Hello everyone, this is my first topic here:
We are planning to start building our house this year with a general contractor. The position of the building on the plot is fixed, and we are currently waiting for the building permit / planning permission.
Our plot is approximately 20m by 41m (66 feet by 135 feet) in size, located in a gap between buildings. The shorter side faces the street. The land slopes downward by 3m (10 feet) over the 41m (135 feet) length towards the back, with the steepest slope in the middle of the plot. The neighbors on the left and right have filled their land, which can be seen clearly by the height of the neighbor’s wall on the left side of the photo. The neighbor to the left has built a basement into the slope, the neighbor to the right has not.
According to the soil report, about 50cm (20 inches) of topsoil needs to be removed. Beneath that, the soil is stable. Frost protection material will be used to fill up to the average street level, so that the finished floor level will be about 20cm (8 inches) above the street. Due to the slope in the middle part, the backfill behind the house will be approximately 1.8m (6 feet) above the current ground level. According to the soil report, the fill should be either sloped back at a 45° angle or retained with a retaining wall.
In the rear area of the plot, we want to create vegetable beds and a wildflower meadow. We already established and harvested a small potato patch last year to pass the waiting time.
What do you think would be the most sensible and cost-effective solution in this situation?
I am looking forward to your suggestions and ideas!
We are planning to start building our house this year with a general contractor. The position of the building on the plot is fixed, and we are currently waiting for the building permit / planning permission.
Our plot is approximately 20m by 41m (66 feet by 135 feet) in size, located in a gap between buildings. The shorter side faces the street. The land slopes downward by 3m (10 feet) over the 41m (135 feet) length towards the back, with the steepest slope in the middle of the plot. The neighbors on the left and right have filled their land, which can be seen clearly by the height of the neighbor’s wall on the left side of the photo. The neighbor to the left has built a basement into the slope, the neighbor to the right has not.
According to the soil report, about 50cm (20 inches) of topsoil needs to be removed. Beneath that, the soil is stable. Frost protection material will be used to fill up to the average street level, so that the finished floor level will be about 20cm (8 inches) above the street. Due to the slope in the middle part, the backfill behind the house will be approximately 1.8m (6 feet) above the current ground level. According to the soil report, the fill should be either sloped back at a 45° angle or retained with a retaining wall.
In the rear area of the plot, we want to create vegetable beds and a wildflower meadow. We already established and harvested a small potato patch last year to pass the waiting time.
What do you think would be the most sensible and cost-effective solution in this situation?
- Slope everything back, add stairs and a natural stone wall later
- Build stairs and a wall directly on the right side, slope back the rest
- If building a wall: formwork blocks would be much cheaper than L-shaped blocks; regarding the earth pressure, a structural engineer would probably need to be consulted.
I am looking forward to your suggestions and ideas!
H
hanghaus20237 Feb 2023 17:03@Eifelbau2023 does the street have no curb? The street is not supposed to drain onto your property. The neighbor definitely should not either.
Setting aside the costs, it doesn’t hurt if the house is slightly elevated above street level.
Plan a way to access the garden with a trailer. At some point, there will be large amounts of hedge clippings and similar waste. Heavy items will need to be transported regularly.
I would suggest leaving about 1 meter (3 feet) of space at the terrace, then retaining the 2 meters (6.5 feet) difference (top edge of floor level at 479 - natural ground level around 477). Instead of one continuous wall, build it in three steps that can be planted. This looks better, and smaller walls or retaining blocks are easier to handle. Then, at around 466.5, put a small wall and then gradually level out, since there is not much slope left there.
Plan a way to access the garden with a trailer. At some point, there will be large amounts of hedge clippings and similar waste. Heavy items will need to be transported regularly.
I would suggest leaving about 1 meter (3 feet) of space at the terrace, then retaining the 2 meters (6.5 feet) difference (top edge of floor level at 479 - natural ground level around 477). Instead of one continuous wall, build it in three steps that can be planted. This looks better, and smaller walls or retaining blocks are easier to handle. Then, at around 466.5, put a small wall and then gradually level out, since there is not much slope left there.
S
Sunshine3877 Feb 2023 17:18You can also position the house 6m (20 feet) away from the street and create a path leading up to the house. This path can manage an elevation difference of 1.2m (4 feet) or more.
H
hanghaus20237 Feb 2023 17:24I’m repeating my question.
How much does it cost you to deliver and install one cubic meter of load-bearing fill material?
You will need about 500 m³ (650 cubic yards) for your design. That equals 50 truckloads.
180 m³ (235 cubic yards) less if you plan at street level.
For the house set deeper, only the soil replacement (max. 100 m³ / 130 cubic yards).
Now you can calculate for yourself whether it’s better to create a channel at the street level, if there is no curb.
The street itself has a longitudinal slope.
Sandbags are useless because the planning was wrong. You can see it in the photos. It makes my hair stand on end when I see the flattened plots.
How much does it cost you to deliver and install one cubic meter of load-bearing fill material?
You will need about 500 m³ (650 cubic yards) for your design. That equals 50 truckloads.
180 m³ (235 cubic yards) less if you plan at street level.
For the house set deeper, only the soil replacement (max. 100 m³ / 130 cubic yards).
Now you can calculate for yourself whether it’s better to create a channel at the street level, if there is no curb.
The street itself has a longitudinal slope.
Sandbags are useless because the planning was wrong. You can see it in the photos. It makes my hair stand on end when I see the flattened plots.
H
hanghaus20237 Feb 2023 17:31Sunshine387 schrieb:
You can also position the house 6m (20 feet) away from the street and create a path leading up to the house. It can handle an elevation difference of 1.2m (4 feet) or more. The building permit / planning permission application has been submitted. In my opinion, there are hardly any reasonable changes to the floor plan left. But changes are absolutely necessary. The height was at least not specified in that section drawing.
E
Eifelbau20237 Feb 2023 17:44haydee schrieb:
I would have built more with the slope as well. The original poster decided against it.
Since a lot will be done by personal effort and with a somewhat more skillful layout than the proposal, it can become really nice and even affordable.
By the way, the plot is completely flat compared to our property.I think we will limit ourselves to gravel fill and rough shaping for now; adding natural stones on slopes or slight terrain changes might still be possible later with a mini excavator. At the edge outside the property, there is a 3m (10 feet) green strip that can only be used as a meadow—I need to check whether it would be allowed to use it later as a mini excavator access path.
hanghaus2023 schrieb:
@Eifelbau2023 doesn’t the road have a curb? The road shouldn’t drain onto your property. The neighbor definitely shouldn’t either.The road (still) has no curb; whether one will be added, I don’t know—1 or 2 lots are still available 😀
hanghaus2023 schrieb:
I’ll repeat my question.
How much does it cost you per cubic meter to deliver and install load-bearing fill material?
You need about 500 m³ (650 cubic yards) with your design. That’s 50 truckloads.
180 m³ (235 cubic yards) less if you build at road level.
For the lowered house, only soil replacement (max. 100 m³ (130 cubic yards)).
You can calculate yourself whether it’s better to build a drainage channel at the road if there is no curb.
The road itself has a longitudinal slope.
Sandbags are nonsense—that was planned wrong. You can see it in the photos. It makes my hair stand on end when I see the leveled plots.The frost protection gravel is coming at a friendly price; I don’t have the exact figure yet but am expecting €20 per ton (including delivery). I would have calculated 700 tons (about 770 US tons) for my design, but that is probably too much.
I definitely wanted to avoid sandbags. The savings from 180 m³ (235 cubic yards) less would obviously be nice, but the drainage channel at the road would have to be quite pronounced. Unfortunately, a lot of water really came down.
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