Retaining Wall and Deck- Part1

It's been a crazy few months, settling in, decorating different rooms, shopping, planning the landscaping and starting on the retaining wall and deck. So needless to say, I've been very slack updating the blog.


The side yard coming off the alfresco area has been an ongoing nightmare throughout the build up until now. A very long story cut short is... there's an easement down the entire left side of our block so the house was positioned closer the right side as you can't build over the easement. We figured we would have a nice big area of yard coming off the side of the alfresco area. But then when the cut and fill was done, the house was built up fairly high and a huge amount of fill was left around the side of the house which then suddenly sloped down to the easement-- effectively leaving us with a sloping side yard, not the level yard we'd imagined. Definitely not the best option for young kids.

We spent months (yes, months) trying to figure out how we could improve the side area and looking into various options (fill in the area, retain the upper area, excavate the dirt, extend the fence, etc) and trying to find out info from council, certifiers, landscapers, structural engineers, excavators. Talk about frustrating! Just about every person I spoke to said something different, didn't know if we could do what we wanted to do, or just didn't care and passed us on to someone else! To make it more complicated, there's an existing retaining wall and fence along the boundary which meant we couldn't extend the wall higher and couldn't build another wall too close to it.

The private certifier was so difficult to deal with. He refused to give us the final occupation certificate due to the unretained dirt over the easement and lack of steps off the alfresco and from the front patio. After ringing him several times, emailing, leaving messages for him to call me back I became so annoyed when I got no response! How were we meant to find out what we needed to do and what our options were unless he spoke to me? In the end, my husband rang and left him a not-very-nice voicemail and wouldn't you know it? He rang him straight back (still not me though)! Grrr! He basically said just slope the dirt down properly as a temporary measure to get the certificate and then do whatever we like. But that would mean a lot of money, time and effort only to have to redo it all again in the way we wanted for the long term.

Aren't you glad I told you the short version? Lol!

Excavation

Anyway, we finally decided to excavate and remove 3 truck loads of dirt from next to the alfresco and build a block retaining wall. Then there will be a 1.5m wide deck coming off the alfresco area (running the entire length of the alfresco) with steps going down to the lower level. The lower level will have a tall (eventually) hedge along the fence for privacy and to block out the terrible white roof next door (nearly blinds you in the afternoon sun) and a grass area with a cubby house down one end.

The lower level is now flat and a much better play area for the kids after excavation.

 5 pallets of blocks were delivered

Looking towards the front of the house

 Retaining wall complete and the framework for the decking is up. Looking towards the back yard.

 The alfresco will now be even bigger with the extra space from the deck

 View from the lower level.

The deck will wrap around the back of the house too.

The merbau deck will also wrap around to the back of the house off the garden room where we will have a courtyard/sitting area. We will have space for a bbq area with decorative screens and some lovely big pots. There will be a timber railing with stainless steel balustrade all around the deck because it sits up high from the lower level and hopefully some nice lighting in the steps.

It's going to be such a huge deck area, I just can't wait to see the finished product!

Inspiration shot:

This is the look we want to create at the back of the house off the garden room with decorative screens, pots and bench seating...a private little oasis to relax.