Retaining wall
I have to build a retaining wall under my house where I dug out the basement to within 2 feet of the foundation. If I do a concrete wall on top of a foundation do I have to form both sides of the wall to pour concrete? Or can I just form the outside of the wall and pour with the inside of the concrete poured against the exisitng dirt? I suspect the dirt will prematurely dry the concrete by leaching moisture and the concrete will not be right when hard? What if I poured agaisnt plastic sheeting between the dirt and the form? What is usually done in these cases?? picture is: dirt <---- Form ^ ^ no form????? Thanks, Rich
Rich, There is no need to use forms on both sides. The dirt on the one side is fine providing it is not lose to the point that it will collapse while pouring the cement and mix with the cement. Common practice is to pour 3 1/2 inch thick sidewalks over tamped dirt without difficulty. Are you planning to fix this retaining wall to the foundation in any way short pieces of rebar set into holes in the foundation or something? - Doug
I recently got rid of our 28' aboveground pool. I wanted to convert the area into a garden enclosure. I am still in the early planning stages. I was considering putting in a concrete retaining wall and then later coating it with brick-coat or stucco. The wall would be circular, 2 to 2 1/2 feet high, and enclose 65 to 85 feet of the perimeter. Here are the questions that I have: Is this possible? I was going to build the forms from plywood, what type is best to use, or is there another material better suited? How do I put expansion joints in, what do they need to be made of, and how many do I need? Do either of the two sides of the wall need to be sloped and how much? How thick does the wall need to be at the base?
On the subject of the Keystone bricks, I can give some advice - and when I get some time I will take and post some pics. I just completed my wall in my back yard. I do like the look of the keystone brick. You can get a nice curved effect (which, when I post some pics, you will see). Some tips and cautions. If you are backing it up with a pool, rather than soil, I would not recommend the keystone brick. The physics behind them (pardon the pun) is that it partly relies on the force of the material backing it up to hold the wall in place. You will get an offset back (I forget how much, I think 2" per level) as you raise the height of the wall. For any wall you build - even with a pool behind it - footing and drainage will be key things to pay attention to. For footing, I used 6" or so of compacted crushed granite. In hind sight, I would have made the trench wide enough to accept a mechanical tamper and rented one. It would use more material, but would have been a lot easier than hand tamping the 65'+ length of the wall. The quality of your base rock (and compaction) will help determine the longevity and overall solidity of your wall. If you want a stable wall, you've got to get the base level, brick to brick and front to back. If you are interested, I'll post some hokey (but effective) laser level pics. Basically, I used a cheapo 16" laser level (you can get one for like $10 at Harbor Freight). Bolted it to a camera tripod (I had to make a mounting plate...then DUCT TAPE it to that because the screw hole stripped). And a piece of wood. Worked like a charm. There's hardly a shaky brick on the wall. I put drain perf tube and a pile of drain rock in behind my wall. Not so much because I live in an area with a rainfall problem, but I have a back neighbor who consistently over-waters their garden and lawn. So much so that I often end up with wet soil 12' into my yard. So I ran a drain tube and a bubbler out off of it. Anyway, that was a really long winded reply to your retaining wall question. Bob
I feel stupid asking this question, but my major in college was psychology, not math, and I'm finding it impossible to wrap my head around how to do this! We are putting in a retaining wall to go against our stone house. The area is 37' long by 4' deep and 8" high. Can anyone tell me roughly how much soil I will need to fill it? I'm not sure whether to have it delivered (which they calculate in yards) or to buy the soil at Lowe's (in 50 lb. bags). Can anyone here figure this out for me? Jen
Jen, you have 37 feet times 4 feet equals 148 feet times 2/3 equals 99 that's 98.6 this is cubic feet needed. 27 cu ft equals one cu yard so 98.6 divided by 27 equals 3.65 cubic yards. Sheresa
Hello all, I am building a retaining wall. The subwall is made of cinder blocks. I am putting flat rocks on the face with mortar. My question is do I need a water barrier between the back of the wall and the dirt? Will mortar deteriorate from being wet to much? I live in the Portland OR area. Our winters here are mostly rain. If mortar does deteriorate then what would be the best way to keep the water off the wall? Thank you in advance, Jason
Hello all, I am building a retaining wall. The sub wall is made of cider blocks. I am mortaring rocks to the front of the wall. My question is if I should place a water barrier between the back of the wall and the dirt? Will mortar deterorate if it gets wet? I live in the Portland, OR area so my winters are mostly rain. And if I do need some water barrier are there any suggestions. Thank you in advance Jason
In a message dated 7/16/2003 6:22:57 PM Central America Standard Tim, idaspudboy@... writes: you need ;;weep;; holes inn the wall to let out the wayer behind the wall..