Retaining Wall Ideas: How to Build a Gabion Wall - DIY Friendly

If you're stuck on how to build a retaining wall or you're looking for retaining wall ideas that are both low cost and DIY friendly then I'd highly recommend you consider building a gabion wall or series of gabion walls.

Gabion cages, sometimes called gabion baskets are so easy to put together - especially when you buy pre-made gabion kits that include all the materials you need and then you just add the stone or rock fill once you've put them together to make a retaining wall or seat. 

 

Here's my tips on how to build a gabion wall, that doubles as a seat across our back lawn and low retaining wall.....

1. Choose the size of gabion kits that suit your project (we used these) - get creative and combine them together to make L or T shapes, not just straight lines.
   
   
2. Level off the surface where the gabion cages will sit and make sure the ground is firm.
    
3. Build your gabion cages insitu and once they are all joined together check they are level. 
   
   
4. Fill them! Remember if you can't see the back of the gabion then fill this is rubble, lumps of concrete, broken tiles, broken bricks or any other solid (non-organic) material. Use nice decorative stone for the parts you can see, placing them in so they look nice.
   
   
5. Give the rocks a hose down to remove the dust. Add a custom made timber topper if you'd like to create a seat.

My favourite things about gabion walls or gabion retaining walls:

1. They are very DIY friendly and easy to piece together, especially when using gabion kits. 

2.  You can make them shape, width or height you want (just be careful if you want very tall or structural walls, you may need a permit and engineered designs) 

3. You can fill them with builders rubble/old tiles/broken bricks or pavers at the back (if it has an unseen bit) and then use the nice rocks for the front - saving you money on rocks! 

4. They become a lizard habit

5. Lower gabion walls - like the one in our garden - make the perfect seat when topped with timber or eco-timber. 

6. Because gabion kits are made out of lots of smaller, light “pieces” they are easy to carry into tight places

7. Gabion walls self anchor to the ground (depending on height of course) 

The gabion kits that we used come in various sizes that you could piece together to form straight sided shapes really easily - they are Rhinoweld brand from Stratagreen and we've been really happy with the quality of them. 

For the shape we created (shown below) we used 5 of the 0.5 x 0.5 x 1.0 kits plus 1 of the 0.5 x 0.5 x 0.5 kits.

To help retain some moisture for the hedges planted behind the gabion, we chose to add some rigid plastic root barrier cut to size, but you could also use builders plastic or similar depending on how much space you wanted covered. Adding this barrier isn't essential - but it's certainly helped keep our plants water supply and soil moisture consistent. 

Would you ever considered gabion walls as retaining walls or gabion walls as seats in your garden? 

 

#gabion #gardenideas #gardendesign #gardeninspiration #gabionwall

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