Making A Retaining Wall Of Concrete

Rather than messing around with mortar they lay the walls down like lego pieces using concrete while it s still in the bag.

Making a retaining wall of concrete.

Constructed correctly a form for a homemade wall will not only retain the concrete. It took a day to rip out the old collapsing retaining wall to dig farther into the hill to provide room for the backfill gravel and to help unload materials. Without a pressure relief system the weight of the water in the soil would crack or even buckle the wall. For diy purposes opt for manufactured blocks that are.

The success of your retaining wall depends on a level base. If you want to build a concrete retaining wall you should consider pouring the wall rather than making it out of concrete blocks. Follow the block manufacturer s instructions for wall height limits. To create a solid foundation dig a trench for the first course of your interlocking retaining wall blocks to sit in and make sure the ground remains even throughout.

Avoid having downspouts pointed at the retaining wall and if it s against the house keep soil and mulch well below the siding. Over time the bags will degrade and you will have an elegant and permanent retaining wall. Materials tools and site. A poured wall is much stronger and generally last many more years than a block wall.

A retaining wall must provide a way to release the water that builds up in the slope behind it. Retaining walls can be constructed using a variety of materials from poured concrete and large timbers to natural stones even bricks. So diyers have come up with an interesting trick. A simple cost effective way to make a retaining wall is to stack 60 lb.

There are block retaining walls stone retaining walls and poured concrete retaining walls but these can be quite complicated and expensive. When doing your own concrete work knowing how to form a homemade concrete wall is an essential skill. How to build a concrete wall prep work. Block retaining walls are generally the same as freestanding block walls but with a few important differences.

Pouring a concrete retaining wall is not that difficult and this easy to follow how to guide will show you just what to do. Here are the steps tom ralston owner of tom ralston concrete in santa cruz ca follows when pouring a retaining wall. Using a tape measure decide the length and the width of your retaining wall then mark off the area with the garden stakes and string. Building a retaining wall in the conventional ways is not a trivial matter.

Poured concrete retaining walls can be colored textured accented with embedded objects and much more. If the form is constructed incorrectly the concrete can blow out the form breaking it apart and creating an enormous mess while wasting much of your money. The wall we built was a weekend long project and an exhausting one at that.