Stone (or Concrete Block) Retaining Walls - Any tips would be great.

[razorcat]

I am in the process of moving a huge amount of dirt in place around the foundation of my house. I have had a spontaneous desire to put in a stone retaining wall in the front facing the street. About 12-18 inches high I think. It will meander slightly

Comments

[rainarana]

It's probably best to go to the library and check out some books on the topic, as there's a lot to it that one wouldn't think of, such as if you need to add drainage, whether or not it should be cemented in place and so on. Also, check with codes because depending on the local regulations and depending on how close to the street you are you may have to have them okay it. We poured a cement retaining wall and it had to be a certain distance and couldn't be over a certain height due to possibly obstructing the view of traffic. I've made a number of dry-stack raised beds, mostly backing up to something, a wall or steps, which aren't too hard once you get the hang of it. It's heavy work as you want to use good sized rocks and depending on whether you have access to free local rocks, I did, or buy them as they may not all be easily stacked, so you'll need to break parts off, do a lot of puzzling. There are tricks, like digging some in deeper on the bottom level, using smaller stones in back and underneath to make them fit. And be

[razorcat]

What I've read in books/online shows black drainage pipe....but I don't understand how that fits in, where exactly does the water drain off too?

I intend to build a dry stack concrete block wall.

[rainarana]

We didn't add any drainage. One of our walls is about 18 inches high and the other about 12. The 18 inch one is closest to the street but only about 25 feet wide. I think it all depends on various factors, like type of soil and size. We've also heavily amended ours as the walls were added to level out a steep slope. And we have plants and walkways as opposed to lawn, so a lot more natural drainage. With the dry stacked beds there are plenty of places between rocks for water to drain so that isn't an issue at all.

[razorcat]

Well, that's good news ab out drainage. What do you mean by "heavily amended?"

[rainarana]

We have pretty heavy clay soil so when we raised the level we brought in a lot of good soil, compost and manure. Here's a before and after to give you an idea of the amount of soil. I also dug out a bit more behind the wall. It's much more planted now and I'm waiting until it fills in a bit more then will add more. Still tweaking it.

[the_seraphine]

That is an amazing transformation! (And I'm sure, a heck of a lot of work). Have you had any issues with grass creeping back through?

Beautiful job! =)