digger242j
Administrator
Second pic is from a lower angle. I've annotated to show an area where we put compacted fill in the driveway. That was the natural watercourse. The driveway is bordered on the high side by a solid retaining wall, about 5' high. It's constructed of concrete filled 12" Ivany block, and faced with brick that matches the house. (Is everyone familiar with Ivany Block, also called H Block?)
At the front of the house, you'll notice a circular area that stands out from the rest of the driveway. It's about 40' in diameter and paved with flagstone. The retaining wall borders it.
The paving contractor brought in a track loader and dug that area. The maximum cut was about 5', but that gray "slip plane" was right at the bottom of the cut. This was done on Friday. On Monday morning, when everyone came back to work, the whole hillside had migrated about 4' toward the house. :Banghead Climbing the hill afterwards, we found cracks that had obviously existed before construction began--they had weeds growing in them. They're at the top edge of the clear area above the wall.
I had to dig the whole slide area away, and install a curtain drain at its upper edge. That was a fabric envelope, filled with gravel, and a perforated pipe at the bottom, going to an existing connection to the neighborhood storm sewer system. The dirt was re-placed, and roller compacted. At its deepest, the curtain drain is about 10'.
(Sorry, resizing the pic makes it hard to read the notation about the slide, but it's in red. The arrow shows the movement.)
At the front of the house, you'll notice a circular area that stands out from the rest of the driveway. It's about 40' in diameter and paved with flagstone. The retaining wall borders it.
The paving contractor brought in a track loader and dug that area. The maximum cut was about 5', but that gray "slip plane" was right at the bottom of the cut. This was done on Friday. On Monday morning, when everyone came back to work, the whole hillside had migrated about 4' toward the house. :Banghead Climbing the hill afterwards, we found cracks that had obviously existed before construction began--they had weeds growing in them. They're at the top edge of the clear area above the wall.
I had to dig the whole slide area away, and install a curtain drain at its upper edge. That was a fabric envelope, filled with gravel, and a perforated pipe at the bottom, going to an existing connection to the neighborhood storm sewer system. The dirt was re-placed, and roller compacted. At its deepest, the curtain drain is about 10'.
(Sorry, resizing the pic makes it hard to read the notation about the slide, but it's in red. The arrow shows the movement.)
there's a whole lot of $$$ gone into the side of that hill. We humans tend to think geometrically and go for "solid". Why don't we just put the house on some skids and let it slide....."let it slide"...sounds like a line from one of Jeff's songs....or was that the Country Bears??..anyway...I digress....I'd have gone for pole construction
