Remedial Work 6 Pendeen Crescent

I received a call from the landowner at nr 6 Pendeen Crescent, Plettenberg Bay South Africa, to arrange for inspection of a failed retaining wall.

On arrival I could clearly see that no compaction was done behind this retaining wall. The filled area being 2.1 m deep and on average 2m wide.

The block which have been used is the Sholin patented block which are being manufactured in Knysna, South Africa.

Verdict: No defects to any of the blocks. The bottom 5 rows were still intact in the original position. The wall failed due to bad workmanship by the contractor as no compaction was done behind the retaining wall.

Remedy: We packed off 6 rows of blocks and excavated 1.5 m from the embankment behind the retaining wall. We reinstated the wall and compacted in layers of 160 mm by means of rammer             ( WACKER ). We imported 6 cubic meters of topsoil to back fill into blocks for future planting purposes. No additional filling needed to be imported as the material on site was of good quality and suitable for back filling.