Significant creek bank erosion issue potentially threatening house.

[Kevin C.]

Not really a DIY task, but not sure where to post so I stuck it here. moderators please move it to appropriate forum if there is one more appropriate.

We have a property that is on a heavily wooded 2 acre lot with a seasonal creek, seasonal as in when it rains, the creek has water.   The house sits very close to the creek, maybe 12' or so on one back corner.  A deck off the house goes to within a few feet of the creek bank.

The creek wall is 10' to 12' foot high off the back of the house.

On the other side, the creek back slops gently up into the woods, so no concerns on that side.  The creek turns a little right at about the corner of the house and right at the turn area there is significant undercutting of the rock.  The first picture below shows what the creek wall looks like approaching the rear of the house,  the second picture shows the undercutting of the rock wall at the creek level, the third picture gives you a better idea of where the house and deck are in relation to the creek wall.

We've owned the property a little over 3 years.  I didn't even consider the creek as an issue when we bought the place.   We probably paid not much more than land value for it, and it included a 2100+ sqr ft log cabin home and a 1800 sqr ft shop (insulated metal building, very well built).  The log home had been neglected for many years, livable, but with issues.  We fixed up the home and our son and his family lived there for 3 years.  He recently moved on and we have moved into it.  

We were down in the creek area cleaning up debris a month or so ago and that's when it hit me that erosion could be a problem.

We have bids from a couple companies that specialize in erosion control such as this to shore up the wall.  They both propose what they call a 'bag wall', which is basically special concrete bags stacked up to form a wall.  A footer is cut into the creek bed, and rebar is used to keep the bags in place.  The area behind the wall would be filled with gravel and it would have drains to allow any moisture that gets behind the wall to escape.   The concrete bags are perforated and over time they erode away and you are left with a concrete block wall.  These bids have come in at $42K and $52K.  Both companies say this type erosion is common here (North Dallas Area) and bag walls are a permanent solution.

FYI - house was built in '84, shop in '04. 

Has anyone had any experience with an erosion issue such as this, and if so, how did you address it?

Thank You,

Kevin

[Hattie Dizmond]

Originally posted by @Roy N.:

Originally posted by @Hattie Dizmond:

white rock = local colloquialism  (aka...chalk, as in "Chalk Hill" in Cedar Hill) translation...Slate  ;-0

 Interesting ... here slate & shale are grey - brown, but gypsum & limestone both appear like the bank in the photos above.

You know...I was having a really, really, really bad night!  Slate & Shale are gray & brown here too.  I meant to type limestone.

I think I'm going to take a weekend off from RE.  As much as I love it, it has eaten my lunch (and breakfast & dinner) this week.  I have a deal that I've busted my a@@ on that now looks like it isn't going to close, even though the seller is ready to sign.  Now, since everything I going to type is going to sound like whining, I'm going to go have some cheese, before Brandon Turner shows up and tells me to do that!!!!!!!!