Retaining Walls in Bradwell

Bradwell mixes an older village core with homes built as Milton Keynes grew around it, so gardens vary a great deal. Some slope gently from the house to the back fence, others step up sharply, and many were finished with a grassy bank that is hard to mow and harder to use. A garden retaining wall lets you cut that bank back and gain a flat area for a lawn, a patio or a shed base.

We often find gardens here where an earlier attempt has started to fail. Timber edging boards bowing outwards, sleepers that were simply laid on the soil with nothing holding them, or a low block wall without any drainage are all common. Once the ground behind gets wet and heavy, walls like these move.

A wall that lasts is mostly about what you cannot see. It needs a concrete footing set into firm ground and sized to the height being held. It needs weep holes or a perforated drain at the base so water escapes. It also needs a band of clean, free-draining stone behind it rather than the dug-out soil. On heavier ground, which is common in this part of Milton Keynes, that drainage layer makes the biggest difference to how long the wall stays upright.

If you already have a wall, warning signs include a lean towards the lower level, cracks that open wider at the top, a soft or sinking strip of ground just in front, or water weeping out through the joints after rain.

Many Bradwell plots also have a shed, summerhouse or oil tank standing close to the top of a bank. Anything heavy near the edge adds to the load the wall must carry, so we note what will sit above the new wall and allow for it in the footing and thickness, or suggest moving it back a little if that is simpler.