Woke up at 0330 .... couldn't sleep
60 degrees and mostly cloudy here @ 0500 .... supposed to be partly cloudy with a high of 76 today. Supposed to have another 6 or so days of nice weather before any significant chance of rain - highs in the upper 70's, low 80's ....
Wound up with three helpers yesterday .... and got quite a bit of wall built .... it sort of ended up being a mixed bag though - while I was pretty happy with how the base course of rock ended up, the courses above that are a mixed bag ....
The kids didn't quite "get it", totally .... although I'm not sure I did either :laughing: - it's the first time I've ever done a rock retaining wall of any real scale. It's definitely an art ....
They seemed to be in a big hurry to chuck rocks around .... rather than working at a measured, deliberate pace .... with an eye towards creating something that was aesthetically pleasing, as well as structurally sound ....
despite a good bit of effort on my part to communicate what was actually needed and wanted ....
I will likely go back thru the upper courses at my own pace and reset some (many) of the stones to my satisfaction. The good news is that the hardest part (physically) - the setting of the largest rocks on the base course - is done .... and it looks reasonably decent I guess. Finishing the upper courses will still be a lot of work .... but at least the rock sizes are manageable (mostly under 100 lbs)
Ended up backfilling about 6" to 12" behind the wall with gravel and stuck some perforated 4" flex pipe in there to facilitate drainage.
I was amazed at how quickly the wall "ate" the rocks .... about 1/2 way thru I was wondering if there was going to be enough rocks to make it as high as it needs to be .... still may have to scavenge more rock out of some piles I have laying around ....
I think I'll have at least two of them back today .... if so I'm going to shift them to a few other tasks/projects I need to get completed to get the outside area around the barn done.
David,
Hope ya get the collar bone thing sorted out - it doesn't sound like any fun .... maybe the woman can give ya a little rub
BTW - congrats on the new job :thumbsup: