Storm Shelter walking path

woody · Oct 9, 2014

I have been looking at this for some time now and finally I had to prove myself right. What I had planned was to put one slab of concrete in the bottom of our pathway to walk on and stand two up to hold the banks. Well I kept saying that I didn't think I could bore a hole to put the post in to hold the walls, was going to use the concrete curbs as post. Well I proved myself right got one hole out of four bored, broke posthole diggers, dulled the pick, and was so sore I could hardly move. so here I am looking for ideas my next brain storm says to just put one in the bottom and lean the other two up against the bank with the beveled edge against the one in the bottom and the top resting on the bank. This would put the walls at an angle away from the walk way. My father in law says his has never had a retainer for the wall so to just put the bottom one in and leave the walls dirt.

davrow · Oct 9, 2014

I'd use retaining wall blocks, but that's 'cause I'm no good with pouring concrete

and I like the aesthetics.

creekshorefarms · Oct 9, 2014

I'd want to slope the walls a lot more if I left them just in dirt. More aesthetically pleasing and less risk of all the soil washing out into the walkway. I prefer the look of a nice grassy or otherwise covered dirt bank, but see the merit in using concrete.

woody · Oct 9, 2014

thanks for the reply, I have several ideas but I am leaning towards just propping them up on the dirt and then back filling behind them and landscaping the water away from the area.

Panik · Oct 9, 2014

Kinda free thinking here, but if you are still wanting to sink those curbs for posts what about using a pressure washer wand as a jet rod to set the posts?

At one point when I was working for an exotic animal sanctuary we had to erect a boardwalk through a cypress dome on the property. One of the areas spanned a small but very steep creek. We used 6x8 posts anda pressure washer to clear the holes and set the posts where we had to position posts in the creek itself. It worked very well for our situation, however that was in silt and sand. I don't know how a pressure washer wand would work for clearing holes in clay soil. It'd definitely be messier than all git out - who knows it might be worth a shot.

Ford850 · Oct 10, 2014

I'd taper the walls and plant some native ground cover on them.

woody · Oct 10, 2014

Panik said:
Kinda free thinking here, but if you are still wanting to sink those curbs for posts what about using a pressure washer wand as a jet rod to set the posts?

At one point when I was working for an exotic animal sanctuary we had to erect a boardwalk through a cypress dome on the property. One of the areas spanned a small but very steep creek. We used 6x8 posts anda pressure washer to clear the holes and set the posts where we had to position posts in the creek itself. It worked very well for our situation, however that was in silt and sand. I don't know how a pressure washer wand would work for clearing holes in clay soil. It'd definitely be messier than all git out - who knows it might be worth a shot.

the problem is rock, I used my PHD on the tractor and would clear the hole with my manual PHD. one hole worked the other three I could not get past about eight inches, pick and shovel not much help. I think I'll rent or hire a boom truck and let gravity do the work.

woody · Oct 27, 2014

got back to work on shelter walk way today, that boom truck operator put a work out on me but the results are looking good. Got to slant the left wall a little more and do some cutting and grinding on the loops and form up the front next to the door. but here is where I'm at for now. having trouble uploading pics I will try another computer.