Tips and Tricks for Gabion Walls

Small or large baskets?

Gabion baskets can come in a range of sizes since they're built from a combination of steel wire mesh panels and spiral winder joiners. This gives you a wide variety of flexibility when it comes to finalising on the size basket you need.

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There are a number of challenges when using large gabions. Here's some considerations:

Smaller gabion baskets are more manoeuvrable

The most common form of delivery for all gabion baskets is flat packed on a wooden pallet (see below). The gabions are constructed into their finished shape onsite in situ when ready for filling. You would never build the basket and fill with rock and try to move into position - the basket will be very heavy and not possible to move by hand. The installer building the retaining wall will physically take the steel mesh pieces from the pallet and erect into a basket form and place in it&#;s final resting position (in retaining wall).

To find out what you get with your gabion basket flatpack

When you consider this, moving steel mesh sheets of mm x 500mm in size are far easier to handle by one person than sheets of mm x mm. Gabion baskets made up of wire mesh panels of mm x mm in size is about the maximum size that can be handled by 1 person. Panels of a larger size will require more people (at least 2) to put together. Refer to the demo video to see an example of a mm x 500mm basket being put together.

Smaller gabions are easier to fill

Smaller gabion walls (or larger gabion walls built in stages of smaller sections) allow you to physically reach the bottom of the basket. This is very helpful when you're trying to place the rock filling. If you're trying to reach down from a 1m high basket or even worse, get a wheelbarrow up high to tip rock in, you're going to struggle.

For gabions placed on the ground, you can simply wheelbarrow your rock filling directly into the top of the basket then attach the lid mesh. You do not require any loaders or bobcat&#;s to scoop the rock and fill the basket from an unmanageable height.

Increased customisation

Here's a good example: Say you wanted to build a achieve a a 2m long gabion rock wall that is 300mm deep and 500mm high. Rather than trying to achieve this with one large basket, we can use a combination of different standard panel sizes as follows:

• 4 off x500mm panels (acting as the front and back facing panels)
• 4 off x300mm panels (acting as the bottom and top facing panels)
• 3 off 500x300mm panels (acting as the 2 end panels and 1 centre panel)

Rather than try and handle one 2m monster basket, you can build this in situ one panel at a time. Notice how the 1 off 500x300mm panel is used as a central panel? This means that this setup is more cost effective than buying 2 individual baskets butted up together because one end panel is now redundant. It also ties all the other panels in together nicely with the spiral winder (not shown).

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Reducing gabion bulging

Smaller gabion baskets installed on top of one another allow for a centre support that runs horizontally through the middle of your retaining wall. This ensures your rock filling stays consistent throughout the basket, preventing bellowing. Over time, rock filling cannot slowly sink deeper into the basket causing bellowing due to the weight and pressure of the rock. The larger the basket, the more likely bellowing is to happen because the less wire mesh is available to support it. Such an effect will eventually destroy the shape of the wall and it&#;s functionality.

I have tried to use gabions for atypical things before and it was a pain. Assuming you're getting some kind of permit, this seems like it would be a challenge in CA, unless someone has done it before. This seems like it might be poorly suited for earthquake anyway, if you think about the logic of it. 

Here are a few alternate thoughts for a small elevated structure. These are not recommendations, just ideas since you asked. 

You ever hear of a rubble trench foundation? I think FLW used them sometimes. I wonder if you could do something like that and then use CMU and an elevated wood floor for a no-concrete approach? Really don't know that much about it, but just an idea. (same concern about the earthquakes as the gabions though) 

You could conceivably do screw piles, though based on personal experience this would likely have issues with plan-checker in CA as well. Anywhere else this would seem like a golden idea to me. 

A more typical approach if your soil allows would be to use pre-fab concrete piers, again depends on your soil and requirements since you probably don't want to have to haul huge piers, and too many piers would be more challenging for differential settlement. 

And the most concrete (pun intended) approach would be to just give in and pour a little concrete yourself and do wood posts on concrete piers/footings with an elevated wood floor. Did this on a project in SoCal. Had decent soil and supported a fairly tall 300ish sqft structure on 4 posts attached to 4 2x2x2 conc footings. 

Another thought while we're talking about unique approaches is the whole concrete-free slab on grade assemblies that some house-builders use. Seems like some glaring flaws. to me, but I've never used them... So I really couldn't say 

Interesting topic. 

Woodguy... I've seen a cabin where the system is post and beam over cassions.  Then boulders and stone infill as the skirt; the beams and post were inboard and the floor cantilevered over this skirt.  Pretty cool since they started the base with big rocks, and transitioned to smaller diameter as it went up.  But it wasn't structural, just a aesthetic. It was however a newer structure and fully occupied/heated/utilities, not just the 'glamping' cabins below which are iron stoves, outhouse, and hauling in water. 

Historic barns I've done have been similar; pier, pile or real foundations under the timber posts and the stone is just infill to ensure the bottom of wall isn't buried or in contact with dirt.  Works well to limit wood rot, but mice, cold, weeds growing out of it, etc. are an issue; wouldn't use on a house.

I've seen historic dry stack; flat type stone.  Did similar once for a mountain cabin as a shallow foundation and support for the plank floors; but you need to have anchors, so you become grouted and call it a stone masonry foundation; you can reinforce like brick masonry.  Some newish ones are even sort of faked; think stone cavity wall where that cavity is wide enough to place the concrete and rebar (basically a dry stack veneer). I've seen timber foundations (log).. wouldn't do that; most rot out.

You can't weld to the gabions for an anchor anymore than you can weld to a chainlink fence and call it structural. Code is quite specific regardless of zone. The cages themselves are held together with bent metal clips and bailing wire which is slightly more robust than a ziptie :P. 

Maybe you might do it more like a double-wide and use hurricane anchors drilled into the earth and a self-supporting structure than just rest on the gabions to keep it off the dirt like a jack. But means and methods play a role; you'd have to have the anchors in place, set the basket and fill.. the couple times I used gabions, they are shipped as complete baskets filled with rock and lifted into place (bank stabilization stuff) from a flatbed trailer. They aren't filled on-site. Also, from what I was told when using them as bank stabilization... the cage in contact with soil might last 20 years before it fails (rust, corrosion). The system somewhat relies on silts and dirt infiltrating, condensing, etc. to hold together after the cage rots. Still though... What is the lifespan you are looking for?  

I've done cobble; the basket is redundant because the soil and grout you'll do ends up holding it together.  A adobe cabin I did used historic methods. Dig your trench, set up a board form (or use the trench bank), dump a layer of thick (3" grout), and press stones into it like giant aggregate... repeat until you are about a foot out of grade and transition to adobe bricks. Then parge the whole thing. Haybale is similar.  Earth floors are probably a pita with the EPA; I seem to remember the mud mix using oil as a binder. 

I should note I've never done these alternative systems with a permanent residence.  There are just to many 'cons' and failure points. All of them are homeowner constructed, remote where getting a concrete truck there isn't an option, and often a single or two room 'real cabin' accessed by a rough trail versus a 10,000 sf Aspen cabin. Or like the barn (which was existing and we were repairing); a accessory building that won't be occupied so mice, insects, heat loss, etc. aren't an issue.

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