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How to secure stones that threaten to fall on the house

 
yannick le page
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Hello !

Hope you're all doing well. I have a situation that has me worried for some time now. The back wall of the house is below ground level, and there is a ~50cm-1m gap between the wall and a dirt/big stones embankment.
I attach 2 pictures.
I'd like to secure the embankment, some stones are unstable and are bound to fall on the wall one day or another.
I've thought of two options on which I'd like to get some feedback:
- Cementing the embankment. But I cannot do it myself (shoulder issues), and I guess it is quite some work, thus expensive ?
- Filling up the gap with stone and gravel. Would that make any sense ? I'm a bit worried about humidity going in the wall, should I put a drain at the bottom ? And/or a water barrier between the wall and the gravel ?

If there are other options I'd love to hear from you too !
Many many thanks !
Yannick
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thomas rubino
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Hi Yannick;  Welcome to Permies!
I am far from an expert about this, but here are my observations and opinion.... for what they are worth!

From your pictures,it appears that currently all is well?  No water issues with the way it is?
I see your concern that some of those stones could roll into your wall and crack it.

If it were me , I would simply fill the gap with clean washed gravel.
Do you need a water barrier between the wall and clean gravel?  In my opinion, no you won't.
Rain should simply pass thru the gravel and soak in/run off the same as it is doing now.
Any of the large rocks, might start a slow creep , but will not be able to suddenly crash into the wall.


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Mike Haasl
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Are the stones holding back a bunch of dirt?  If there's pressure on them from soil, they might tip into the house.  If not, I'm guessing they'd stay put for a few more decades.  

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Marco Banks
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I'd tend to agree with Mike.  Unless you have a regular freeze/thaw cycle that pushes those large rocks downward, my hunch is that they'll stay put.  But if I was that concerned about them moving, then I'd pay someone to pick them up and haul them away from the house.  You might need an excavator that has a bucket with a thumb.  Or a giant.  Yeah . . . a giant would work, but you'd have to feed him.

"The rule of no realm is mine.  But all worthy things that are in peril as the world now stands, these are my care.  And for my part, I shall not wholly fail in my task if anything that passes through this night can still grow fairer or bear fruit and flower again in days to come.  For I too am a steward.  Did you not know?"    Gandolf

 
yannick le page
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Thanks a lot Thomas, Mike and Marco !

Some of those bigger stones are quite unstable, they move when I step on them. One fell years ago. They are holding quite some dirt, and there used to be big acacia trees there (invasive here in Portugal, I removed them), so the roots have gotten in the mix too.
Removing them would be great, not easy to get there with an excavator but I'll definitely explore that solution. I have a unicorn but unfortunately no giant.

Could another option be to put some reinforced concrete around the most unstable stones ? And leave the rest - more stable or with smaller stones - as is ?

Thank you !
Yannick

 
Mike Haasl
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What is the wall made of?  I'm a bit worried about putting anything against a wall.  Usually they're designed to not have things touching them.

Can you dig out the soil on the uphill side of the wiggly ones and let the rocks tilt back into your excavation and away from the building?

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yannick le page
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Thanks Mike yes I'll try your digging idea ! The wall is made of red hollow bricks, two layers thick, with a space between them. Total wall thickness is about 35cm.
Thank you !
Yannick
 
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yannick le page wrote:

Could another option be to put some reinforced concrete around the most unstable stones ? And leave the rest - more stable or with smaller stones - as is ?





I watched this video some time ago -- he uses steel and concrete to secure large boulders above his house.  This is a very extensive, and I would say expensive solution.  But he did it all himself, so I'm sure his cost wasn't so horrible.  But getting someone to do that kind of work would be very expensive.

m

"The rule of no realm is mine.  But all worthy things that are in peril as the world now stands, these are my care.  And for my part, I shall not wholly fail in my task if anything that passes through this night can still grow fairer or bear fruit and flower again in days to come.  For I too am a steward.  Did you not know?"    Gandolf

 
Anne Miller
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My suggestion would be something like a gabion wall.  You would not need to make a basket though.  Use something at each end to secure the wire, could be large posts.  Then stretch the wire from one post to the other.

These are using the basket though they will show you what I am suggesting:

In this one, it looks like they are using support posts every so often:





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Everyone learns what works by learning what doesn't work. Stephen Herrod Buhner

 
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