Recycling tyres

Building on a steep block there was a need for a retaining wall under the front of the house, to enable us to have a level access into the house.

We didn't like the idea of more concrete besser blocks - we had been forced to use enough of them in the foundations - so we chose used tyres as a way of utilising a material that would otherwise end up in landfill. Tyre retailers are more than happy to give away used tyres, so they cost us nothing.

The tyres are stacked up in overlapping layers, and backfilled with earth, which gives them rigidity. Even the torrential January rains did not shift them. The spaces between provides spots for rockery plants, which are now thriving.