How to Build a Berm

[WVBill]

would you offset them any (how much) or stack them straight up?

Straight up and use Deadman Anchors

 

[kthompson]

Have a friend with tractor garage. They have a dirt with timber sides that have used for years for flat bed trucks. Don't use it that often now but has held up well.

If you are trying to make it easy and to look good, get suitable treated pine lumber (ground contract grade) to hold the dirt in place for the slope and hide the slope. Plant shrubs on the side of it or put a flower box on the side depending on your landscaping and it will look good. To me much better than stacked concrete blocks

You need to have a top material that will hold up to rain washing it, and wheel climbing the grade.

 

[GLyford]

If the railroad ties are used, skip them...they are removed from service when they show signs of rot, and never last very long when used in landscaping and usually manage to look like heck.

New ones are probably OK.

 

[rd_macgregor]

The diagram that WVBill showed is the way to do it. The deadman anchors and drainage gravel together dramatically reduce the likelihood that the vertical face will start to shift outward due to frost or ground compression pressure on the ramp side. Ground contact treated wood will last a long time and IMO looks pretty good, too. Even if you built a rock or concrete wall/berm, it would be a good idea to back it with both drainage gravel and the deadmans.
I saw some interesting wall blocks being installed at a road project near my home. The blocks were sort of L-shaped with one leg of the L being the deadman and the other the face, and they interlocked with tongue and groove mating surfaces. These were concrete, of course, but the face side was a textured concrete that actually looked a lot like rock...all in all very esthically pleasing. Budget quickly becomes an issue when you start to deal with commercially-available retaining wall materials. Not only are these new-price expensive, but many are beyond the ability of a homeowner to install...so contractor costs come into play.
Wood is a lot more amenable to DIY and give considerable flexibility in design, too.

 

[GLyford]

Don't rule out straight up poured concrete.

Forming up an 8" wall with integral 16" footer wouldn't take that long, rebar is still cheap, and a "short" load of concrete with weekend delivery premium still isn't that expensive in the grand scheme of things. There is a lot of material on the web on how to make forms and place rebar. A simple screed-and-trowel finish across the top is pretty easy.

Doing it before the slope exists so you can easily access both sides would make it even easier.

 

[bigtiller]

That has possibilities. I have another 3.5 yard project planned for later this summer. Maybe we can work it in.