Retaining wall ideas

[Varmintmist]

I need a few ideas. I have a bank that needs to be landscaped. Its to steep to use right now. I could probably get some weeds and mulch the thing but I am tending towards a wall with steps breaking up and towards the house a little more than 1/2 way to the left.

I like the look of the locking block, but I am not sure if it would look right here.

I also like rail road ties. Real ones, not PT 8x8's. I like the look and you can buy them by the truckload.

The other option that is burning in my fertile parsimonious brain is locust. I could use locust that I already own. Set them butt down and make like a palisade kind of wall. Similar to the walls you can see at the beach. Black locust will outlast me, and the price is right.

Ok, pic one. I want to start the wall about 4-5 feet up on the foundation. Sloping it down until it hits about where the end of the pic is.
pic one

Pic two, just to give you some scale the garage door is a 7 foot hole. I will still be grading the top 4 feet to the top of the wall and it will still be steep.
pic two

And lastly, a pic from dead on the end. The wall is to come out to about where the Labious Photohogus is (amazing how they can get in front of a camera 90% of the time) directly in line with the house. Maybe tending a little uphill. Just houseward of the dog is where I would like to put in steps. Bring them in at a right angle from the drive and then break them right 45 degrees to the top of the grade and blend into a walk to the front door and the landing/porch/deck that will be there from another honeydo project.

pic three

Suggestions?? ideas? comments? laughter?

 

[willywildes]

My back hurts just looking at the pics. I just installed 165'x 3' of versa-lock block. So i have a bad ad etude, cant give any positive moral support but i feel your pain.

 

[aondre]

There are two obvious choices, retaining wall or some type of groundcover. Based on where your driveway is I would recommend some drain tile to capture and remove water before it get to your garage and driveway. No matter what material you use for a retaining wall it would be a large and expensive project. For a full height wall you would require 2 layers of geogrid to keep from pushing out, this means moving lots of dirt. I would consider doing a 3' or smaller wall alond the driveway to give a clean line, then leave the rest as a slope and use groundcover plants and shrubs to finish it off.

As a professional landscaper I have removed many RR tie retaining walls only to replace them with brick.

 

[BB_TX]

With that much height, you might consider a tiered approach. Go up half way for the first wall. Then a flat tier of 5' or 6'. Then a second wall to the top. The flat could be planted in shrubs against the back wall and flowers along the top of the front wall. Maybe a grassy strip the length of it with some steps up to it and a bench or two. Then a second set of steps up the back wall. How about a double waterfall cascading down from the top to the bottom. Stop me. My minds going wild here. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

 

[jwnge]

I will have to pay attention here, I have the same problem. the top of mine is about 15 feet. I dug it out last fall for more parking room and it is frozen now, but come spring I will be looking for ideas also. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif JohnJ

 

[johan3400]

I like the idea of man made block retaining walls. I have experience doing some around ponds on Golf Courses. It is hard work but can be done easily. I am partial to one type of blocks and I am not aware of a source in your area. I will give you the site URL and maybe I can find a source for you as the evening goes on.

Try this site: http://www.basicblock.com/retproducts.html

 

[Paddy]

Your sitation is exact as a friend had. He used utility poles as you mentioned with the locust. I never thought it would hold. 13 years later, still holding.

He had a 4' trench dug with a BH. Just stuck them in a random heights. Every 6' he placed a "dead man". That is every 4' he placed a post in the hill side in concrete with SS wire back to the wall.(below grade).

 

[bugstruck]

That's a fair grade to deal with. I'd bite it off in one or two height installments. The tiered approach would be my choice. If you go with one tall wall, I'd bring that up near 7' at the house and then taper it down as approptiate. Looks like the grade actually rises as you come out from the house, so that's just a slope modification at the top side. I'm not big on slopes taking off right at the top of a wall either. Whole variety of reasons including wall load and water runoff. It could be dangerous for the wrong people. You can use geogrid, they go allot higher than that, but even a geogrid wall is going to have more loads imposed if the slope takes off from the top of the wall. The very top of the wall is the most vulnerable then, more in freeze conditions. You can do ties to that height and geogrid would be recommended for either precast block or ties.

I don't like the railroad ties. I've seen them in service at some locations for quite awhile but the pressure treated are holding up better for me. They have to be ground contact rated but don't seem to be the look you want.

I have a rental property amazingly similiar to yours with a drive in basement garage. Both sides of my garage entry are identical for grade. I'm holding 5' of soil at the house walls. First walls in 1980 RR ties. Second walls in 1991 with pressure treated with better wood tieback. One side looks perfect and the other has a 6" bow in it. I'm done with wood. Next time, in say 4 or 5 years, it's precast w/ geogrid or concrete with a retaining wall footing. I've learned my lessons. I know the geogrid would stabilize a wood wall much better than mine but I'm limited for lateral working area with the in-town property. I also wouldn't waste the $$ for geogrid to have to replace the wall in 15+ years anyhow (wood). My experience is that 15 to 20 is about the outside before the insects and weather have a serious impact. Ants are into my 1991 pressure treated wall now.

Again the tiered suggestions might work better for you. Gives you the option of doing one now and one sometime later too.

What we need is a landscaper or engineer with serious retaining wall experience to sound in on the latest materials and applications.

Also, unless your a young dumb man with like I once was, it's backhoe time for the key in of the wall to the lower grade. Goes without saying, if you go ties you need to lay the wall back into the slope. Pure vertical is a prescription for early failure on any wall. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif Also, if you goe ties run them about one tie width past the foundation corner and infill as needed for the angle of the wall face which will be falling upslope (away) from the foundation. Makes that end of the wall much more secure.

Good Luck. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[RobertN]

I would look at something like the Keystone Country Manor. It would fit in well with the background view you have. It is more like a stone wall than the more typical and industrial "Legacy" type 3-face block. Other manufactures make similar products too.

Your hillside is steep. It would most likely need two steps. Remember, you will want to have a 2:1 step. For instance, if you have a 6' high area, your first step would be 3', and the second 3' step would be set back 6' from the first. You can get around this with geo-grid fabrics, but that is a lot of dirt moving.

the Keystone page has lots of info on that if you poke around thier site.

If you look at my business page you can see a raised patio I made from the Country Manor block. Look at the raised patio project.

 

[Varmintmist]

Ok,

What I am planning is a wall no more than 5 foot above ground level. Basicly leave 1/2 the slope there and use groundcover and mulch. Figure 5 foot at the house, run out for 50 feet dropping to zero. I am not looking for level, there is no level place on my ground now, why break with tradition. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I dont need to build a 12 foot wall, the water problems I had I graded around in the first 50 hours I owned my FEL /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif This is more cosmetic than anything. The slope isnt slipping. There is some erosion runoff encroaching into the gravel of the drive. That slowed a LOT when I regraded the front and rolled the water left and right.

The problem is that it is just passable on foot, much less trying to gut grass or prune weeds (groundcover /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif)
I figure if I can cut the slope in half, then use groundcover and mulch to dress up the slope with steps, it will look like something.