster. Re bastion gabions... It could end up quite impressively chunky looking... Does the back look on someone else's garden? 2m seems excessive

I'm really liking the look of Spooky's effort in his garden. That looks seriously impressive.

That’s a great project, looks like some serious work!

Our house is a corner plot and the garage / drive we on the side elevation. So the wall will be about a car lengths back from the road. Not backing on to anyone’s house. Eventually we will have sliding gates on the drive so it would be completely contained.

As it is now there is basically nothing between the road and where our new patio will be, add in the fact the council have added a speed bump local council flat beds are using for a ski jump it’s much more noisey than we anticipated.

We can’t wait for natural vegetation, and tbh I have a massive leylandi hedge already which is a pain in the butt to maintain. Width wise the max we could go to is a metre, as after that either the drive will be too short for a car, or it will foul the bifold doors.

I have also got a drain cover I need to either bridge or avoid. Cover doesn’t need access as we put new ones either side, but I’m worried the weight may crush it, so I’m thinking that small section maybe fancy cedar cladding. The idea would definitely to soften it with planting, nieghtbours on my road complained to the council when someone fitted grey windows….

Thanks. I'm really happy with it, and out front I had positive comments from everyone that passed...I thought it might be a bit marmite as its not traditional fencing/brick/hedge but despite being different no one seems to have taken offence! Lifespan is 60 years but I guess thats structural rather than cosmetic, hopefully it won't be going rusty in 10! I don't think I've ever seen rusty gabions so fingers crossed!

@spookyb329 - I love the steps. Have been thinking about doing some like that. How do you hold the pavers in place on top?

I'm a gabion fan for sure.

We built a pool about 7 years ago. The embankment below our house had no retaining wall at that point other than stacks of logs. We got those removed by the excavator that dug the pool and realised that once the pool went in there was no way of accessing that point again.

Also, after weighing up the options for building walls this was by far the easiest DIY option and probably cheapest too.

It's a 15m long wall IIRC 1 x 0.5m cages. Really easy prep work just creating a flat surface with a bit of fall back into the bank. Then my wife worked along the base of the bank building the cages.

We got the stone delivered in one truck load around the front of the house and then just wheelbarrowed and dumped from above to fill them. Then backfilled using spoil from the pool digging. A couple of days work all in. I'd do it again in a flash... in fact we're thinking of doing a longer one around the back of the house when our place is rebuilt after getting smashed by a storm last year.

We're (reasonably) legally required to have a pool fence, so that obscures the view of them, but that's not the end of the world.

We've got creepers etc growing all over them now, but the cages are in great shape.

https://flic.kr/p/wvVuYV

https://flic.kr/p/xbi22g

https://flic.kr/p/yMa94k

https://flic.kr/p/A5FrAC

You can get instant hedges grown in trough bags and up to 1800mm. A friend grows them for developers that want hedges for their show homes.
Depending on species, with some irrigation you could probably continue to grow them in something like a cattle trough.

Gabions are ace at holding stuff back, doing them freestanding to that height is another thing Al together. We used them 2 tiers high stepping back to create a seat. You could do similar with a short willow screen or hedge on top.
You can use any old crap in them and finish with nice stone, but going straight up the bottom ones would need to be very carefully filled so they don’t sag. Would def need some poles within them as well. They look fab, love gabions.

Vegetation is all well and good but it's not THAT great as noise reduction, it might reduce it enough for you. You will also have to dig up the concrete... Have fun

@reeksy

They are just mortared on through the mesh, I used smaller cleaner hardcore to give the mortar something to stick to.

Made the same mistake as the first time when I did the sleepers...forgot that the first step was above the already paved final surface, so they were equal rises until I put the slabs on and now the first step is about 50mm higher. Thankfully you don't really notice as they are big steps anyway, but it's obvious if you look at the mesh holes (blind cat took several weeks of half falling off the bottom step though before he worked it out 😁)

By 'sag' do you mean the contents settling? So it leaves gaps at the top? I thought you meant the frame of the cage bending outwards

I've seen several examples of freestanding walls like here

So it looks doable, also seen companies that do specific fencing, however I'm not sure on whether they would be effective at combating road noise.

I'll post a picture of the site so you can see what I'm whittering on about

https://www.flickr.com/photos/44108154@N06/52842194380/in/dateposted/

See if that works, yellow line is a bit high, that light is approx 2.5m high. The wall will be right next to the patio, so without soemthing substantial there road noise is an issue. When the drive is reinstated the gates will be removed until we can afford to replace with sliding ones, as there is no space to close when a car is on the drive.

I also want it to look nice.

Like I said other option is something like a brick / block wall, or acoustic fencing. Or some sort of home grown fencing with rubber matting fill or possibly double glazing fill as I have loads of panels left over from the demolished conservatory

The original garage facade was built up to approx 3m high in brick, presumably to trap noise from heading into the garden

Hedging is not an option in this space. To close to drains, I would need to dig out tonnes of concrete and it won't be thick enough to provide decent sound proofing. Some of my hedge are 2m deep in the front and the road noise is reduced but not by much

Jesus that's going to be an absolute monster.

