I have a 30+ year old 3-4 foot retaining wall built from railway ties. The high side of the wall has what are now 40 foot conifers. The low side is lawn. The conifer root systems together with age have caused this wall to weaken - bulging, lots of rot, top layer of timbers fractured, etc.

Long term the wall needs to be replaced but this means cutting down around 30 of these conifers (on my neighbour's property) but I am hoping that given the low height of the wall and that the trees are probably giving the earth more stability, it may be possible to shore up the wall for a few more years at least. The wall is about 60 feet long but the first 20 feet (with no trees) looks like new.

Has anyone comes across any products suitable for this? The low side has easy access and it may be possible to build a second wall in front of the first but putting in deadmen would be hard.

Any suggestions much appreciated...

 

Welcome to the forums.

Maybe you could build a new wall in front of the old but if you're sticking with wood, the lack of deadmen would be a concern to me. Would the new wall be segmental blocks or wood?

 

A new wall would preferably be (mostly) wood to tie in with the 20 foot section that is fine.

I was thinking of a soldier pile wall but I'm not sure where to get the materials (steel or concrete I-beams) and how deep they need to be sunk to support a 3-4 feet height.