My garden has currently got 3 tiers. They are full of weeds so I want to put weed-resistant membrane and pebbles on the top tier so I can put table and chairs there. In order to do this, I will have to dig out some of the top tier, which I am OK with.
The retaining wall was made from rocks and I don't know if it is strong enough.
In the past, someone has simply laid a concrete slab across the 3rd tier, about 30cm away from the retaining wall.
It has barely been dug in. I'd like to remove that slab because it looks stupid and I am not even sure it does anything.
My worry is: how can I tell if the retaining wall is strong enough or does it look like the random concrete slab is actually required?
If the current retaining wall cannot be trusted, I would be happy to simply add a low retaining wall from vertical sleepers in front of it, roughly in the place where the concrete slab is now, thus taking away the pressure from the current retainer wall.
FYI, I do not have the money to dig the whole thing out and inspect the current retainer wall fully and repair it if needed. Also, I will need to do it all on my own and without anything other than a spade and other hand tools as there is no access to the garden.
I know this is a bit vague but I hope the attached pictures make things a bit clearer.
