Parking lot retaining wall

   / Parking lot retaining wall #1  

Sackett2

Platinum Member
Joined
Feb 25, 2008
Messages
696
Location
Eugene, Oregon
Tractor
Montana 4344HST
When you first get a tractor, you look around and see the 菟rojects? The bump in the yard that痴 been there for 25 years because it would be a lot of work to get rid of it. Dad is getting into a lot of trouble at his house with my tractor. They have lived on this property sense 1961. In 1979 a new house was built and over time improvements have been made- asphalt driveway and such. There was one area that bothered me; a parking area beside one of the shops- the bank was weedy, hard to weed-eat. Top of the bank was lumpy and also difficult to mow; a weedeater also had to be used.
Then comes the tractor. First dad and I cut the bank back some to widen the parking area and provide some dirt/clay for the top. At this time dad found with the bucket a poly water line that feeds the lower shop. So he fixed it and it set all last winter.
Other projects kept us busy all summer but this fall Dad decided he wanted to put a cement slab there, so 40+ years of gravel had to be dug down, as well as more widening. He found the poly pipe again, in a slightly different location. This time he plugged it until the slab was done.
We discussed it and decided a stack brick retaining wall would look nice there. As most of the property is already landscaped, we needed a place to put the dirt until the wall was done and we carefully made some ramps of dirt and manage to put most of the dirt above the future wall.

The slab was poured in two pieces, and then 6 pallets of brick moved in. The stacking started and where dad had modified the poly line we added a faucet and a shutoff valve.
We plan to wrap the wall up to this other area and more dirt and bank had to be cut away. Dad again found the poly pipe that had been buried about 30 feet from his last find. So another trip to the hardware store, we decided to put yet another faucet along this wall; all placed that this property has needed water.

The next day the rain had made a mess and I noticed water leaking out of the new wall. It appears that as dad was back-filling the wall, the heavy wet clay separated his first faucet. Well, at least we put in a shutoff valve and dad had to dig into the mud to repair the leak.

Leaks repaired we pecked at it between rain and hunting trips but he got it done. I say 塗e because I still have to work 5 days a week. I would help when I can, mainly on the lower ones and he would keep stacking.

It isn稚 perfect; but it痴 a **** of a improvement over what we started with.
Mom's not to pleased with the mud he made, but long term he will track less into the house. Can't wait to get the landscaping do on the top now- the lilac bush will be moved or replaced to the corner.
 

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   / Parking lot retaining wall #2  
Steve, you sound like me! What a lot of work, but the end result looks great! That's a lot of blocks to carry and stack. :)
 
   / Parking lot retaining wall #3  
Nice job on the retaining wall. Once you get your first tractor you wonder how you went through life without one. I bet your montana dug through the dirt like a hot knife on butter.
 
   / Parking lot retaining wall #4  
When you first get a tractor, you look around and see the 菟rojects? The bump in the yard that痴 been there for 25 years because it would be a lot of work to get rid of it. Dad is getting into a lot of trouble at his house with my tractor. They have lived on this property sense 1961. In 1979 a new house was built and over time improvements have been made- asphalt driveway and such. There was one area that bothered me; a parking area beside one of the shops- the bank was weedy, hard to weed-eat. Top of the bank was lumpy and also difficult to mow; a weedeater also had to be used.
Then comes the tractor. First dad and I cut the bank back some to widen the parking area and provide some dirt/clay for the top. At this time dad found with the bucket a poly water line that feeds the lower shop. So he fixed it and it set all last winter.
Other projects kept us busy all summer but this fall Dad decided he wanted to put a cement slab there, so 40+ years of gravel had to be dug down, as well as more widening. He found the poly pipe again, in a slightly different location. This time he plugged it until the slab was done.
We discussed it and decided a stack brick retaining wall would look nice there. As most of the property is already landscaped, we needed a place to put the dirt until the wall was done and we carefully made some ramps of dirt and manage to put most of the dirt above the future wall.

The slab was poured in two pieces, and then 6 pallets of brick moved in. The stacking started and where dad had modified the poly line we added a faucet and a shutoff valve.
We plan to wrap the wall up to this other area and more dirt and bank had to be cut away. Dad again found the poly pipe that had been buried about 30 feet from his last find. So another trip to the hardware store, we decided to put yet another faucet along this wall; all placed that this property has needed water.

The next day the rain had made a mess and I noticed water leaking out of the new wall. It appears that as dad was back-filling the wall, the heavy wet clay separated his first faucet. Well, at least we put in a shutoff valve and dad had to dig into the mud to repair the leak.

Leaks repaired we pecked at it between rain and hunting trips but he got it done. I say 塗e because I still have to work 5 days a week. I would help when I can, mainly on the lower ones and he would keep stacking.

It isn稚 perfect; but it痴 a **** of a improvement over what we started with.
Mom's not to pleased with the mud he made, but long term he will track less into the house. Can't wait to get the landscaping do on the top now- the lilac bush will be moved or replaced to the corner.

