Our cottage neigbours, Ted and Maria, have lost their wooden retaining wall. The stacked wooded poles that held their infill lawn in place gave way this spring; the result of too much rain and poor construction. Their buckled front lawn is pouring into the lake.

It seems the previous owner wanted a level lawn, so he poured dump truck after dump truck of fill onto his lot and secured it with a round wooden poles stacked on top of one another. This lush green lawn is now a crumbling mass.

The cost to fix the mess is pegged at $10,000 - the cost to bring in a bobcat to move the dirt and secure the wall.

For many cottagers, managing erosion takes time and money. And then there are the environmental regulations. Ted and Maria won’t be able to restore their lawn to it’s original structure, but with the help of a product called, Deltalok, they can build a sloping lawn for about one third of the cost to bring in a bobcat.

The Deltalok system uses a GTX soil bag filled with dirt held in place by metal connectors. Over time, the bags allow vegetation to grow, and the structure becomes even stronger as plant and tree root systems grow throughout.
It is used extensively on banks, slopes and walls.

This product is fairly new to Canada, but due to it’s low cost, ease of installation and ability to protect the environment, it will no doubt be a popular alternative for cottagers seeking bank, slope and wall protection.

Cheers,

Julie

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 10th, 2008 at 5:41 pm and is filed under Environment, Fix It. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.