Top Retaining Walls Lower Hutt builds timber sleeper retaining walls across Lower Hutt for the jobs where the wall is part of the garden rather than a structural rescue. Sleepers give you a flat square face and clean horizontal lines, which is why they work so well around raised beds, lawn edges and low terraces.
H5 posts go in at 1.2m to 1.5m centres, then heavy H4 sleepers drop down between or behind them. The sleepers stack rather than fixing individually, so the wall builds up quickly and the face stays flat because every sleeper is milled square.
Most sleeper walls we build sit between 400mm and 900mm. Past about a metre the sleepers start bowing between posts unless we tighten the spacing, and at that point pole and rail or block is the better spend.
| Sleepers | Heavy H4 treated pine, milled square |
|---|---|
| Posts | H5 treated, 1.2m to 1.5m centres |
| Typical height | 400mm to 900mm |
| Drainage | Geotextile lining, metal layer and drain coil at the base |
| Finish | Natural timber, stain optional once it dries out |
| Build time | Often one day on a short garden run |
Epuni, Naenae and Taita went up largely as state housing from the 1940s, on flat sections with generous back yards that have since been terraced, decked and subdivided. The walls those changes need are short, visible from the kitchen window, and sit a few metres from the house. A square sleeper face looks tidier in that setting than round poles with rough sawn rails.
On a long boundary run, pole and rail still wins on cost per metre and we will say so.
Wet soil in a garden bed pushes just as hard as wet soil on a bank, and it rots the back of the sleepers if it sits against them. We line the back with geotextile, run a metal layer down the face and put a coil in at the base.
If you plan to grow food in the bed, mention it when we quote. Some owners want the inside face lined so soil never touches treated timber, and that is easy to build in from the start.
Every wall we build gets drainage. At least 300mm of clean free draining metal, a perforated coil at the base running to a real outlet, and geotextile over the top so silt cannot block it. It is not an optional line on our quotes.
We build them to about a metre. Higher than that the sleepers flex between posts, so we either tighten the spacing or move you to pole and rail or block.
Plenty of people do. If you would rather the soil never touched treated timber, we can line the inside face during the build. Ask at the quote stage.
Yes. A 600mm wall holds a surprising weight of wet soil, and trapped water is what rots the back of the timber. Every wall we build gets drainage, whatever the height.
Our old wall was rotten right through and leaning into the neighbour's place. They pulled the lot out, put proper drainage behind the new one and had it finished in three days. Swept the site clean every afternoon before they left too. Tidiest crew we have ever had here by a long way.
They sorted the consent, which was the bit I was dreading. Dealt with the council so I never had to, and kept me in the loop the whole way through. The driveway sits right above it and has not shifted a millimetre.
Steep section, shocking access, and they still made it look easy. They suggested two smaller walls instead of one big one, which saved us thousands in engineering fees. The terrace in between is now my favourite part of the whole garden.
Call [PHONE] or answer three quick questions. The site visit and the written quote cost you nothing.
