Hillside Retaining Wall

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After my "Seeding a Steep Slope" thread, I had to do something between what was once the "front lawn" and the new slope. Two caviats (or CYA's, depending on one's perspective); 1st, I am in no way a mason and 2nd, a smooth, level, flush wall is not something that we (i.e. my wife-supervisor) envision to fit in with this hillside strewn with glacial till and stones twice the size of my J.D.). K, 'nuff excuses.

Heres an idea of the terrain and size of stones that I can't move with the CUT. I actually attempted to move the stone on the bottom right. I managed to dig it out (2/3rds below ground to start), and move it back up the hill to provide a sweep to the left, east, side of the slope. There will be a lot of daylillies there next year.

Tom

 

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Ah, pic turned out different after cropping. That stone I couldn't move was the on in the center front.

Sorry for the poor definition with reduces pic size. This is just the trail I literally dragged one of the big base stones up for the wall. If you can see the dark line in the woodroad, that's the drag line. There are a couple of spots where it veres off. That's where it was steering me. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

 

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This is the stone that steered me a few times.

 

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Might have been a little large for the 4115 CUT and 410 FEL /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

 

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Before "easing" that stone down the bank.

 

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"Slid" it down. Couldn't move it much after that (but is sure isn't going anywhere).

 

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The wall continues...a few stone a day. Had to excavate tree stumps, high spots, whatever I could get at to "quarry" field stone to use. Had a lot of piles out front and along the drive.

 

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The last, and the rest, are since the beginning of Sept.. It took that long to catch up with chores around here and get enough stone stocked up to get this wall rising.

 

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A little more each day.

 

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Note, in that last pic, the curved stone up top WAS in the wall but my supervisor wants it for a stone garden/fountain. Yea, that was fun lifting back out of where I'd set it. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Just a few more pic's to come up to date.

 

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A few more stone this weekend and decided a dry line and some back fill were in order.

 

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Just a few more, if you're not already bored. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

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Nearly to date (these were yesterday).

 

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Last one 'til I go dig up/drag out some more stones. Many of the stones on the top of the wall may very well not stay there. A lot depends on what sizes and shapes I can bring down from above the house where I'm cutting in another "woodroad". Not sure but, in a couple of pictures you may be able to see a large rust brown stone jutting out. That is intentional as a "stile" (sp?). Saw that in a show on VT Public TV (Stone Rising). It, along with one just above and further down the wall, shold provide a little interest and precarious steps up/down from the center of the wall. After watching "Stone Rising", I got "inspired" /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Building this has been a lot of fun (Ah, I mean backbreaking work!). The poor J.D., and my back, are no better for the wear and tear but it beats watching the boob tube. I'm posting all this today as my back is telling me to take a couple of days off. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

The cap stones will probably wait 'til next Spring/Summer. I want it all to settle and heave this Winter and then see where I have to make any adjustments. At least I should be able to re-grade the area above the wall and get that topsoil and seed down before the growing season is gone.

Hope you enjoyed the pic.'s.

Tom

 

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BTW, any constructive critique is more than welcome. I've never tried a wall more than about 18" high before. To anticipate, yes, I'm putting a lot of stone behind the front face, for all that mass to rest back against.

Tom

P.S. (Geez, I really need to be able to afford that "thumb" for the BH, as this gets higher. My back would surely appreciate it. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif)

 

[Mavrik02]

Lots of work but the wall looks nice. My personal experience with unsecured stone walls is that they move alot (here in PA anyway) and you need to maintain them every year or every other year (constantly pushing rocks back in or tearing down and rebuilding). Good luck.

 

[cqaigy]

Thanks for the Pics!! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

nice looking wall. I don't know anything about building a stone wall, but i seem to remember watching something on the boob tube about putting big rocks on top to help hold the wall together. But it's your back. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[EddieWalker]

I've always loved the look of a dry stacked stone wall. If I had some stone on my place, I'd be doing the exact same thing. Love it!!!!!!!!!!

Eddie

 

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Mavrik,

Thanks. I'm hoping there is not too much movement. The base is mostly 1000# + stones (poor little tractor), I have, or am, backing the entire face of the wall with 2-3' of stone, and the soil is a heavy VT silt/clay. Hopefully this will be sufficient to bed it all. Guess we'll see come Spring.

Tom

 

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cqaigy,

Thanks. It still has a way to go. While building the new woodroad, I'll be looking for all the large, heavy, stones I can find to lock in the lowers and nice big flat ones to use as cap stones. It will take a while to gather enough to finish.

I did get a little "creative" with some of the placement. I'll know better if it is working when I get another course of heavy stones on top. Some of the current top stones are there more for storage than final placement. What the heck, life's an experiment. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif If I have to tear some apart and rebuild, I'll have learned something, the hard way. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

Tom