EddieWalker
Epic Contributor
Your smart getting it all done now. Seems that when I get most of a project done, I tend to wonder off to another project, and then three years pass and it's all overgrown on me with weeds.
Cement Bag Retaining Wall
- Thread starter WoodChuckDad
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That can happen with the wrong style shovel.
Top one for scooping loose dirt, bottom one for digging,
Is shovel blade angle important?
Bruce
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^^^ As much as I have used shovels... never really thought about high and low lift.
I do know I have broken all my "Best" shovels over the years... ones that had wood handles and simply felt right to use.
Now have some unbreakable fiberglass handled shovels and none have ever felt right.
Had a project where I would come home after work and mix a yard of concrete from sacks and pour... did build up the muscle mass but by yard number 12 it was simply too much for my hands... fingers have never really been the same since.
I do know I have broken all my "Best" shovels over the years... ones that had wood handles and simply felt right to use.
Now have some unbreakable fiberglass handled shovels and none have ever felt right.
Had a project where I would come home after work and mix a yard of concrete from sacks and pour... did build up the muscle mass but by yard number 12 it was simply too much for my hands... fingers have never really been the same since.
OP
WoodChuckDad
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I peeled some of the paper off the bags. All the bags on the top row seem to be cracked. I think a lot of this is due to how dry it has been. We got two soaking rains but other than that, not really enough. I don't have any worries about the strength of the wall, only the asthetics of it. My wife seems to like it, because she wants to cover it with moss and mushrooms. I was thinking i might get a small bit of skim coat to fill those voids to prevent water getting in there and freezing it apart. In the end, as long as SWAMBO is happy with it, I will be happy. I started this weekend with the objective of making the bridge more even. I had a grade I wanted to achieve and I need a massive amount of soil for that. So I decided to shift the material that was on the hill next to the road above the bridge and bring it down to use as part of the bridge and fill. This would accomplish two things. First it would give the even incline I wanted and it would also make the road a little wider at the beginning, making it safer.
It took two days to accomplish this and I'm very happy with the results. I would shovel enough material , working from the top, to create a new layer on the bridge 6 - 12 inches deep. I would then drive back and forth over it with the excavator, to pack it down. It was time consuming but what I ended up with seems rock solid and very drivable. I will used the tractor and the landscape rake to even it out, then compact it even more with the excavator.
I still have fill to drop in on the downward side, and I think I need another 80 or so bags of cement on the downward side, to lift the line up to match the banks.
Digging up the material on the hill produced some nice sized rocks that my wife and I used to create a driving barrier to close off access to land next to our gate. The loggers had opened that area up to create their base of operations.
The rocks don't look big in this picture, but most of them are several hundred pounds and a few were too big to manage into the tractor, even using a 6 foot pry bar. I used the excavator to bring two of them up.
It took two days to accomplish this and I'm very happy with the results. I would shovel enough material , working from the top, to create a new layer on the bridge 6 - 12 inches deep. I would then drive back and forth over it with the excavator, to pack it down. It was time consuming but what I ended up with seems rock solid and very drivable. I will used the tractor and the landscape rake to even it out, then compact it even more with the excavator.
I still have fill to drop in on the downward side, and I think I need another 80 or so bags of cement on the downward side, to lift the line up to match the banks.
Digging up the material on the hill produced some nice sized rocks that my wife and I used to create a driving barrier to close off access to land next to our gate. The loggers had opened that area up to create their base of operations.
The rocks don't look big in this picture, but most of them are several hundred pounds and a few were too big to manage into the tractor, even using a 6 foot pry bar. I used the excavator to bring two of them up.
Wakey
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Really enjoying your thread. Beautiful property as is Mrs. Woodchuck.
OP
WoodChuckDad
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The blessing in my life are not lost on me. I have benefited from good fortune.
OP
WoodChuckDad
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I felt that the lower wall needed to be built up some. We added another 112 bags this weekend. It was just enough to make it even with the hillsides.
I pinned them together with rebar running at various angles then also going backward into the soil. Then I spent some seat time in the excavator and the tractor. I am happy to say that I am finished with the major construction of my bridge. I have a little shaping to do next week and I will be able to get the crush and run delivered and rolled out.
The cement bags worked well, however, most of them show cracking especially on the top layer. I think it is simply the way they have been packed so tightly by gravity compaction of the other bags on top of them....then when stacked, they kind of open almost like a flower blossoming....hope that makes sense. I feel confident that they will hold up but I may put a skim coat of cement on the top layer to prevent ice from forming inside the cracks and breaking them completely apart. In retrospect, I might have been able to build a form and have a cement truck come in and fill it....I imagine that would have cost more....and it would have a very different look. Precast inlets and outlets would have cost me $15,000. I priced them and was shocked. We have hardly had any rain this month so I'm not sure the bags are completely set up. I have poured a water across the tops but with the paper on the bag, It barely soaks thru. I will be sure to update with pictures when I get all the paper off and as I pretty it up a bit.
I pinned them together with rebar running at various angles then also going backward into the soil. Then I spent some seat time in the excavator and the tractor. I am happy to say that I am finished with the major construction of my bridge. I have a little shaping to do next week and I will be able to get the crush and run delivered and rolled out.
The cement bags worked well, however, most of them show cracking especially on the top layer. I think it is simply the way they have been packed so tightly by gravity compaction of the other bags on top of them....then when stacked, they kind of open almost like a flower blossoming....hope that makes sense. I feel confident that they will hold up but I may put a skim coat of cement on the top layer to prevent ice from forming inside the cracks and breaking them completely apart. In retrospect, I might have been able to build a form and have a cement truck come in and fill it....I imagine that would have cost more....and it would have a very different look. Precast inlets and outlets would have cost me $15,000. I priced them and was shocked. We have hardly had any rain this month so I'm not sure the bags are completely set up. I have poured a water across the tops but with the paper on the bag, It barely soaks thru. I will be sure to update with pictures when I get all the paper off and as I pretty it up a bit.
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Those last 2 pictures really give a good perspective of the project. Very nice!
If I were you, I'd get some quick final grading done and spread a mixture of grass seed and winter wheat on the exposed soil. The wheat will germinate and hold the soil through the winter and the grass will germinate in the spring. The wheat will become mulch by June.
If I were you, I'd get some quick final grading done and spread a mixture of grass seed and winter wheat on the exposed soil. The wheat will germinate and hold the soil through the winter and the grass will germinate in the spring. The wheat will become mulch by June.
EddieWalker
Epic Contributor
It's coming along nicely. How are you going to smooth out the dirt so you can mow there?
s219
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Nice work -- looks great out there.