I'm getting ready to do a small retaining wall, but it needs to be more than 3 feet high in places. I went to Lowes and got some info on their dry stackable (no mortar), but the most say 2' high max other than the one kind with a lip on the back. Yours looks higher than 3' what kind of blocks did you use? Do you have any advice before I start?
 
   / Parking lot retaining wall #5  
I'm getting ready to do a small retaining wall, but it needs to be more than 3 feet high in places. I went to Lowes and got some info on their dry stackable (no mortar), but the most say 2' high max other than the one kind with a lip on the back. Yours looks higher than 3' what kind of blocks did you use? Do you have any advice before I start?

If you are going over three foot you need to get the big blocks with the lip. They are 6" tall and are 15" long or so. When I built my house I personally stacked 380 blocks. They weigh 68 lbs each.

You can get them usually at lowes or lumber yards. If you go over 4' tall you will need geogrid every couple of layers to extend back into the fill behind the wall. Make sure you backfill the wall with at least 2-3 feet width of clean rock for drainage and it really lowers the soil load on the wall.

I design a lot of these for commercial projects as I am a registered proffesional engineer and own a design firm.

The weight sounds like a lot, but if you have a tractor with a front end loader ( i do), you can use it for digging, loading the rock and lifting the blocks if you get very high. my walls are 9 feet tall at the highest point. They look great. Getting the wall on good solid ground on the bottom and level is the key to a good wall.

Jack Mentink P E
Principal Engineer
Integrity Engineering, Inc.
Rolla, MO 65401
 
   / Parking lot retaining wall #6  
I'm getting ready to do a small retaining wall, but it needs to be more than 3 feet high in places. I went to Lowes and got some info on their dry stackable (no mortar), but the most say 2' high max other than the one kind with a lip on the back. Yours looks higher than 3' what kind of blocks did you use? Do you have any advice before I start?

Steve, It looks like you did a great job on your parking lot. The block that I used on my retaining walls below were similar to Steve's except that they weighed 60 lbs each and could be stacked 18' high, I believe. I did exactly the same thing you did (go to Lowe's to see what they had). Since my wall is about 6' high at the high point, I needed something different so I went to the local cement/block builder.

The blocks that I used are:Rockwood classic 6 They are made locally by the cement/block contractor under a license. Since they didn't have enough of any one color available we decided mix colors for a nice effect, I think

They were a $4.10 a block. Total material cost was around $3,200 (blocks, aggregate, paving bricks).

The first picture below is after I had the first course in.

Second picture - finished product in fall

Third picture - same shot as second picture in early February

I prepared a thread of the building of my retaining walls and here is the link to the thread: http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/projects/122730-retaining-walls.html

retaining-wall-course1.jpg


retaining-wall-2.jpg


retaining-wall2_3_09.jpg


 
   / Parking lot retaining wall #7  
If you are going over three foot you need to get the big blocks with the lip. They are 6" tall and are 15" long or so. When I built my house I personally stacked 380 blocks. They weigh 68 lbs each.

You can get them usually at lowes or lumber yards. If you go over 4' tall you will need geogrid every couple of layers to extend back into the fill behind the wall. Make sure you backfill the wall with at least 2-3 feet width of clean rock for drainage and it really lowers the soil load on the wall.

I design a lot of these for commercial projects as I am a registered proffesional engineer and own a design firm.

The weight sounds like a lot, but if you have a tractor with a front end loader ( i do), you can use it for digging, loading the rock and lifting the blocks if you get very high. my walls are 9 feet tall at the highest point. They look great. Getting the wall on good solid ground on the bottom and level is the key to a good wall.

Jack Mentink P E
Principal Engineer
Integrity Engineering, Inc.
Rolla, MO 65401

Jack, thanks for the info. My wall will only be about 9' long and only about 3' or less of that 9' lenght will be 3' tall the rest will be tapered down to about 18".

I was used to live in Plato, MO small world. I'll try to post a pic of what I'm wanting to do.

Carey
 
   / Parking lot retaining wall #8  
Jack, thanks for the info. My wall will only be about 9' long and only about 3' or less of that 9' lenght will be 3' tall the rest will be tapered down to about 18".

I was used to live in Plato, MO small world. I'll try to post a pic of what I'm wanting to do.

Carey

Carey
If you are only going to go 3 foot high you could probably get by with the small blocks which are 4 " tall by about a foot long. Go by the Lowes in St. Robert, they will have them. Just make sure you get a firm level base and backfill at least 2 feet behind the wall with clean rock.

Jack
 
   / Parking lot retaining wall #9  
What a great project results!!

I am considering a similar retaining wall.

Did you place any concrete footing under those stacked blocks?

Perhaps these stacked ones do not require one, but I just am curious.

thank you
 
   / Parking lot retaining wall #10  
hey im stuck at mst aka UMR in rolla or MSM if your old. lets here it for central MO
 

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