Since this thread started I've moved house and renovated two more bathrooms and this "step" issue is definitely becoming a headache. You know, we are such slavish followers of trends, I just have to wonder at times how much we are becoming victims of them too. When I built my first house over 50 years ago, most homes were built on piers with timber flooring and concrete was only used in bathrooms and laundries, but the levels were adjusted so when tiles were laid in wet areas the transition was minimal. Floor tiles were also thinner than today's tiles, in most cases they were smaller tiles too and not these great slabs we use today that obviously need to be thicker for strength. Now we are building more slab on ground homes, no provision is being made for the thickness of floor tiles to ensure a more seamless transition between areas. My front entrance is tiled and has a 2cm "step" down to the lounge and family room areas and even that 2cm I find people constantly tripping over. I plan on removing these tiles and replacing the whole entry/kitchen/family area with vinyl planking. Carpet in the lounge room helps offset that step a little but I was told recently by people who have addressed this issue this way that putting an extra layer of underfelt within the doorway area works very well to help offset this problem. When I renovated the ensuite I now have this step issue but the tiles had been glued down with an unknown product of super strength that gave my bathroom guy a lot of grief trying to jackhammer up - took him 2 days to remove them and screed the floor to his standard - and he decided he could not do the main bathroom in a realistic time frame to meet the price he quoted me, he felt he could not even guarantee the standard of work he wanted to achieve so his suggestion was to tile over the existing tiles and when he got to the doorway he would add an extra part tile sloping to down to the floor level similar to what pucciplan described with his timber. He assured me he had done it with many other renovations, it was barely noticeable and would solve the issue much easier and cheaper for me and far less time consuming. In the meantime as I have carpet in the hallway we heard of the idea of using an extra layer of underlay and I've chosen this option. My laundry is right opposite the bathroom and those tiles will be replaced too. On close inspection of the original construction, we discovered no waste drain was put into the laundry, the tiles were drained towards the external door, which is apparantly acceptable .............EXCEPT, they then put a dam across the floor inside the doorway to stop rainwater coming in under the external door!!!! Now the laundry tiles will be laid over the top of the existing ones as well to allow for any possible accident needing drainage. Fortunately I've had no weather issues but we will put a rubber flap at the base of the door, just in case, and I will again do the extra layer of underlay under the carpet and hopefully will achieve a satisfactory result. At least the two doorways will match. Quite frankly though, I'm finding so many design issues these days, I really think the whole home building industry needs a thorough overhaul. I think as I age too, so many more issues are coming to light BUT they are obviously issues that could affect anyone of any age. I think we need to forget "trends" that don't consider the big picture of things and come back down to basic commonsense. HU - I'm really at a loss as to how your builder managed to get a 6.5cm step to the bathroom, that is absolutely ridiculous. The only thing I can think of is there may have been a slope issue for drainage, but surely it could still not have been that much, anything that much out should have been picked up when the building was inspected during construction. "Normal" is a good excuse for laziness or shoddy workmanship. I think from reading your posts, you are in an apartment?? You would then have slab floors?? Therefore I can't see the need for the step to be above 2cm. Definitely take this further - Fair Trading should be able to help you, the standard heights for steps varies according to location and use - it is a bit of a minefield to work out. Good luck. Amanda - how did all your renos go in the end? Sounds like you are still sane. :)

I am sorry you feel anything said to you was "rude". I am sorry I couldn't find a way a way to explain how serious the matter is in a way that you like. This conversation was for your benefit, to help you and your neighbour avoid bigger problems later. Please try to understand that. So you say you are in Canberra? Canberra has heavy clay soil. Your structural engineer friend cannot say the wall is good without talking about the drainage. Drainage is an important part of the structure. Correct drainage is even more important where there is heavy clay soil. Canberra does not have 'council approvals'. So I am not sure what it is you think you have when you said it is "council approved". Please respect that I am saying this because it is important. I am not trying to be negative and rude. It is important for you and for your neighbour that the wall is built correctly. The pictures look wrong. That is why people talked about it, instead of simply answering your question about how to make it "not look ugly". No proper drainage is visible behind the wall as shown in the diagrams provided in a previous reply. The idea of drilling drainage holes afterwards is wrong as explained in a previous reply. No-one is trying to be negative and rude. Everyone is trying to help you complete your build safely and correctly so that you and your neighbour do not have bigger problems later. I hope it works out alright for you and for your neighbour.

Engineers are costly, they will just tell you what you already know, to rip it out and start again anyway, there is no remedy. Save yourself some coin, get rid of it and start again properly. Someone has done a poor job somewhere. I would say it has something to do with the footings not being done correctly when the retaining wall was built, and your foundation was likely not suitable for the concrete walkway to start pour. Good luck.

@dreamer Thanks for your response. To answer your questions: How old is the extension that has the concrete slab? The extension was done in the past 2-3 years. The previous owners did the extension and we bought and moved in last year. It looks like it is already failing, doesn’t look like one piece of poured concrete it looks like broken concrete. I think the concrete slab is above the red sheet. I am not sure what is surrounding the pipes. Is the actual concrete slab cracked and bringing in moisture? But it may be ground moisture coming through the concrete. Not that I know of. The ground under the house is definitely damp. We are on sloped land and believe there is rainwater going under the house through the soil due to lack of appropriate sub-ground drainage in the backyard to capture and divert the water from going under the house.