Retaining walls

smfcpacfp · Jun 2, 2008

I have an outside entrance to my basement which takes advantage of the natural slope of the land. I built the retaining wall when I built the house 30 years ago - six posts set in concrete which I dug with my post hole digger.

Well as you can see time has taken its toll and it looks pretty cheesy and what you can't see is that after water will run down to the door and into the basement when we have a really really hard rain (every 2 or 3 years).

Last year we decided to have a better system put in and got an estimate fo $6,000 for a block retaining walls. I was a little surprised at the cost (not anymore) so I decided to wait.

Now that I have my tractor I thought it make a good tool to use to do the job myself. We ordered the block, but what you see here is half what we will need ( we screwed up on our estimating:

and 54 tons of aggregate (that though scared me. Are we building the great pyramid of Geza?)

I have spent 11 hours over the last 3 days on the tractor digging a trench (8 hours digging 175% of what I needed to take out and 3 hours putting back the extra 75%). the pictures below are before I moved much of the soil back. As you can see my soil is like beach sand, so the digging and moving was easy.

Tomorrow I rent a transit to make sure thing are level across the trench and that there is a slope away from the house before we lay the footing aggregate. I can't imagine what this thing will look like when we are done, but want to complete it before we leave for a month long scuba diving trip to sub-sahara Africa in mid June.

Nasty135 · Jun 2, 2008

smfcpacfp, Morning ! It looks like this will be a fun job!! You have the right equipment & your soil appears to be somewhat sandy...Good pics on the progress. This will be a good post to watch... I love hardscapes

Keep us updated

Month long vacation scuba-diving ?? I think I'd rather work on my wall ,but I'm weird like that..

smfcpacfp · Jun 3, 2008

Nasty135 said:
smfcpacfp, Morning ! It looks like this will be a fun job!! You have the right equipment & your soil appears to be somewhat sandy...Good pics on the progress. This will be a good post to watch... I love hardscapes Keep us updated

Month long vacation scuba-diving ?? I think I'd rather work on my wall ,but I'm weird like that..

It isn't as much as I thought that it would be. I am having a hard time leveling the trench. The back box has a hard time leveling the trench bottom, if the ground that the tractor is moving over isn't also level.

Any ideas?

Nasty135 · Jun 3, 2008

Well I don't have a box scraper but have always had good luck with my big ox back blade, By using it backwards whether pulling it or pushing it... I finish graded my place before moving in and have done several projects just using it. It is a very tall & heavy blade which helps alot in heavy soil...Your sand makes me think it would be pretty easy (easy for me to say, I know) If you have a blade give it a try.

BTW: Love the Z06!! Wanna trade a 70SS 454 Chevelle?

Sandtiger · Jun 3, 2008

Hi,

I am definitely not an expert, but when I put in my retaining wall, and pavers, I didn't bother
to flatten the bottom. I just built a frame out of 2x4s and 2x6s (2x6s for the higher spots). Just like if you wanted to pour a foundation I guess.

I pounded stakes into the ground, and screwed the frame to the stakes, getting the slant away from the house using a string level. Then I just dumped the aggregate into the frame, using a 2x4 to initially level it (dragging across the frame) and used a vibratory plate (rented) to flatten it.

Hopefully you can use the tractor to dump the aggregate in (I had to use a wheel barrow).

I hope this helps (I had to use "xxx" to actually separate the 2x4s -- sorry).

Phil

2x4,2x6 for frames
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----------------------- 2x4 for dragging/leveling
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| aggregate |
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plowking · Jun 3, 2008

It probably be a good idea to put the drainage pipe ,stone[ cover with filter fabric] behind the retaining walls so trapped water wouldn't freeze and force the walls toward the walkway. Are you putting a drain in front of door? The brick and stone masons I've seen will put sections of pipe into wall sticking out flush to carry water thru from behind. You could run yours down hill away from house. plowking

smfcpacfp · Jun 3, 2008

My soil is pure beach sand as far down as my well head (around 330"), so draining tile is unnecessary. I am putting a foot of aggergate behind the wall as the plans call for, but it is probably unnecessary.

Sand is great for building since it is instantly settled and doesn't require any drainage tile around buildings. On the down side, it is hard on hardwood floors and not much grows in it.

Anyway we got it leveled and put 6" of aggregate over the sand in preparation of putting the block in tomorrow.

smfcpacfp · Jun 5, 2008

I had to make a road to do my excavating:

and finally the excavating was done and I put done 6 inches of aggregate:

Finally it was time to begin laying the block on a dreary and dismal day. We took our time with the first course. Hopefully we will make a lot more progress tomorrow:

smfcpacfp · Jun 7, 2008

Yesterday my wife put the corners in and we finally developed a rhythm for the project:

Today we made really good progress despite the temperature being in the high 80's. This was the first 80 degree day this year. We completed the wall on the right side except for the cap. Tomorrow we should finish the other side and perhaps get started with the paving bricks.

The picture below is my wife brushing off the aggregate that accumulated on the ledges. The block are filled with aggregate and there is about 1 foot of aggregate behind the block. Without the tractor this project would have been difficult, if not impossible.

I hope to get everything done except the landscaping before we leave for our 1 month scuba diving/safari trip to Africa this Thursday.