Retaining Wall
Building A Retaining Wall
Retaining walls are usually used for preserving landscaped areas. Retaining walls serve as purposes for practical construction, from giving vertical edges for sloped areas to supporting level areas. If there is a sloping backyard that risk of getting collapse soon, then a retaining wall is the best option for increasing strength. It will help in preserving the area and utilizing it for functional purposes.
Variety of materials can be used to build retaining walls, the most common are wood, concrete and tiles. Even though basically used as functional elements in a landscape, these walls can also be made of more eye catching elements like colored bricks, stone and timber.
Materials Needed
- Concrete
- Wooden stakes
- Gravel
- Scaping fabric
- Interlocked landscaping stones
- Land
Tools Needed
- Brick chisel
- Framing square
- Pickaxe
- Masonry twine
- Wheelbarrow
- Shovel
- Mattock
- Torpedo level
Procedure
1. Excavation and Layout – The task should be started by excavating the area where the proposed retaining wall needs to be located. It has to be ensured that the soil is graded on the downhill section. The wooden stakes have to be drilled into the downhill side and the masonry twine should be stretched across the stakes.
2. The Footing Trench – A trench has to be dug out on the upper side of the wall. It should be filled with variety of colored stones and then it is to be leveled with the help of a rake. The stones should be compacted together with a tamper.
3. The First Course – The first base of concrete should be laid out on the stones. A torpedo level can be used for this purpose for ensuring that the concrete is in level on all sides. All the remaining concrete units have to be laid out while leveling the stones at the same time. This step can be fairly dangerous, so the protective work gloves should be worn at all times.
4. Cutting the First Block – For ensuring improved grip and placeholders for the vertical joints, the first block of every even numbered row has to be cut into halves with a brick chisel and sledgehammer.
5. The Second Course – When the first block of all the even numbered rows have been cut, the next step is to lay out the second row of concrete units. Each block has to be stepped back by a few inches for ensuring a minor slope backwards.
6. Backfilling – As the height of the wall will increase, it has to be made sure to fill down the soil behind it. While the back portion of the wall has been filled with soil, it is also necessary to support its strength with an additional material such as cement. This additional support is always needed for walls that reach certain heights.
7. Final Grading – The trench has to be filled with crushed stones on the uphill part of the constructed wall. It should be topped with soil until it reaches a few inches above the final level of the wall. Preferably, the gradient of the soil and the crushed stones should be gently sloping downwards.
Caution and Tips
- If you are planning to build the wall by yourself, then ready-made interlocking blocks should be selected.
- The minimum depth of the trench should be ½' and it should be wider than the size of an interlocking block.
- The trench should be refilled immediately after the foundation layer is completed.
About the Author
You might also want to learn how to build a retaining wall and how to build a chaise lounge
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if i want to grout my retaining wall,at which part of the wall am i supposed to grout?
actually there is leakage from my retaining wall,and i am not getting that where will i have to do grouting (at which all points) and how will i decide that the points chosen by me are correct.
Retaining walls are not designed to hold back water for the most part. If too much water builds up behind the wall the pressure can cause it to fail. There should be a mechanism for the water behind it to drain off. Many retaining walls have pipes through them to relieve the water pressure behind them or a french drain system to move the water out the end of the wall. I am not sure that grouting is the answer.