I take back everything. I really think you will regret something that chunky in the wee gap. As will any kind of dense vegetation.just whack a fence up or a low wall with you window panels along the top ...

I had some at our old place for making raised beds. Had a thin stone façade then backfilled with all the old bricks we had laying around. I remember there being plenty of German sites showing gabion wall kits.

However.. would it be easier to use sound fencing like placed near motorways then clad to your taste?

This:

Acoustic Fencing | Jacksons Fencing (jacksons-fencing.co.uk)

and then some planting to screen?

here are other supplies - key but is well built and free of gaps (inc allowance for movement/shrinkage) for reflective types as above/below:

Acoustic Fencing | Arnold Laver | Arnold Laver

used these guys products for screening a new waste facility and was good quality:

Noise Barriers | Charles Ransford & Son (ransfords.co.uk)

For noise, mass and lack of gaps is the key - have to laugh at the amount of acoustic fencing put up along roads to screen new housing that is full of gaps - along A329M near Wokingham is a brilliant example of a very poorly spec'd and built acoustic reflective barrier.

and yep - vegetation on its own is useless for actual noise mitigation, normally only provides some perceived benefit as some people find traffic noise less obvious if you can't see the source...

acoustic fencing seems really expensive for what it is / amount of noise reduction

fag packet estimates - for 8m2 ( 4x2)

block wall, rendered - £500 block, £150mats, £350 labour plus rendering £500 - £2500 - claimed up to 50db
brickwall - £1500 bricks, £150mats, £750 labour - £2400 - claimed up to 40db
gambions - £250 cages, £750 facestone + free rubble + free labour - £1000 claimed upto 60db
acoustic paneling £750 for 3 panels + £150 mats + free labour - £1000 claimed up to 25db (reality seems to be around 16bd)
home brew acoustic fence - £600 on 6 panels (sandwich) £250 on rubber mat + 150 mats + free labour - £850 - db reduction unknown

fencing would fit the street better and I suppose there would be space to planet it to make it nicer on the seating side.

If you use angular fill (not rounded beach pebbles) and plenty of wire cross ties (as per instructions) you should not have too much trouble with sagging. Mine don't seem to have settled.

However, having seen the photo I suspect they might be a bit overbearing in that location, and also filling them at height is going to be hardwork (scaffold?) and none of it is particularly child friendly to help you with, the gabions can trap fingers, the spring closing things can rip clothes and you definitely need proper full goggles for wiring.

A home brew acoustic fence with angled hit and miss style planking on the front might be the best option, also the noise is probably reflecting off various walls so it might not deflect as much sound as you expect.

I think I’m being swayed that it’s a bad idea, really like gabions though and wanted to use them as a bit of a theme for the garden

For home brew I’m looking at these m20 mats

Supposedly good for 48db. Seems easy enough to fix them to a fence and seal them up.

Begs the question, why aren’t acoustic fences built in this way, with a sandwich of runner, rather than interlocking timber which doesn’t offer as much soundproofing.

My glass panels I have aoparently are good for 30db but not sure how how to securely sandwich them in the fence,

We get quite a cross wind coming through so the fence weight / strength might be a concern. I’ll have to put some pretty thick uprights in.

I'd be going brick wall to match house, with arched gate and something like wisteria grown up it.

Begs the question, why aren’t acoustic fences built in this way, with a sandwich of runner, rather than interlocking timber which doesn’t offer as much soundproofing.

Generally proper acoustic fencing is either just reflective and for that it requires heavy and good quality construction. For these normally use steel I beams as uprights and the panels slot in and if required cover the exposed I beam. Given you have such a short run, seems ideal.

As they are good quality they last. even a basic 29dB reduction is very large given the log nature of dB.

you would want it to join to the that neighboring fencing etc.

Other type is absorptive, these combine a solid reflect face (on the side being protection) and then a permeable/perforated face on the other site and then insulation type materials in between - this is often the type seen on motorways when not looked after you can see the fluff sticking out/exposed. They look crap and often get attacked by vandals and squirrels etc. But they have a better mitigation, though suspect you are not adjacent to a motorway where this type of barrier is often used.

anyway apart from Jacksons etc, as above these chaps where very good. Noise Barriers | Charles Ransford & Son (ransfords.co.uk) used their single sided product to provide a barrier to one side of a waste facility. Used that as modelling indicated that the level of reduction was suitable, no point in going for more if not needed.

as for Jackons, easier to get hold of though building/fencing suppliers etc:

This might suit:

Jakoustic® Reflective Acoustic Fencing | Acoustic Barrier | Jacksons Security Fencing (jacksons-security.co.uk)

Thanks for the links, found a stockist of the jackson fence - £162 per linear metre (at 2m height) for a fencing 'kit'. Actually no where near as expensive as most I've found through google. That would make the 4m stretch £650 assuming the kit has everything I need. Now off to find if they do a matching pedestrian gate

A wall with wisteria would be lovely and more in keeping, but likely to be 3 times the price and the extension has taken all the budget.