Building a retaining wall...by hand.

[Egon]

An ex backyard garden!

Have you considered terracing the retaining walls making room for things like flowers etc. so there will be a little more ongoing maintenance work to keep you looking slim and trim?

Might be less manual labour to install??

 

[N80]

Have you considered terracing the retaining walls making room for things like flowers etc. so there will be a little more ongoing maintenance work to keep you looking slim and trim?

Might be less manual labour to install??

I had not thought about it. I think it would be more labor, not less. But, I think from an engineering/structural standpoint that it might be a good idea. If it is terraced out a few steps the base will be wider and wall heights lower. Will definitely think about that, especially for the top terrace which would be the tallest.

 

[RobertN]

My wife does garden/yard design and consulting. If there is someone in your area, you might think about that; they may have some good idea's, and resources. Sometimes you would be surprised at the plants, colors, wall types they may recommend.

You might also look in to what the local Master Gardeners have going. they frequently offer free classes, and sometimes consultation( lots of consultations in the office...). My wife is in that program; it is an awesome resource. It is country wide in the US, and similar programs are in Canada.

I had not thought about it. I think it would be more labor, not less. But, I think from an engineering/structural standpoint that it might be a good idea. If it is terraced out a few steps the base will be wider and wall heights lower. Will definitely think about that, especially for the top terrace which would be the tallest.

 

[scoutcub]

Yes....that's a lot of work! These blocks are about 60lbs each. This is my retaining wall that was already installed when I bought the house. I had 5 pallets of retaining blocks that I had to move around a few times before I extended the walls around the garage.

What I've found out with retaining walls.....

To do it so it will last a lifetime, use the actual retaining wall blocks. They will not move if properly installed. They have a lip on the back that locks them together and has a setback for each row. The material goes in the middle of the row set back into the bank. The blocks are filled with gravel, and also backfilled with gravel behind the wall for drainage. And, a plastic drain line along the length of the wall. The caps are actually glued in place with landscape block adhesive.
Now granted, this wall is 60' long, and over 6' tall, so it needs to be built to last.

hope this helps!

 

[scoutcub]

I almost forgot the most important part, as someone else already said....the base. We we used 303 rock base, well compacted. The base is the key to a long lasting, even, straight wall.

Good luck!

 

[MarkV]

George I would sure be trying to find a way to access the area with a skid steer or maybe one of the walk behind units like the Toro Dingo. You are going to have hundreds of 60 pound blocks to move and an unbelievable amount of gravel fill to move. Your a better man than I taking that on by hand and wheelbarrow.

MarkV

 

[arrow]

Where we purchased the block gave complete writtrn and illustrated instructions on how to construct the wall. Once the first level was put down, it went very fast. These are the pin type and the blocks were purchased from a masonry/cement store where they made these blocks.
Its been 3 years and these haven't moved.

 

[hr3]

Why is the OP doing it by hand,, He has a tractor right..

 

[N80]

Why is the OP doing it by hand,, He has a tractor right..

The OP's tractor sits on a 237 acre tract of land in the country. The OP's backyard is in the middle of downtown in a small city.

As far as moving material, I can have blocks and gravel set down at the end of the driveway. From there it would have to be hauled maybe 30-40 feet, slightly down hill fortunately. But yes, a small (tiny) skid steer would help, or one of those walk behind deals. But rental costs add up fast and so it would have to be rented for maybe a couple of days at a critical time, maybe after the base and first course are laid.

 

[N80]

You might also look in to what the local Master Gardeners have going. they frequently offer free classes, and sometimes consultation( lots of consultations in the office...). My wife is in that program; it is an awesome resource. It is country wide in the US, and similar programs are in Canada.

Thanks Robert, that's kind of what has us thinking about this. We have a neighbor who is a Master Gardener and there is a city garden one block away that is tended by Master Gardeners. They have already volunteered their services in hopes that we could get the garden up to snuff to be part of the city garden tour. I can hardly imagine that. First, because it is so over run and formless right now and second, I can't imagine what this is likely to cost me over time.

I'm kind of thinking it is a hobby I might ought to avoid.....kind of like tractors, photography, RC trucks, sports cars........:laughing:

 

[hr3]

The OP's tractor sits on a 237 acre tract of land in the country. The OP's backyard is in the middle of downtown in a small city

Ooo I see.. Well then good luck..

 

[ultrarunner]

I started my wall a couple of years ago with field stone found around the property... so far it has not moved...

Problem is I need to go another 24" in height and ran out of 30 to 60 pound boulders...

So far I have not been able to come across any locally... the BX was a godsend moving the material and boulders...

 

[hr3]

Pic's of the wall my wife built this summer.. I placed the base rocks for her with the BH and she did the rest..

 

[N80]

Here is an update for an old thread. We've taken a different direction. Decided that first hill is really too much of a challenge at nearly 6'. Also decided we were not willing to spend the money on a professional job. We also decided that we weren't ready to spend the money on man made stone and retaining wall systems.

We also decided that we had plenty of rocks down at our cabin property. So we're building our own wall on the second hill. We dug the hill out a little and started with really large rocks. No base, just the dense red clay. Rocks are dry stacked so hopefully drainage will not be a huge issue. We find them at our property. We use the tractor to move them around and load them into the F150. (You'd be surprised how few of these rocks an F150 will carry.) We get them down into the backyard by hand and a wagon. We are stacking them so that they 'step' down the hill. It will be about four feet high and we're filling behind it with what we dug out from the base. We will have to buy some fill dirt to complete that.

It could end up being a disaster but the rocks and labor are free and we'll pull it down and use them as a border if the hill pushes it over. See my post about mid thread for the 'before' picture.

 

[ultrarunner]

I've been building a stone retaining wall down in the draw... it's been 7 years of finding boulder's and stacking...

So far not a single stone has come loose.

We have all kinds of requirements for engineered walls... none for dry stack boulders.

A neighbor had a beautiful dry stack boulder wall built with an excavator on site for about 10 days and all the rock trucked in... some complained about his wall and the city could find no violation...

 

[EddieWalker]

Looks great and it sounds like a fun, long term project. I'm looking forward to seeing more pictures of your progress, and hopefully some of where you are finding the rocks.

Eddie

 

[N80]

Some of the rocks came from an old house site and had clearly been the foundation for the old house because most of them are flat and/or rectangular. Those were easy pickings as they were right near our cabin. We used a good many of those for a wall on either side of the cabin but there were a good many left. Now we have pretty much dug all those up and I was worried about finding more. But yesterday we looked on a ridge a good way away from the cabin and found a seemingly unlimited supply of watermelon and larger sized rocks just sitting on a hillside. Fortunately they are pretty close to a trail accessible by tractor. We have found a fair number of even larger rocks but some of them are at the limit of what my tractor can carry, at least on hilly terrain. I could possibly get them in my truck but once we got home it would be almost impossible to move them.

We also find hundreds and hundreds of cantaloupe sized rocks in large piles at the base of big trees. I've ben told they were piled there by folks clearing fields by hand but some of these are up on steep hillsides with no apparent terrain suitable for fields nearby. I wonder if maybe the trees didn't just push or pull the rocks up as they grew. Would love to know.

In any case, there are dozens of other rocky areas we have not explored (in terms of looking for appropriate rocks) so I think our supply is pretty unlimited. There is one large wooded ridge that had eroded in the past with the most gorgeous moss colored rocks that I would love to get but is not anywhere near tractor access so they will have to stay. There is a picture of that ridge below. You can see some of the rocks to the right. These are too large (for me) to carry by hand. There are dozens and dozens more like these. The ridge that is closer to the road is similar but the rocks are smaller.