Retaining Wall

[TheGrey]

If I remember correctly, those timbers were well under 10 years old. I want to say less than 5.

We've got some in the yard that are well over 10 years old, and look pretty good. But I don;t think they'll be up to the strain of holding in the slowly-collapsing upper yard much longer.

[Irving]

I don't want to poo poo timbers too much, as most of the ones I've seen are decades old. The ones pictured came with a story of a crappy contractor job all around as well.

[Mtneer]

We have waist high timber retaining walls that are almost 25 years old and still going strong. I suspect the contractor bought from a real lumber yard. The wood at Home Depot/Lowes is garbage.

[husky390]

Well, crap.

Yeah, guess I'd better stick with blocks, because we're not moving unless the zombies come.

I've got to call and have the guys come look and see if we have power lines or gas lines in the back.

Definitely worth it to call 811.

For block, I shopped around and received the best deal from Home Depot's Pro Desk. I rented the excavator from Chatfield Time rentals and transported myself using their trailer and my 3/4 ton Suburban. A 1/2 ton truck can handle the smaller excavator that I rented on the second weekend. Gravel and fill dirt is being purchased through Santa Fe sand and gravel.

Pro tip. If you have to carry the blocks by hand, start staging them from the furthest point to the closest point to where the blocks are stored. I got excited and did the opposite and by the time I was staging at the furthest point, my grip was shot. Being chained to a desk has made me soft.


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[TheGrey]

Definitely worth it to call 811.

For block, I shopped around and received the best deal from Home Depot's Pro Desk. I rented the excavator from Chatfield Time rentals and transported myself using their trailer and my 3/4 ton Suburban. A 1/2 ton truck can handle the smaller excavator that I rented on the second weekend. Gravel and fill dirt is being purchased through Santa Fe sand and gravel.

Pro tip. If you have to carry the blocks by hand, start staging them from the furthest point to the closest point to where the blocks are stored. I got excited and did the opposite and by the time I was staging at the furthest point, my grip was shot. Being chained to a desk has made me soft.


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Thanks for the tips!

I think this will be one thing that I end up hiring out- our yard has a terrible slope that is getting more terrible as the years go by. I can do some gruntwork, but this may be beyond my abilities.

Home Depot beat Santa Fe Sand & Gravel for block? That's amazing!

[Grant H.]

Thanks for the tips!

I think this will be one thing that I end up hiring out- our yard has a terrible slope that is getting more terrible as the years go by. I can do some gruntwork, but this may be beyond my abilities.

Home Depot beat Santa Fe Sand & Gravel for block? That's amazing!

I'll second calling 811. It's free to you, and while they aren't perfect (not even close) they'll give you a good idea...

When you say your yard has a terrible slope, how steep of an angle are you talking about?
How tall of a wall do you need?
How long of a wall do you need?

These will help determine if your wall is really a DIY project or not. Depending on the details, you might have to add geogrid fabric in between layers of block to provide a tieback support.

This is what my backyard looked like when we first bought the place, and we ended up with almost 5' of wall in the far corner of the picture. (I need to get a picture of the yard now...)

How it started by ARNEWB, on Flickr

As for timber vs block, I would strongly suggest block. As Mtneer said, getting good enough treated lumber to survive long term anymore is nearly impossible. Pressure treating of wood has been wussified, as with most things anymore, compared to the past. If you can get actual creosote soaked railroad ties, maybe. But even those are hard to get your hands on now.

And yeah, Husky is 100% right: Plan the project out, and stage your materials with thought and care. It makes a huge difference in the labor required for a project like this. I had the advantage of owning a bobcat, which helped dramatically in moving the 18,000lbs of concrete blocks that I put in the back yard.

If you're buying in bulk, HD can put some pretty good pricing together. It's worth shopping all possible sources, even if you have a contractor do the work, so that you know what the blocks will cost and what the labor is costing you. The contractor might be able to get better pricing, but doing your own research helps.

[husky390]

Thanks for the tips!

I think this will be one thing that I end up hiring out- our yard has a terrible slope that is getting more terrible as the years go by. I can do some gruntwork, but this may be beyond my abilities.

Home Depot beat Santa Fe Sand & Gravel for block? That's amazing!

I took my HD quote to SFSG to see if they could come close and they said they couldn't and that I was getting a helluva deal. The difference was about $1,000


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[Bailey Guns]

I don't have any advice to offer in this thread. But I do have a retaining wall story.

My elderly neighbor wants to extend his block retaining wall (you can see in the first photo). He needed about 5' of the embankment cut back. He wanted to use some of the dirt to fill in a low area in front of his carport to remove the 5" lip from the gravel to the concrete. We also built a drain into the area in front of the carport. We compacted the dirt and re-spread the gravel afterwards and it turned out pretty good for an amateur.

Bottom line? I got to play dirt-mover-man with the tractor and practice on someone else's property! I have a newfound respect for guys that operate equipment and move dirt. It's much harder than I thought it would be and you really have to pay attention every single second to what's going on all around you. But, it was fun and I helped a friend/neighbor.

Building a retaining wall itself is completely outside of any set of skills I have. Short of calling contractors I wouldn't even know where to start. Good luck.

[husky390]

Operating the equipment is the best part and you're right, it's not as easy as it looks. Especially digging a trench that's straight and the same depth.


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[Irving]

I don't have any advice to offer in this thread. But I do have a retaining wall story.

My elderly neighbor wants to extend his block retaining wall (you can see in the first photo). He needed about 5' of the embankment cut back. He wanted to use some of the dirt to fill in a low area in front of his carport to remove the 5" lip from the gravel to the concrete. We also built a drain into the area in front of the carport. We compacted the dirt and re-spread the gravel afterwards and it turned out pretty good for an amateur.

Bottom line? I got to play dirt-mover-man with the tractor and practice on someone else's property! I have a newfound respect for guys that operate equipment and move dirt. It's much harder than I thought it would be and you really have to pay attention every single second to what's going on all around you. But, it was fun and I helped a friend/neighbor.

Building a retaining wall itself is completely outside of any set of skills I have. Short of calling contractors I wouldn't even know where to start. Good luck.

Did you put this up on your homesteading youtube channel?