Why Your Gabion Mesh Matters

Is your gabion basket built to last?

Don't take short cuts on mesh size

If you're going to the effort of building a retaining wall, feature wall, water feature or even letterbox using a rock filled gabion basket, you want to know it's going to last. After all, this is going to be a feature of your outdoor area and if you're going to do it, you might as well do it right.

One of the most basic but crucial aspects of your gabion basket is making sure the rock / stone you are going to fill it with, actually stays in the basket. Here's what I mean: The baskets by design are a steel mesh in grid form, therefore there are consistent gaps between the steel cross beams. The gaps between the mesh wire of the gabion basket is called it's aperture

aperture
noun
An opening, hole, or gap.
"the rock passed through apertures in the gabion basket because the installer did not read this post"

The gap between the steel cross beams of wire mesh vary from manufacturer to manufacturer in both shapes and sizes. Some manufacturers promote the use of chicken wire style. There are 2 problems with this:

  • They don't look very good. Don't believe me? - read more on this here.
  • The poor quality of the low gauge steel can compromise the structural quality of the application

The thin, low gauge steel wire is very easy to move and bend. This means is that rock filling can manoeuvre the wire. Alarm bells should be going off for you right now. The rock filling can manoeuvre the wire! This means the rock inside the basket can move, stretching the wire, creating weak spots and ultimately creating an inconsistent aperture throughout the basket. An inconsistent aperture now means that there is potential for rock filling to start spilling out of the basket. What a disaster...

The alternative is a strong, high gauge (4 or 5mm) steel basket with a consistent, square aperture. This is what we offer at Gabion Baskets Queensland.

Gabion Baskets Queensland products have have the following aperture:

Basket Size & Aperture = 50 x 50 mm

Advantages of Smaller Mesh Size

There are many advantages to smaller mesh size. 2 key advantages include:

  • It allows you to use smaller stone in your basket and reduce the risk of the filling protruding through the basket itself over time.
  • The basket is stronger as there is more steel adding to the rigidity of the basket.

Keep these 2 critical points in mind when choosing your basket and associated rock filling. After all, you're putting blood, sweat and tears into your rock basket feature - build something that will not only look spectacular, but last for years to come!