DIY Gravity Retaining Wall Progress

[SlideRuleEra]

Over a year ago I asked for your input on the evaluation of an existing RR cross-tie retaining wall in our backyard. All input was appreciated.

As a do-it-yourself project, I decided to construct a replacement wall in front of the existing one (in general agreement with comments from PEinc). Started work two months ago and have been going one block at a time. Work is about half done, here are a couple of progress photos (that's me in this one).

http://www.SlideRuleEra.net

 

[PEinc]

Looks great. Very nice job. Did you put good draining material and an outlet ppe between the 2 walls? You may want to remove the top row of timbers.

 

[SlideRuleEra]

Thanks, PEinc. I am using granular soil as backfill, but did not put in any piping. The blocks meet at each vertical joint with a sharp edge so water can escape at any of these locations. I will be putting on 3 more tiers of blocks, so the top row of existing timber will be buried.

http://www.SlideRuleEra.net

 

[PEinc]

What will the exposed wall height be? Are the blocks 8" tall? Sounds like it will be relatively tall for a block wall with no geogrids.

 

[SlideRuleEra]

These are the "residential" type blocks, they are 4 inches tall. The highest point will be just under 4 feet, most of the the 70 foot long will be less than that.

http://www.SlideRuleEra.net

 

[PEinc]

Good. I thought they looked bigger and was wondering if you were going more than 4' high. Guess not.

If you get tired of engineering, you can go into the landscape wall business.

 

[oldestguy]

A great looking wall, but I really like the hair cut. The shine may not be as bright as mine, but pretty good at that.

 

[SlideRuleEra]

oldestguy - There is a story the hair cut. I asked my wife to start cutting my hair seven years ago, and she has become quite good at it. She is happy to do this for an unusual reason: One of her hobbies is obtaining old dolls, then cleaning and fixing as needed for donation to charities such as children's centers or even nursing homes. Sometimes a doll needs a "haircut"; of course you only get one change at cutting a doll's hair - it does not grow back. She can practice on me, and if a "mistake" is made it does grow back (at least it used to).

http://www.SlideRuleEra.net

 

[dgillette]

Actually, that's a very fashionable haircut - you just need to grow a goatee to go with it.

Your wall looks better than the wall I built. I didn't get the foundation for the blocks prepared well enough, and the clay softened on wetting (some geotechnical engineer!), and the wall has rotated far enough out to look bad. I need to redo it, with overexcavation and compacted sand under the walls. That clay we have (or is it plastic silt? - never did Atterbergs on it), gets brick-hard in the summer, then turns to grease when it gets wet. Also shrinks and cracks if you don't water the lawn enough, then swells up when the snow melts. (I don't water enough.)

 

[oldestguy]

Off the subject of walls, try this some time.

Set up a mirror on the wall opposite your bathroom vanity, and with the proper angles you don't need barbering help. Looking in one mirror and seeing the back of your head in the other all motions are as if that head was not in a couple of mirrors. The narrower the room, the easier it is.

Haven't been to a barber in at least 30 years with that method. Of course I don't have much hair.

Who has the time to waste sitting in a barber shair?

Your WEB site also deserves a great cheer.