Gabion Wall

[bushmechanic]

In a while I intend to build a house. Not sure where, but it'll be made of shipping containers. I'm set on that, and I even found one I like.

I'm tired of being bothered. I want to be left alone, and I'm going to build a wall around it to get the point across. It took me a while to figure out what these things are called; I was trying to look up chicken wire and rubble, but I finally found it.

What I'm figuring is ten feet tall, and round about three feet wide. Let's say for the purposes of analysis that it will be ten feet long. The dimensions might change once I look at what's commonly available; but I'd like to just fill the cages with... Whatever rocks/rubble that can be shunted out there.

Lets assume I have no detritus to fill the cages; starting from scratch.

So, a Gabion wall that's ten feet tall, ten feet long, and three feet wide. How much would one expect to pay for such a thing if he did none of the work himself?

I realize that may need to be altered for stability. I'm just going for the volume calculation here, and it can be rough as hell. It'll be at least a year before I do anything. Probably two.

I'm just curious as to whether or not that's an efficient way to do it. I want the damned thing opaque. Tired of being around people.

 

[ssdave]

Gabion are extremely labor intensive. Figure about $8 to $10 per cubic foot. So, $3000 for your hypothetical 10 x 10 x 3 wall. In reality, it will have to be stepped up from a wider base, to be stable, and the high baskets will cost more to fill. I'd really expect you'd pay $6 to $8K for a 10 foot long section of wall like you describe. If you have the room on your land, build up a 4 to 6 foot high berm of dirt, 20 to 30 feet wide, and put a 4 to 6 foot high block wall on top of that.

Or put up a sheet metal fence, like junkyards do.

 

[Copymutt]

You must be good to go on any restrictions/ codes.
Neighbor recently built a fence out of plate steel. 2’ panels woven through post set 10’ apart. He just let it rust. It looks solid and very architectural.

 

[ducksface]

Containers make excellent fences. If you're making a container house, a container fence sure won't detract from that.
Gabions are about as expensive as you can go for such common material.

 

[bushmechanic]

You must be good to go on any restrictions/ codes.
Neighbor recently built a fence out of plate steel. 2’ panels woven through post set 10’ apart. He just let it rust. It looks solid and very architectural.

I could go that way. It's not like it's got to stop a tank, but I don't want anyone cutting through it easily. My own suggestion would be very easy to climb, but I figured people would be unlikely to climb it.

Maybe corrugated steel common for barn roofing. I'm just interested in a cheap wall, because walls are long.

 

[bushmechanic]

You must be good to go on any restrictions/ codes.
Neighbor recently built a fence out of plate steel. 2’ panels woven through post set 10’ apart. He just let it rust. It looks solid and very architectural.

I'm going to build it wherever I have to. I kind of like the idea of buying a good chunk of the top of a mountain in WV; but I'll put it wherever. Doesn't matter to me, really; so long as I've got resources on the property.

 

[bushmechanic]

Containers make excellent fences. If you're making a container house, a container fence sure won't detract from that.
Gabions are about as expensive as you can go for such common material.

I had no idea they were expensive.

Yeah, the container fence is certainly a possibility. Hell, I can get double the length by cutting out the walls, and leave some intact for storage. That's probably the solution, in the end.

Those aren't expensive. Well, they weren't. Probably cost more now, like anything else, but it's near-future stuff. I'm not building it next month, or anything.

If I can figure out where the hell I saved it, I'll upload a picture of the house I like, just for fun. It's somewhere in South-East Asia. Forgot where, but I really like it.

I do have to make sure I can let wildlife through, but that's easy with timed gates. That much I can do easily. In the end, it's just about isolation, my own little paradise behind that wall, and startling anyone who stumbles across it.

It's impossible for one person to defend much more than a house, so it's more of an encouragement to go away and find someone else to bother. It's gonna look like a family of inbred cannibals is behind that thing; walking dead stuff.

Go through it, though; and I want a post-apocalyptic, over-grown "Garden of Eden". With twinkling lights and stuff like that. I really dig the aesthetic. I like that "Earth taking back what man made" look, but I also like pretty stuff.

 

[Matt XYZ]

We use gabion walls a lot, especially when horizontal space doesn't permit a berm. I concur that you need to double up the base for stability. A lot of the cost is in the fill material- we always use rock. If you go with a HESCO type with a cloth/burlap material covering for soil, they look like **** and the material will rot out in a few years.

You will also quickly regret going cheap on the gabion baskets as they can and do fail.

 

[NUTTSGT]

I wonder how using those 275 (IBC?) totes with cages would work out ? You could stack anf fill them one at a time.

 

[slowtwitch73]

Think it only makes sense if you have the rock on hand. Busted up concrete is another way to go if there is demo happening nearby.

I messed around making some a few years back.

Just go cinder block, concertina wire, and a tipped over vehicle out front with 'go away' spray painted on it.

 

[bczygan]

Building a fortress of solitude?

How about using existing geology. Bore a cave out of a rock formation.

Why the desire to become a monk?

Bill

 

[acer66]

Building a fortress of solitude?

How about using existing geology. Bore a cave out of a rock formation.

Why the desire to become a monk?

Bill

Or dig a gigantic hole and move down there.

A guy next to me filled up a little valley with fill dirt from a local development.
So if your property is big enough you could use fill dirt to elevate the borders of your property and make your living area disappear.

 

[slowtwitch73]

There's a guy around here who ringed his property in vertical tree trunks like an old west fort and literally has a tipped over vehicle out front with 'keep out' spray painted across it.

 

[dutchgray]

They are a lot of work to do if you want to get a decent tidy looking wall with them, cant fill by machine easily without wrecking them unless your stone is on the small side, got to be wired together and internally as you go to maintain their shape and strength.

 

[sierradmax]

We priced out gabion mesh baskets and river rock as fill for a retaining wall project. If you have the time and an abundant resource of rocks, then it could be cost beneficial as well as "different". However, I feel you will have to be at least twice as wide, if not 3x as wide at the base to support a 3' wide gabion basket at 10' tall.

 

[Ing3018]

I'm envisioning shipping containers with concertina wire on top. A few spotlights. An old school bus to serve as the gate. Mad Max style. Would send a message.

Gabion baskets would be a tough way to go. Used sheet steel panels attached to wood posts would be simple alternative to construct.

 

[bczygan]

Don't forget the moat, gun mounts and antiaircraft emplacements!!!

Google earth enthusiasts will still find you and point you out so overhead camouflage will be needed.

Bill