Its a bit wrong

[Amrik]

Picture found at this link
http://images2.fotopic.net/?iid=y5....stamp=1

Hi guys, thanks again for a great site. These are my issues:

The house next to mine is built about 2 1/2 feet higher than mine. The trouble is the boundary needs to be sorted.

1. The attached pic shows the setup. Essentially the current divide is concrete blocks the size of breeze blocks laid on edge without mortar. They go up in five courses. I dont know what the foundation is, but suspect its nothing more than earth. At some point this has moved at the top of one end, but other wise has been okay.

What do you think of this?

2. The paving between my garage and the dividing wall is 75MM above DPC, my neighbors is almost 125mm, the bandit who did mine probably did both sides. I am going to have to dig down 225mm to sort this out. This means I have to sort out the dividing wall. I am looking to replace this with Sleepers laid lengthways and in brick bond. The 10" side of the sleeper being vertical and 6" side horizontal. Will I get away with laying these flat on bare earth? Will I need to sink retainers holding them back? Will the 6" effective depth be okay?

Any help and advice would be gratefully recieved.

[Tony McC]

2½ feet - 750mm - is helluva a lot to be supported by sleepers. If it were my job, and sleepers were the material of choice, then I'd be laying them upright, with one-third their depth or 450mm embedded in concrete below paving level. Judging from your excellent drawing, it seems that next door's is even more than 750mm above your paving level, which convinces me even more that flat-laid sleepers, on a simple concrete bed, would not have sufficient strength to support all that weight were it to move for whatever reason.

If you have your heart set on flat laid sleepers, then I'd suggest a concrete retainer wall behind them, or steel piling, as I'm not convinced that they would provide adequate retention unless firmly anchored at the base and tied together with steel brackets of some form.

[Amrik]

Tony,

Thanks for your help so far.

your advice works as cutting sleepers in half yields two usable sections 4'3" long. I have to measure up to see if this works. Please be aware that the drawings are not to scale. The new drawing shows, my neighbor dropping his height as well.

I have put together the following two drawings

http://images5.fotopic.net/?iid=y5....stamp=1
http://images1.fotopic.net/?iid=y5....stamp=1
http://images1.fotopic.net/?iid=y5....stamp=1

Some more questions

Should I have gravel either side of the slabs (I'm thinking of putting a shed in this area as we are on a corner plot and whilst the front is a 2.5' gap at the rear of the garage it is 11' so plenty of space. This shed will have a slab base and not timber as it will be a workshop and I need a stought floor for a pillar drill etc.
Should the paved area slope away from the house and if so what should the fall be?

Should I put 4-6 inches of concrete betweet the sleepers and the earth to make is super strong? Will I need drainage channels?

What do you reckon any other tips?

[Tony McC]

There's a very basic construction cross-section shown on the Sleepers page. Basically, one-third of the sleeper needs to be buried, with a minimum of 300mm (assuming the ground is firm).

I'm not sure what you're hoping to acheive with the gravel - is it intended to drain the flagged area into the gravel strips? If so, will the ground be capable of coping with all that surface water being directed to one 'slot'? Wouldn't it be better to drain the paving into a gully or linear channel?

Falls should be as for any 'normal' installation of concrete flags - around 1:60, and should be away from the property, unless, of course, you have a linear channel laid against the building.

[Amrik]

Thanks Tony, I'm going to go vertical on all and in 400mm of concrete.

As for the gravel I thought I needed it. The roof of the new shed will have a gutter running into existing soakaway for the garage, so I think the amount of water is small and can get away with the fall only and no gully.