Retaining Walls

[ultrarunner]

Seems to be several options for long lasting retaining walls...

Stacked Blocks, Poured Concrete with re-bar and Filled Concrete Block with re-bar.

The wall heights I'm considering vary from 3 to 4.5 feet.

Any ideas from those in the know where each falls in terms of price?

Neighbor has similar with RR ties walls he put in 30 years ago that are now decayed... walls have not moved.

Comments appreciated...

 

[kenmac]

Don't know the price at this time. Call around to someone in your area that make concrete block. That's where I got mine. I used some 110 lb. ea. block & 85 lb. ea. to build my wall. My wall isn't all that long & it cost me $2500.00 about 8 yrs ago just for the block

 

[forgeblast]

I think you could get away with the precast wall stone with the pins, I think 4' was the top height. Easy to put in, easy to maintain, and a lot of different colors. We have one I will probably go with another when i can swing it $$.

 

[RobertN]

Agree. But, rememer you need 12" or drain gravel, and a drain line behind the wall. Probably why the railroad ties roted; no drainage. And, you need gravel as a base below the blocks. And, for a 3-4' wall, the first course may be below grade.

Do you have Silverado in the Bay Area? Good source for stuff like that. And, at least in Sacramento, they have a bunch of wall built so you can see a "finished" wall before buying a lot of block.

I think you could get away with the precast wall stone with the pins, I think 4' was the top height. Easy to put in, easy to maintain, and a lot of different colors. We have one I will probably go with another when i can swing it $$.

 

[ultrarunner]

No Silverado here... but, thanks for the tip and I will stop and take a look next time I'm in Sacramento...

Looks like they have a variety of products.

 

[Willl]

How do you feel about those larger prefab retaining wall blocks ?

(pic stole from web)

 

[MarkV]

Ultra in many areas a retaining wall over 4' requires an engineering stamp. Being in the Bay area, well someone wanted to look at everything when I lived there. You might save some problems if you can keep the wall under 4'.

MarkV

 

[samandmax]

I have used Allan Block AB stone on very steep slopes. It is easy to do yourself,looks very good and works!

 

[Gizmo2]

Wall has not moved since my wife and I put it up in 2005.



We used Geogrid How to Build a Reinforced Retaining Wall Using Geogrid - YouTube on the higher end. The other side of the driveway has the same type block wall with the higher end about 6ft and we used the Geogrid at two different levels on that wall, hasn't moved either, (Upstate NY).

 

[charliepff]

Gizmo,

What brand of blocks are they? We are looking at Allan Block but trying to find better prices.