The Brew Cabin

Posted: **Sat Apr 19, 2014 9:48 pm**

I've been lifting some old, badly laid slabs as part of my patio/garden renovation project, and I've found that within a few inches of the conservatory is the remains of a single course retaining wall. The top of the wall is about a brick & a bit below the DPC on the conservatory - Poor pic:

The original slabs were laid dry on top of this.

My worry is down to the proximity of this wall to the conservatory, would pulling it out hurt the footings of the conservatory? I'm sure the wall pre-dates the conservatory.

The other lesser, yet significant issue is I have plant (mini excavator) until monday, which will speed the destruction (one way or another), but the skip I've got is full, so tearing a 4m dwarf retainer out is going to leave me a with a big pile of rubble and nowhere to put it.

I'm laying India sandstone, so if I were to leave the wall in situ, allowing for a bed of mortar, it would probably finish about half a brick below DPC - I think that might be a bit close!

Thoughts and opinions please?

Posted: **Sun Apr 20, 2014 5:04 pm**

Whilst its a head ache you know the right thing to do. Get a course off the wall and have the job done right.

Half a brick below dpc is far too close.

The digger will cause all hell and you may damage your bricks if your not very careful. I would use a kango.

If you can get a course off and then go along parallel to the house it will seperate easily.

Posted: **Mon Apr 21, 2014 10:07 am**

personally i have it out. finish height of the patio needs 150mm below DPC.

Posted: **Sat Apr 26, 2014 7:16 am**

Thanks for the advise, as it turned out the bricks weren't stuck down too well and a light tap with the hammer was all they needed to loosen. The foundation concrete is still there, which may cause issues as the patio level looks to be lower than the lawn its supposed to drain onto so I might have to put a linear drain in next to the wall..

Posted: **Wed Apr 30, 2014 9:20 pm**

you can still slope the patio away from the house/conservatory, then just have a small step up to, to my recollection a flag on egde will retain 300mm. I'll see if I can di out the photo of my personal patio.

Posted: **Wed Apr 30, 2014 9:24 pm**

see this thread which is the epic and long winded story of my patio and drainage.

The Brew Cabin

Old retaining wall, remove or not? - Within inches of conservatory