ᐅ Support boundary wall from own property side

Hello everyone,

For the house construction, we had to excavate quite a bit of the land to reach the required height. As a result, we are now about 80 cm (31 inches) higher than the neighboring plot. There is already a wall with a fence at the boundary with the neighbor. However, the wall was not founded deeply enough, so the excavation exposed the foundation. Over time, the wall will therefore not remain stable.

Accordingly, we either have to demolish and rebuild it or support it from our side. My first thought was to support it with L-shaped retaining blocks. However, our landscaping contractor advised against this because the “L” would face our house, meaning the unattractive side of the L-shaped block would be visible. He also said that on the side the “L” faces, there are usually reinforcements and similar elements, which would not look good.

Now my question: Are there L-shaped retaining blocks that look “nice” on both sides? Or would you agree with the opinion of our landscaping contractor?

Best regards

Are you familiar with how an L-shaped retaining wall block works? The side with the short leg always needs to face the load-bearing side.
So what is the point of having that side face towards you?

And what is the required height?

The basic principle is known, but since there is a wall, we cannot orient the L-side towards the neighbor. The L-blocks would need a height of 80 to a maximum of 100 cm (31 to 39 inches). I thought that if they were set in concrete, they would provide enough support to hold up the wall.

Hello,

so yes, your landscaping contractor is basically right. A standard L-shaped retaining wall block always has a “back side” that is not very attractive; this is the formwork side, which may show reinforcement, anchor holes, or a rough texture. Structurally, this side has to resist the earth pressure, so you can’t just turn the L-block around to make it look nicer.

However, there are so-called angle retaining wall elements with exposed concrete finish on both sides or even textured surfaces on both faces. These are designed specifically for situations where both sides will be visible. They are more expensive than standard L-blocks but much more visually appealing. It’s best to ask your concrete plant or building materials supplier about “double-sided visible angle retaining blocks.” They’re also available with natural stone finish if you want a more elegant look.

If you need to replace the wall anyway, that would probably be the cleanest long-term solution. Simply installing L-blocks the wrong way around might work somehow, but it’s neither technically correct nor particularly attractive.

Best regards

Thank you – when I search for "double-sided visible retaining walls," it also shows L-shaped blocks, which I understand have exposed concrete on both sides. I’ll ask the building materials supplier about it tomorrow.

Does that mean it wouldn’t be a neat solution and that the same would apply to the retaining walls?

Tearing down the wall would be the best solution, but with the demolition and reinstalling the fence, that would cost 4,000 euros more than just installing L-shaped blocks or retaining walls.

tomtom79 schrieb:
Is the function of an L-shaped concrete block known? The side with the short leg must always face the load-bearing side. What would be the point of having it face toward you? And which prescribed height?

That is not correct. Of course, there are L-angles where the short leg faces the other way, away from the load. We are also building lower than the neighbor and had to support the structure because he didn’t want anything protruding onto his land. For that reason, we needed special L-angles where the short leg faces us.

BoPaDi24 schrieb:
However, our landscaping contractor advised against it because the L would face our house, so that the unattractive side of the L-block would always be visible. He said that the reinforcing bars, etc., are always on the side the L faces, so it wouldn’t look good at all.

That is not true; there are versions with the short leg facing you that still look better, with no visible reinforcement—keyword: “visible side inward.” Just search for L-angles or support angles with visible side inward. We used the ones from Ehl.