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New entrance and retaining wall built in terraces
This is how it looked.....
This is what the entrance and slope looked like before we started. Telephone poles that started to darken and plants that became ugly and overgrown. Heavy meat!
Planning and work
The old entrance ended at the stairs. The new entrance would be once from the driveway to the stairs and then end with a pleasant place where we could sit and take a break in the afternoon and evening. The material was Portuguese paving stone. A light gray paving stone that would be nice for the house and the upcoming graphite gray brick. Both small street stone and large street stone were used. We removed the old tiles and the flower bed after the stairs, widened the passage, dug out and measured with a laser. Lay out ground cloth and filled with macadam 2/5. Then the paving stone was laid in the classic pattern with arches. We kept the rebate around the stairs and around the house knot, and there we laid ground cloth and diabase 11/16. On the gable of the house on the south side there was also a flower bed which we removed and there we put down raw curbstone LV4 as curbstone, laid ground cloth and filled with diabase. Because we would have lighting in this flower bed and in the brick terraces, we pulled out an electric cable through the foundation of the house here, which we could then connect further on.
This is what the entrance looks like now
The result was a nice, inviting entrance, which we use as the idea was when we planned it. During the course of the project, we changed the entrance doors and that contributed to another nice eye-catcher. Now we move on to the next part of our project......
Thoughts and preparations regarding the retaining wall
The old slope was in very poor condition. We had previously replanted it with new plants and changed telephone poles. Now we didn't want to keep doing that anymore and decided to build a wall. Since our corner lot borders two streets which are also slopes, the wall must be made as a retaining wall. The wall will be 70 meters long and will be made in terraces so that the view is not obscured at the street crossing. The height from street level to the level of the lawn varies from 0-180 cm. In addition, the depth varies so the terraces will all be different depths and different lengths. The stone we chose is a very nice stone that comes from Heda and is called Garden Wall. We chose the color graphite. The stones are assembled with fiberglass rods and are hollow so it is a little easier to handle.
Gradually
Bricks and rock crusher were ordered and delivered. An excavator came and excavated the slope and swept away the masses. We measured out all the lines with a laser, put 40 cm of crushed rock in the bottom (below the ground surface) and padded. The first row of stone was then laid in the corner which is the lowest point. Row after row was built up with bricks and filled inside with crushed rock. A 30cm layer of crushed rock is like a wall" behind the bricks. We used support boards to be able to get the crushed stone in place behind the bricks, then a wall of ground cloth and then masses of soil. So we kept row by row and worked our way up. In each terrace a new layer of crushed rock was put in the bottom which was toddy and we also put plastic pipes in each terrace to be able to run electric cables through them for lighting. On parts of the wall there is reinforcing mesh to strengthen the wall. It was a lot to keep track of. ........Before the top section was done, the electrician came and connected the connection to the lighting out on the slope.After that, the last ledge on the wall could be built up.
Planting
Once the retaining wall with the terraces were done, it was time to plant plants, fill with diabase and connect lighting. Fix the lawn. We wanted some unusual plants in the planting. So here are, among other things, Monkey bread tree and Hibiscus on trunk
In the evening it looks like this. Only a small part of our project remains........
At the driveway
The area by the driveway has looked different over the years. It has been garden land.....and then it has been lawn with hedges and flower beds. Time to fix here too....... so the wall will continue here too to frame this area as well.
Finished......
We planted plants and installed lighting here as well. Removed an ugly built-in garbage cabinet from the garage and changed the garage door to an electric one. Mounted a led light strip on the gate. All lighting is connected to a clock in the electrical cabinet so it turns on and off automatically. Oh! Yes now our garden project is finished and we give all the praise and a big THANK YOU to our son who has helped us complete this project. He works as a stone setter and has drawn and constructed the ingenious solution for the terraces. The wall turned out so well and we are super satisfied! The retaining wall with the terraces has attracted the interest of many people during the time we have built it and there have been other villa owners looking at the bricks and taking photographs, so it certainly appeals to the eye and it has changed the whole character of the house. Just like the idea with it was!
