How to Build a Simple Retaining WallPosted by Dalsgaard Fyhn on June 10th, 2021 Hey guys, it's flip today, i'm going to show you how to build a retaining wall. So we've got this little bed here with an overgrown rose bush and some irises that we've cut down and, as you can see, we've just got these little pavers on the ground and they don't do a very good job of keeping in the soil and the mulch. So we're going to go ahead and put in a little retaining wall to do a better job of keeping everything in the bed and to make it look a little nicer. Here'S a retaining wall. I built my backyard and i'm going to do this one pretty much. The same way with the same style, brick and if you're wondering why this one's kind of two-toned, it's because i went back a few years after i built it and added a top row. So the top row of bricks is not quite as weathered as the bottom rows. So the first thing we're going to do is get these pavers out of here and then we'll start, our trench for our bottom row of the wall. We'Re going to dig a trench. That'S about a foot wide and about six inches deep. So first i just remove the old pavers. The next thing i did is i put a stake at each point where the wall is going to end to mark, where i want the front edge of my trench. To be that way, i can measure from the string to the foundation and from the stakes to the foundation to make sure the front edge runs parallel with the house. Then i used a straight edge shovel or you could use a spade for this - to dig out the front edge of my trench along that string to make sure it's a straight line again. You'Re going to want this trench to be about a foot wide and about six inches deep, keep in mind, you're going to want to have a few inches of paper base in here and still have room for your first row of blocks to sit about halfway underground. So here i am getting back to work the next day, just getting the trench deeper and then getting this side. Part of the wall dug out. Where i want the wall to turn, then you want to use a tamp to start tamping down the dirt at the bottom of the trench, then use a level to start checking how level it is. If it's not level, you want to go back in and start digging out the high spots, the closer you can get it to level now the easier it's going to be later, when you put your p gravel or your paver base in - and you start to put In your first row, so just keep repeating that process of digging tamping and checking for level until you get it as close to level as you can then go ahead and put in your paper base. There'S a lot of different types you can choose from. Personally, i like to use pea gravel, but whatever type you choose, make sure to put it down a few inches deep and if you're wondering what that weird shadow is in the shot. Here i put up a canopy over my work area because it was so hot once your paper base is in go ahead and tamp that as well, then repeat the process of checking for level and making adjustments. I even used a small level to check for level from front to back. So now comes the most important part of putting in a retaining wall, and that is laying down the bottom row. Each block needs to be the exact same height as the block. Next to it and level front to back and level side to side, this can be a slow, painstaking, even somewhat frustrating job, but it's essential to the integrity of your wall. see this website make here going to be more amplified. The bigger your wall gets. It'S not going to look good and your wall will be unstable, so it's important you take your time and just get this as perfect as you can. This is the hardest part of building a retaining wall. The next rows just stack on so just know that while this may take a while, this is the hardest part. Once you get this first row down the hard part's over. Sometimes this takes adding a little paper base under a certain part of the brick. Sometimes this takes removing a little paper base and sometimes you can use a rubber, mallet and hammer down a certain side of the brick. But ultimately you have to get it level. So when you're building a retaining wall on a hill, you start at the low side and eventually you're going to hit a point where that first row blocks is going to run underground. So that point for me was right here when i put this block in it was actually all the way underground, so there's no need for it. That'S just wasted retaining wall blocks. So what i'm going to do is fill this back in with dirt to get it to where it'll be about, even with my first row of blocks and we'll just start. A second row right here, that'll be parallel all the way across. On top of the first row, so here i'm just filling in the trench with some dirt to step it up and then tamping it down. I really like those gloves, zebras, oh yeah. So then, i had a pea gravel on top of the dirt and got it to where it was the same height as my first row and tamped it down as well. Then it's just a matter of getting it level with the same tricks we talked about before all right, so i got the first row in that's the hard part. We ended up with two steps in it, one here and then a second step right here. So now i'm going to go ahead and backfill this with some pea, gravel behind the first row, and then we can start putting our second row on that's the easy part. Putting this p-gravel behind the wall is another key part of the building process. This is going to help water drain behind the wall and now comes the fun part. You get to stack on your remaining rows and watch your wall come to life. You can use an adhesive caulk if you like to help your rose, really stick. I had a drain pipe sticking out that was partially broken, so i decided to cut the end off a bit to give it a straighter edge. Then i sanded up where i cut. To give it a smoother finish and to make it look nicer, then i filled it behind the wall with dirt to get the bed up to the top of the wall, then we topped it off with mulch and put a little dirt in front, so we could Plant some grass seed there in the fall all right, we're all finished with the wall. I am going to go back and get a gutter extension to run the water right here over the wall, but other than that our wall is all finished. So what i'm going to do now is cut back and show you the before shot one more time. So here's the before shot and here's the after all in all, took us about three days of working on and off taking breaks from the heat. But it's all done now, so hopefully this video helped you out. Thanks for watching. Please subscribe to my channel [ Music ]. YouLike it? Share it! |