Welcome to our article,
Dear readers, let us talk about how we build retaining walls, and why we build them. You see, most
people that own a standalone house, want to improve their property by doing a
few things in the yard, where they can stay outside and have a garden, or have
a barbecue with their family and friends. But there are times when it is not
easy to stay outside, because the yard is not level and, in some places, it is
hard even to stand up straight, so, something needs to be done to improve the
situation. In this case retaining walls can help solve that problem. But how do
we build retaining walls one may ask?
Before we answer that question, let us talk about the
retaining stone wall shown here in this article, I reckon that it is a well-built
stone wall, but a wall like that is very costly and hard to build, unless you
are an expert and know what needs to be done.
But, let us see what we can learn from this stone wall
picture, just by looking at it and trying to imagine how this wall has been
built. What we can note from the picture is that the retaining wall has been
built leaning towards the bank it is holding up, we can see this at the right
end of the wall where the wall goes around the corner, the stones are laid dry as there is no sign
of any mortar around, the stones are not all the same size, and they are longer
and shorter stones, but they are all the same thickness and they are laid the
same way as we lay a course of bricks, but at the same time the mason has made
sure that the vertical join are not setting one above the other, and this is a
hard thing to do with stones all different size, everything is so tidy, the
wall thickness is not shown anywhere, but because there is a very low wall
started near, it seems that the wall has been built like a double brick wall,
we can also guess that perhaps some of the short stones are not really short,
but they have been laid like a header brick to tie the front with the back of
the wall, at the top the last course of stone, the stones are longer and as
wide as the whole wall itself, so that they would tie everything together.
These are the main features that we can learn from looking at this stonewall
picture.
Now that we have explained that, let us write how to do it
yourself retaining walls. You know, there are many types of retaining walls,
some are easy to build others are hard to build, and there are many reasons for
building them. So, this article is going to be a long article, because we want
to tell you about them, as much as we can. Anyhow, because this is a long article, I need to tell you, that we have split this article and we are writing two blogs, this is part one.
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How to build
retaining walls.
Okay, there are several ways how to build a retaining wall,
and there are several types of retaining walls that we can build. Therefore,
first we must see what we gain by building this type of retaining wall, or that
type of retaining wall, and above all how much it could cost, before we can
decide what type of retaining wall to build. Now we want to build our retaining
walls with building materials that are easily available, to avoid extra cost. So,
look what local materials are available, where you are. You see, if you are in
a place where stones or rocks are plentiful, and you may even have some of them
in your yard, then it is cheaper to build your retaining wall with these
materials, and even if you have to buy the lot they are cheap anyhow; but if
you are in a place where there are plenty of trees and there is even a sawmill
nearby, then it is more appropriate to build it with timber.
Having said that, it is obvious that for you to decide, what
is the best retaining wall to build; we need to explain to you what could be
done and how can it be done. Therefore, hereunder we will try to do that. Let
us start with a very easy and cheap retaining wall that most people can do
themselves, even if they don’t know much about building, as long as they have a
few tools and know how to use them; here we are saying that anyone of us can dig
a few holes in the ground to place a few short posts and place a couple of
sleeper timber planks against those posts, then secure them by nailing or
screwing them to the posts. It sounds and is simple, isn’t it? But this is not
the only retaining wall that we want to show you, so, keep reading this article,
while we add more descriptions, because you can even learn how to build them.
Timber
sleeper retaining walls.
Building a low timber sleeper retaining wall is easy, just
about everybody can do it, you can do it yourself, if you follow our
explanation in this text here, all you need is a crowbar, a post hole shovel, a
hammer a few long nails or screws, a saw, a type measure and a few treated pine
sleepers that today are easily available at most timber yards.
If you are in Brisbane Australia, these are a couple of
addresses of local timber merchants and hardware to get what you want. If you
are somewhere else, you need to find your own.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunnings_Warehouse
Now, let us assume that you have visited your local supply,
and you have got all you need, so, you are ready to start, you have also worked
out where you want your sleeper wall to go; So, start digging the first hole
where the wall starts, you need to dig this hole about 600 mm or more in the
natural ground for the post to be strong enough to hold the pressure of the
retaining wall when the wall is back filled; you may have to concrete around
the post for extra strength, but this is not a must do, if the retaining wall
is low, because you can replace this with, packing the soil tightly around the
posts and if you have some rocks, wedge them between the top of the hole you
have dug and the post at ground level, because the rocks will exercise their
pressure on a larger surface of the natural soil than the post, they will be
able to hold back the soil pressure of the wall more easily, now that you have
done the first post, you can repeat the same procedure for next post and so on.
The posts can be made from the same material of the
sleepers; you can saw them to the right length and fix them in the ground as we
have said above. Now, to make it easy let us say that your wall is going to be
the length of a sleeper plank, and you have dug the two holes and fixed the two
posts. So, now you can just place the first sleeper against the posts at the
required level; the levels of the sleepers is better if you work it out from
the top down, because it is easier to change the bottom than the top, you see,
in this case you can always dig a bit or add a bit of soil at the bottom to fit
the bottom sleeper. So, mark on the posts the level you want to reach with your
last sleeper, and then mark down from this level the number of sleepers you are
fixing on these posts, once you have done that you are ready to fix your
sleepers on the posts.
Fixing your
sleeper to the post.
To fix the sleepers to the post now is simple, but still you
need to do a few things right, if you want your wall to last a long time, with
the materials you are using now; it is useful to know that in this case it is
highly advisable that you use galvanized nails or screws to fix the planks to
the posts, because the retaining wall is in contact with the wet or humid
ground constantly, therefore, normal nails or screws will rust easily.
You have bought some 75 mm and 100 mm galvanized nails to do
the job, so, you hope that you can drive these nails into the sleepers and
posts just by using a hammer, because it is the fastest way to get the job
done.
Okay, if you are good with your hammer and can drive nail
easily it is the best way to go, provided that the timber is soft enough to do
that, and if you have used treated pine sleeper it can be done, as all you need
to do now is to place the sleepers where you have marked on the posts and nail
them in, and then you can backfill behind the retaining wall and the job is
done.
But what about if you are using hardwood or old dry
hardwood, because you got it very cheap from a second hand timber yard, because
they were overstocked they sold this timber at a very special price, which was
less than half the price of the treated pine sleepers; so, you were happy to
buy it because it was cheap and the timber being hardwood lasts for a very long
time, but now you may have a problem to fix the sleepers to the posts, because
it is near impossible to drive nails into this old dry hardwood timber, unless
you drill a hole for every single nail, and even then the nails can bend even
if you are an expert with the hammer.
If this is the situation and it is hard to nail this timber
together, you can overcome the problem by using couch screws or bolts, so, you
use a drill and drill a hole for your galvanized couch screws or bolts and
tighten the screws or the bolt nuts with a spanner. But if you don’t want to do
this extra work and you want to use the galvanized nails that you have already
bought, then you can do the following: drill a hole as deep as you can just use
a bit a fraction smaller than the diameter of your nails, then try first with the
75 mm nails how you go, if it works and you believe that the nail go deep
enough into the supporting post and hold well then your problem is solved, but
if the nail bends or don’t go deep enough then you can try the following, and
this is one of the last tricks of the old trade, which not many people know or
use, this trick is not a trick at all and once you know it, you can feel even
stupid for not thinking about it yourself; so what is it? Okay, when you pick
up your nail to nail in the hole you have drilled, dip the point of the nail a
couple of centimetres into a bit of Vaseline or mechanical grease, if this is
not available just wet a bar of soap and rub the point of the nail on the wet
soap, this greasing of the end of the nail will make it easier to drive it into
any wood including dry old hardwood.
I believe that I have said
enough about simple timber retaining walls, for you to have some idea how to
build them, so, now let us talk about another type of retaining wall that can
be easy to build, it is a type of concrete wall that the blocks are laid dry,
so, anyone can have a go; and if you don't get it right the first time it is
easy to fix.
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Link Block Mortar-less Walls.
Link Block Mortar-less Retaining Wall Blocks
This is a different type of retaining walls
made with dry blocks, the mortar is not required, it is a low wall easy to
build, so, most people can do it themselves. Now let me tell you this, on the
internet I have found this local supplier who has placed a few short videos how
to build these walls; the videos are at the bottom of the page, please use the
link here-under, I reckon it is worth to watch them, if you want to build any
retaining walls. As I have said this is only a local supplier in Brisbane
Australia, therefore, the same materials may not be available where you are
living, but by watching these videos you are going to learn something useful
anyhow.
No need for Mortar
So, I hope you have used the link above and
you have been able to see the videos. Anyhow, whatever you have learned can be
helpful one day.
And now I want to explain a certain situation
that I have come across while I was writing this article.
Let me
explain the situation.
Dear readers this article was supposed to be about retaining
walls, but as it happens I was forced to change that name because it was
already taken in Hub Pages, so do not aspect that all the retaining walls
described here are suitable to do it yourself, because we have named our article,
DIY Retaining walls, because the retaining walls that we are going to describe
here are not easy to build, so, they are jobs for trades people, but if you
feel that you can do it then have a go, sometimes a bit of challenge is good
for you. Now that we have explained the situation let me continue to describe
how to build a garden rock retaining wall.
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Building a garden rock retaining wall.
To build a garden rock wall as shown in the picture is a lot
harder than you think, and you need to know how to go about it, you see, you
need to have a good eye to see how the rocks that you have can fit together to
make a wall. There are a few ways how to do this depending how tall the wall is
going to be and lots of other things.
You see, if you have only a very low wall you can just lay
one single rock one after another, or two rocks one on top of another making
sure that you choose the best face to show at the top and at the front, the
other part of the rock can be hidden in the ground, or at the back since you
are backfilling behind the wall; in this case it is not necessary to use any
concrete, as the stones can be laid dry, but if you want you can use concrete.
Before you start the wall, you must dig all the grass and
loose soil, even if your wall is going to be low. If the wall is going to be in
a place where the ground is slopping down, make sure that you dig at least a
few inches into the solid natural ground, so that the wall you are building can
sit on firm natural ground, so, your wall is not going to slope down the first
heavy rain you have after building.
Now, in this example, we are building a low stone wall and
we are not going to use anything to bind the wall together, so, there is no
cement or anything else between the stones, in this case because there is
nothing to stop the rainwater to run between the stones you don’t need to worry
about drainage. You see, one of the greatest problems with retaining walls is
the water that can build behind them, the water and wet soil puts pressure on
the wall and if the water cannot get out the wall is going to fail.
Now it is helpful to have a look at some stone retaining
wall, and for this reason in mind I have found this link in the Internet; so,
have a look at the pictures in this link; www.australianrockwalls.com.au/ there are several types of stone
walls, now you can start thinking how and why they have been built that way.
Anyhow, this is the first part of this article, see you in next part, buiding rock retaining walls.
To see more, or the entire article click on this link, DIY Retaining walls.
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