A retaining wall must provide a way to release the water that builds up in the slope behind it.
Making a concrete retaining wall.
Materials tools and site.
A simple cost effective way to make a retaining wall is to stack 60 lb.
So diyers have come up with an interesting trick.
Avoid having downspouts pointed at the retaining wall and if it s against the house keep soil and mulch well below the siding.
The interlocking retaining wall block can be used to build walls up to 24 to 36 inches high depending on the size of the block.
When installed properly concrete offers much more room for customization than any other retaining wall material.
Building a retaining wall in the conventional ways is not a trivial matter.
When doing your own concrete work knowing how to form a homemade concrete wall is an essential skill.
A poured wall is much stronger and generally last many more years than a block wall.
Then pour your concrete inside the form using a chute or hose attached to the mixer.
Block retaining walls are generally the same as freestanding block walls but with a few important differences.
There are block retaining walls stone retaining walls and poured concrete retaining walls but these can be quite complicated and expensive.
To make the wall as strong as possible pour the concrete in layers no higher than 20 inches working from 1 end of the wall to the.
That s right the idea is that.
Over time the bags will degrade and you will have an elegant and permanent retaining wall.
Pouring a concrete retaining wall is not that difficult and this easy to follow how to guide will show you just what to do.
For diy purposes opt for manufactured blocks that are.
If you want to build a concrete retaining wall you should consider pouring the wall rather than making it out of concrete blocks.
To form a concrete wall first set up plywood boards on either side of your concrete footer and attach them together with wire.
Rather than messing around with mortar they lay the walls down like lego pieces using concrete while it s still in the bag.
It took a day to rip out the old collapsing retaining wall to dig farther into the hill to provide room for the backfill gravel and to help unload materials.
Constructed correctly a form for a homemade wall will not only retain the concrete.
The wall we built was a weekend long project and an exhausting one at that.
How to build a concrete wall prep work.
Here are the steps tom ralston owner of tom ralston concrete in santa cruz ca follows when pouring a retaining wall.
If the form is constructed incorrectly the concrete can blow out the form breaking it apart and creating an enormous mess while wasting much of your money.
Without a pressure relief system the weight of the water in the soil would crack or even buckle the wall.