hr3
Veteran Member
Ooo I see.. Well then good luck..Building a retaining wall...by hand.
- Thread starter N80
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Ooo I see.. Well then good luck..ultrarunner
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I started my wall a couple of years ago with field stone found around the property... so far it has not moved...
Problem is I need to go another 24" in height and ran out of 30 to 60 pound boulders...
So far I have not been able to come across any locally... the BX was a godsend moving the material and boulders...
Problem is I need to go another 24" in height and ran out of 30 to 60 pound boulders...
So far I have not been able to come across any locally... the BX was a godsend moving the material and boulders...
hr3
Veteran Member
OP
N80
Super Member
Here is an update for an old thread. We've taken a different direction. Decided that first hill is really too much of a challenge at nearly 6'. Also decided we were not willing to spend the money on a professional job. We also decided that we weren't ready to spend the money on man made stone and retaining wall systems.
We also decided that we had plenty of rocks down at our cabin property. So we're building our own wall on the second hill. We dug the hill out a little and started with really large rocks. No base, just the dense red clay. Rocks are dry stacked so hopefully drainage will not be a huge issue. We find them at our property. We use the tractor to move them around and load them into the F150. (You'd be surprised how few of these rocks an F150 will carry.) We get them down into the backyard by hand and a wagon. We are stacking them so that they 'step' down the hill. It will be about four feet high and we're filling behind it with what we dug out from the base. We will have to buy some fill dirt to complete that.
It could end up being a disaster but the rocks and labor are free and we'll pull it down and use them as a border if the hill pushes it over. See my post about mid thread for the 'before' picture.
We also decided that we had plenty of rocks down at our cabin property. So we're building our own wall on the second hill. We dug the hill out a little and started with really large rocks. No base, just the dense red clay. Rocks are dry stacked so hopefully drainage will not be a huge issue. We find them at our property. We use the tractor to move them around and load them into the F150. (You'd be surprised how few of these rocks an F150 will carry.) We get them down into the backyard by hand and a wagon. We are stacking them so that they 'step' down the hill. It will be about four feet high and we're filling behind it with what we dug out from the base. We will have to buy some fill dirt to complete that.
It could end up being a disaster but the rocks and labor are free and we'll pull it down and use them as a border if the hill pushes it over. See my post about mid thread for the 'before' picture.
ultrarunner
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I've been building a stone retaining wall down in the draw... it's been 7 years of finding boulder's and stacking...
So far not a single stone has come loose.
We have all kinds of requirements for engineered walls... none for dry stack boulders.
A neighbor had a beautiful dry stack boulder wall built with an excavator on site for about 10 days and all the rock trucked in... some complained about his wall and the city could find no violation...
So far not a single stone has come loose.
We have all kinds of requirements for engineered walls... none for dry stack boulders.
A neighbor had a beautiful dry stack boulder wall built with an excavator on site for about 10 days and all the rock trucked in... some complained about his wall and the city could find no violation...
EddieWalker
Epic Contributor
Looks great and it sounds like a fun, long term project. I'm looking forward to seeing more pictures of your progress, and hopefully some of where you are finding the rocks.
Eddie
Eddie
OP
N80
Super Member
Some of the rocks came from an old house site and had clearly been the foundation for the old house because most of them are flat and/or rectangular. Those were easy pickings as they were right near our cabin. We used a good many of those for a wall on either side of the cabin but there were a good many left. Now we have pretty much dug all those up and I was worried about finding more. But yesterday we looked on a ridge a good way away from the cabin and found a seemingly unlimited supply of watermelon and larger sized rocks just sitting on a hillside. Fortunately they are pretty close to a trail accessible by tractor. We have found a fair number of even larger rocks but some of them are at the limit of what my tractor can carry, at least on hilly terrain. I could possibly get them in my truck but once we got home it would be almost impossible to move them.
We also find hundreds and hundreds of cantaloupe sized rocks in large piles at the base of big trees. I've ben told they were piled there by folks clearing fields by hand but some of these are up on steep hillsides with no apparent terrain suitable for fields nearby. I wonder if maybe the trees didn't just push or pull the rocks up as they grew. Would love to know.
In any case, there are dozens of other rocky areas we have not explored (in terms of looking for appropriate rocks) so I think our supply is pretty unlimited. There is one large wooded ridge that had eroded in the past with the most gorgeous moss colored rocks that I would love to get but is not anywhere near tractor access so they will have to stay. There is a picture of that ridge below. You can see some of the rocks to the right. These are too large (for me) to carry by hand. There are dozens and dozens more like these. The ridge that is closer to the road is similar but the rocks are smaller.
We also find hundreds and hundreds of cantaloupe sized rocks in large piles at the base of big trees. I've ben told they were piled there by folks clearing fields by hand but some of these are up on steep hillsides with no apparent terrain suitable for fields nearby. I wonder if maybe the trees didn't just push or pull the rocks up as they grew. Would love to know.
In any case, there are dozens of other rocky areas we have not explored (in terms of looking for appropriate rocks) so I think our supply is pretty unlimited. There is one large wooded ridge that had eroded in the past with the most gorgeous moss colored rocks that I would love to get but is not anywhere near tractor access so they will have to stay. There is a picture of that ridge below. You can see some of the rocks to the right. These are too large (for me) to carry by hand. There are dozens and dozens more like these. The ridge that is closer to the road is similar but the rocks are smaller.