Retaining Structure Observation Record Checklist

Choose a small number of positions that show the whole structure between them, rather than many positions you will not keep returning to.

A record that is easy to repeat gets repeated, and a record repeated for years is worth far more than a thorough one abandoned after two visits.

Mark each position in a way that survives, such as relating it to a corner, a gatepost or a paving joint, and write the relation down.

A viewpoint described as by the shed becomes unusable the first time the shed moves, which is usually sooner than anyone expects.

Where you can reach both sides of the level change, include a viewpoint below and one above, and note which is which.

The two sides report different things, and a record taken only from the convenient side leaves out half of what is visible.

Include something permanent in each frame that gives a sense of scale, such as a step, a coping unit or a gate, rather than a moveable object.

Without something fixed in the picture, changes in how close you stood read as changes in the structure.

Add close viewpoints for anything specific you want to follow, such as one joint, one outlet or one area of the face.

General views show the whole and hide the detail, so a few deliberate close positions are what make slow change visible.

Write the list of viewpoints down as instructions somebody else could follow, because the record may outlast your involvement with it.

A record only continues past a change of ownership if the method can be picked up by a stranger without guesswork.

Put the date on every photograph and every note, and keep them together rather than in separate places that drift apart.

A photograph whose date is uncertain cannot establish that anything changed, which is most of what the record exists to do.

Write down what the weather has been doing in the days before each round, including any prolonged dry or wet period.

Ground and drainage behave differently depending on what has happened recently, so the weather note is part of the observation.

Take the same photographs in the same order each time, and note any you could not take and why.

A missing photograph explained is information; a missing photograph unexplained makes the whole round hard to interpret.

Write a few sentences each round saying what you noticed, what looked the same, and what you were unsure about.

Photographs record what was in front of the camera; the written note records what you were looking at and why.

Record anything that has changed in the garden since the last round, including new planting, new loads, new surfaces or work by a neighbour.

Changes on site are the context for anything you observe, and they are extremely easy to forget within a season.

Describe what you see by its shape, its extent and its direction, and avoid words that name a cause or a failure.

A description of where and how far can be examined by a professional; a statement that something has failed cannot be unpicked so easily.

For anything you notice, write down when you first saw it and whether it was present in an earlier round of the record.

Whether something is new or has simply been noticed is a distinction only a record can make, and it changes what it means.

Avoid technical labels you have read elsewhere, and write down what you can actually see in plain ordinary words instead of them.

Borrowed vocabulary carries implications you did not intend, and it makes an observation harder rather than easier to act on.

Where you notice leaning, cracking, bulging or opening joints, photograph each one and note where it is along the structure.

These are different observations rather than versions of the same one, and where each occurs is part of what is being reported.

Photograph and record anything before repairing or tidying it, including a void behind a facing unit or a settled patch of ground.

Making good before anybody has seen it removes the evidence, and the tidied version tells a professional nothing at all.

Record explicitly that something looked unchanged this time, rather than writing nothing at all on a round where there is nothing new.

A note saying no change was seen is a positive observation; a gap in the record is indistinguishable from a round nobody did.

Mark on your sketch every outlet, weep or pipe end you can find near the structure, and note where you could not find any.

The absence of any visible outlet is a finding worth recording rather than an absence of information.

Make a point of going out during or straight after heavy rain and noting which outlets are discharging and which are not.

An outlet that has silted looks identical to one that is clear on a dry day, so the observation has to be made when it counts.

Record where water discharged from the structure actually goes, and whether it reaches anything it would be better not to reach.

Discharge that lands on a path, a terrace or a neighbour's ground is part of the observation, not a separate subject.

Note whether anything is growing across, stacked against or planted over an outlet, and record it rather than only clearing it.

How an outlet came to be obscured is worth knowing, because the same thing will tend to happen again.

Do not excavate or cut back into the structure to reach an outlet; ask a qualified professional what may safely be cleared.

Record where water stands near the structure, above or below it, and roughly how long it takes to disappear after rain stops.

How long water stands is a more useful observation than the fact that it stood, and it is easy for an owner to record.

Walk the ground behind the face each round and note any settlement, hollow, soft patch or strip that behaves differently from the rest.

The extent of what is doing the retaining is invisible, but the surface some distance back sometimes reports on it over time.

Note whether any paving, edging or path above the structure has moved, opened or fallen away from its neighbours.

Hard surfaces above a level change are a sensitive indicator because small movements show as visible joints.

Photograph the line of any fence, railing or planting run above the structure, because a straight line makes movement easy to see.

A fence line is the closest thing most gardens have to a datum, and it will show a change that the ground itself hides.

Record what is happening to the ground in front of and at the base of the structure, including anything that has been dug or lowered.

What happens below matters for some arrangements as much as what happens above, and it is easy to leave out of a record.

Digging or lowering ground in front of or at the base of a retaining structure belongs with a qualified engineer before it is planned.

Note any tree or large shrub on, above or behind the structure, and record any change in it as part of the same round.

Planting near retained ground changes over years in both directions, and the record is more useful if it follows both together.

Anything to do with the condition of a tree belongs with a qualified arboricultural professional, and protection should be confirmed locally.

Record any work you become aware of on the other side of the structure or on neighbouring ground, with the date you noticed it.

Work on the other side is outside your control but not outside your record, and the date may matter later.

Choose a repeating interval you will actually keep to, and tie it to something memorable such as the same point each season.

A record attached to a habit survives; one attached to an intention does not last beyond the first busy period.

Add an extra round after any prolonged wet period, heavy storm or extended dry spell, and note which of those prompted it.

Weather is the most common thing to change what is visible, so the extra rounds are where most of the value sits.

Add a round either side of any work in the garden or next door that involves digging, heavy loads or a change of level.

A matched pair either side of a specific event is the most informative kind of record an owner can produce.

Keep every earlier round rather than replacing it, because the value of the record is entirely in the comparison between them.

Owners often keep only the latest photographs, which reduces a history to a snapshot and discards the point of the exercise.

Look back over the whole set once a year rather than only comparing the newest round with the one before it.

Slow change is invisible between consecutive rounds and obvious across several years, which is exactly why it goes unnoticed.

Write a short note now saying what you would treat as a reason to stop and seek advice, and keep it at the front of the record.

The value of a threshold set in advance is that it does not have to be argued with at the moment it is reached.

Include anything that appears to be changing faster than it was, comparing across several rounds rather than between the last two.

Rate of change is something only a record can show, and it is the observation an owner is uniquely placed to make.

Include any change in where water appears, stands or discharges near the structure, including an outlet that has stopped running.

Every retaining arrangement depends on drainage, so a change in water behaviour is worth reporting whatever else looks the same.

Include any hollow, void or settlement appearing behind or above the structure, and note that it should be photographed rather than filled.

The instinct is to make it good, and writing the opposite instruction down in advance is the only reliable way to resist it.

Write down who you would contact and what you would send them, so that the step is a short one rather than a research project.

A threshold with no route attached tends to be crossed and then rationalised, because acting on it is too much work in the moment.

Note in the record that you are not the person to judge how urgent an observation is, and that the record is for reporting rather than deciding.

This keeps the exercise honest and stops a careful record turning into a self-made assessment of something nobody has examined.

If anything about a structure concerns you at any point, seek qualified advice rather than waiting for the next scheduled round.