Timber Retaining Walls
Timber does most of the work in the Hutt Valley. A pole and rail wall goes up in a few days, costs less per metre than anything else, and holds a 1.2m step in level.
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Wainuiomata, Wellington region
Retaining Walls in Wainuiomata
Top Retaining Walls Lower Hutt builds retaining walls throughout Wainuiomata, which is a separate valley with its own conditions rather than another Lower Hutt suburb. You get here over the hill road, and the ground on the other side behaves differently to the Hutt Valley floor.
- Timber, block, gabion, stone and engineered walls
- Full drainage behind every wall we build
- Consents lodged through Hutt City Council
- Drainage on every wall300mm of metal, a drain coil and geotextile. Never an optional extra.
- H5 poles as standardThe right treatment for timber that lives in wet ground.
- Consents handledHutt City, Upper Hutt and Wellington, start to finish.
- Itemised quotesYou see what the drainage and the spoil actually cost.
A valley of its own
Wainuiomata sits in its own basin east of the main Hutt Valley, ringed by steep greywacke hills and backing onto the Remutaka Forest Park. The flat middle of the valley is alluvium and founds a wall well. The sections climbing the sides are a different job entirely.
A lot of properties here back onto bush, which changes what looks right. A hard manufactured block face against native regrowth looks wrong, which is why we build more gabion and timber here than anywhere else we work.
| Council for consents | Hutt City Council |
|---|---|
| Typical ground | Valley floor alluvium with steep greywacke sides |
| Walls we build most here | Timber pole and gabion |
| Consent threshold | 1.5m of retained ground, or any surcharge above the wall |
| Drainage | 300mm metal, perforated coil, geotextile, on every wall |
| Site visit | Free, with a written quote to follow |
Bush edge boundaries and the walls that suit them
Gabion baskets packed with greywacke sit comfortably against bush, and within a few seasons moss and small plants colonise the face so it reads as part of the slope. Crib walls with planted front cells do the same thing.
Both also drain completely, which matters on a valley that catches a lot of rain and where a lot of sections have a stream or a gully somewhere at the bottom of them.
Consents still go through Hutt City
Wainuiomata is part of Lower Hutt City, so building consents go to Hutt City Council even though it feels like a separate town. The threshold is the same as everywhere else in the district: over 1.5 metres in a non rural zone needs consent, over 3 metres in a rural zone.
Some of the larger properties out toward the coast road sit in rural zoning, which changes the threshold. Worth checking before you assume, and we will check it for you.
Not sure whether your wall needs a consent? Send us a photo and a rough height. Under 1.5m of retained ground with nothing loading it from above is exempt. A driveway, a building, a pool or fill sloping up behind it is a surcharge, and that changes the answer.
Common questions
Retaining walls in Wainuiomata: common questions
Do you travel over the hill to Wainuiomata?
Yes, regularly. It is a short run from the valley floor and well inside our normal work area.
What wall suits a bush edge boundary?
Gabion or a crib wall with planted front cells. Both drain completely and both green over within a couple of seasons so the wall stops looking like a structure.
Wall types
Retaining walls we build in Wainuiomata
Concrete and Block Retaining Walls
Concrete goes in wherever something heavy sits above the wall, and in a city built beside an active fault it is also what engineers reach for first. We build.
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Engineered Retaining Walls
Past 1.5m, or once a driveway or building sits above it, the job changes completely. You need a chartered engineer, a building consent from Hutt City Council and.
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Stone and Gabion Retaining Walls
Stone suits the Hutt hills, where a hard manufactured face can look wrong against bush and rock. The whole region is founded on greywacke, so local quarries put out.
See moreNeed a retaining wall in Wainuiomata?
Answer three quick questions or call [PHONE] and we will book a free site visit.