Gabion wallls

[Paddy]

Anyone build a Gabion wall? They are wire baskets, generally made rectangular of galv 3" by 3" 12 ga. Fill with stone. The high way dept makes some real basic retaining walls, but by filling with nice stone, can be very artsy.

Patrick T

 

[dodge man]

I've seen them around, they used to be pretty popular, but it seems like in Illinois they have fallen out of favor with the highway department, but I don't know why. I agree, with some nice clean rock, they could look pretty good.

 

[RedNeckRacin]

I wonder what kind of longevity they have though? Maybe price wise, its cheaper to place the concrete omega blocks? They interlock and seem pretty solid? I have really not seem them used much lately though either.

 

[Paddy]

What I'm looking at is more decorative. I have seen some really nice examples. One that I saw on line was mainly filled with what we call rip rap, white limestone. With waves of tan sandstone. The middle of the basket can be filled with any kind of stone, maybe be a way to rid yourself of scrap concrete?

A few weeks back while driving the county roads a saw a privacy fence made Gabion. It was about 5' tall, 8" wide and about 8' long. They had 4x4 posts for ends and capped with 2x8. The rock was grapefruit sized river rock of an assortment of colors. Very nice.

On another site I saw low retaining walls used to terace a hillside. They capped the walls with flat. smooth limestone.

We live in Limestone country where rip rap cost less than $300 for 20 tons. I'm sure labor intensive.

Patrick t

 

[Dr_Zinj]

The kicker is what kind of wire they are made out of. If it corrodes, you're going to have an unsafe condition at sometime in the future (if you stack the baskets in courses). Similar safety issue if the get run into and the mesh gets damaged.

 

[MikeFarm]

Hiya

I looked into Gabions a while ago. The wire can be ordered at variuos thicknesses and is galvanised. They come in styles from basic to very decorative. The thicker gal wires are designed to last for several decades. Here is a good page on lifespan: Gabion Life Expectancy and another good link here: http://www.maccaferri.com.au/wawcs0137319/idDetails=166/Products-Gabions

I was looking into it as was considering a house made with decorative gabions in a steel framework. identical to building a straw bale with wood frame house but using gabions and steel instead.

Mike

 

[vtsnowedin]

Labor intensive is the key. To look nice and stay in place the stone on the front face needs to be hand placed like building a stone wall. With the right sized galvy wire they last decades but precast concrete block walls go up much faster and can be had with rubble stone faceing cast into them for apperance.

 

[Spin88]

Anyone build a Gabion wall? They are wire baskets, generally made rectangular of galv 3" by 3" 12 ga. Fill with stone. The high way dept makes some real basic retaining walls, but by filling with nice stone, can be very artsy.

Patrick T

Sorry it took me 5 years to see this post but you should know..... Gabion baskets, walls and planters are the way to go. They are very practical for retaining walls, detours, planters, design and scaping. I live in the southwest so rock is not a problem and most of us that live out here are killing two birds with one stone as there's always rock to pick up on your property. I built one wall using hog panels and working on another using concrete mesh. No failure, good drainage, solid and handsome. I would never by the pre-kits because they'll never be as cheap as what you can do yourself.

I'm building a small chile field 40' x 80' and the narrow end is down hill. The Gabion is doing well to hold the slope.

I hope this helps. I'll send photos of project later.

LS XR3135H

 

[RedNeckRacin]

I have recently seen a preformed plastic product that would be much lighter to tote around and install. look up cellular confinement and see what pops up.

This came up after a quick search and may be more "natural looking".

Green Slopes & Walls with Geocells

 

[oosik]

I have a rock gabion for one of my property corners. And maybe later the system will even allow me to upload a picture of it.