Thanks for watching! I hope that you got some laughs as well as learned something about this gabion wall madness. Please click the thumbs up button if you enjoyed!
Two years later ... I stumble across your wall. The gabion wall is just what i need to hold my retaining wall in place and protect it from when creek rises. I will have to do mine by manual labor as well. Luckily I'm still young (70) . Super fun narration and love the dry humor. Thank you for the timeless quote from President Reagan.
Hi Doug, thanks for watching and the kind words. I get a lot of comments from some that don't appreciate the humor, but such is life. I am my own person. I have been wanting to post an update video and address some of the comments and questions people have as well as Stand My Ground on my side of things. Everything's holding up fairly well. I added more to it as well as filling everything back in with dirt, some Geo fabric, and some number three gravel topped with topsoil and grass.
@Igor-xl4wz Thanks for watching Igor. I do plan on making a follow-up video showing all of the Landscaping as well as some additions that I had made since that video. If you look on my channel in the shorts section, there is a one minute short showing the wall with the water level at the top.
Genius. I’ve been looking for months on what type of wall we could use on our property for a very similar purpose. And we have tons of huge concrete chunks left on our property by some unknown dumpster. Not mad about that anymore. Now we wait until spring and we’ll take pics for you.
Thanks for watching Debbie! Looking forward to seeing the pictures of your project. There's a review video that I made on that demolition hammer to break up the concrete. I'll post the link under this comment. I'll be doing the follow up video soon with the completed wall after I back filled it, and added a culvert as well as a bridge to the shed across the ditch.
On Riversides, this can work, but places like BC dont want you using Concrete..it affects the Ph of the water..harms Salmons they say..so How deep do you want to think before your head hurts..lol..Another reason to use the Stones on the facade side
I did a mass wall a number of years ago. Stone face either side,, rubble fill. Grade change from front yard to walk out basement rear.. I feel your pain. Mine was only about 30 feet long,, being a mass wall 8 feet high meant 8 feet wide at the base,, plus a footing that reached another 3 feet down below the frost line. Half a dozen of the stones were very large 400 to 700 pounds. Most were in the 20 to 100 pound range. Just muscle, pry bars, and sneaky when needed. Evenings and weekends as time and weather permitted, zero mortar or cement except the busted up stuff in the center. Just dry laid. This is 30 years on,, nothing has moved or shifted. Wife complained that it took too long,,,, it did.
Thanks for watching and sharing your wall story Sailor. It's hard, backbreaking work, but certainly rewarding. I love to just walk around looking at it to enjoy the fruit of my labor. I've done a few dry stacked stone walls with natural stones and some with store bought blocks in recent years. They appear as a backdrop in my fair weather videos. I'll be posting a follow-up after a year and a half with some additions and upgrades to this wall.
I have built gabber walls on a professional basis. The biggest one was a retaining wall for a shopping center where we used 4.5 thousand tons of granite and 17 thousand tons of road base behind it. I have also built gabber fortifications for re-enactment, where we weave the baskets out of willow strands and fill with dirt and soil. These are good things to protect cannons with.
Thanks for watching Armoury Terrain. I'm sure that as a professional who has built many of these walls, you may have shook your head in disagreement with some of my methods, LOL. I just sort of flew by the seat of my pants as I went about this project. It's relatively low to the ground, but I did make sure that I tethered it so that it could not wash away in a flood. I will be doing a follow-up video with some of the issues I've had with it as well as some improvements I've made. I built this a year and a half ago, so the Landscaping is now done and there's a bridge across it.
@@themostlymikeshow It will never ever wash away, it is too massive. The worst that can happen is that running water may be able to undercut it, causing some sections to slump a little.
That's spot on. It's exactly one of the issues that I had. One section had washed underneath and caused it to slump a little. I was able to drill a hole in the frozen ground, hook a strap and come along to it, and pull it straight. I then drove 4x4 pressure treated posts horizontally on angles to divert the water away from the wall. I filmed it, and will put it in the follow up video.
@@themostlymikeshow even though it takes a lot more material and effort, the best results are to first dig a ditch and bury half a basket in the ground to create secure footings.
Not to shabby for your first time. Normally you compact fill and level under before you get going. But difficult in that situation. Well done. Subscribed
I had done a shoreline repair using a product that was essentially gabion walls. It was from a company called Propexglobal the product was called Scourlok. Its basically a gabion wall but using geotextile material lined the inside. It held up to the forces of Lake Michigan and has survived 5 years so far. These 3'x3'x4' bins were ancred down using 9' earth anchors. Any material can be used in the bins. It was a ton of hard work but the end result was well worth it.
Thanks for watching and sharing Matt. I love hearing different ways that people dealt with similar issues. Time will tell if my project will hold up. It was just an idea to get rid of some junk concrete and bricks as well as functional for controlling the erosion from high water. I used the geofabric type material against the back side of the wall and then back filled with number three limestone, added a layer of the geofabric on top of the limestone, and then finally put topsoil. It has damned up just a couple days ago to the top of the wall, and everything seemed to hold up well. The part that I am having issues with though, is the exit pipe. I will address this in a future video. You see, there is a 24-in pipe supplying water to this ditch, and the exit pipe at the end of my wall is only 16 in. Not good. My municipality refuses to address that, so I am going to state level and see what they can do with the State Department of Environmental Protection.
Massive respect! I repaired a collapsed wall and related drainage system this past fall. It’s so true about the days getting shorter while working in the cold with a head lamp and lights.
Thanks for watching and the kind words T23001. I started on this when the days were a little warmer and with more light and once I get involved like that, it's all that I want to do. After the wall was complete I did wait until spring to do landscaping and back filling. Was your wall a gabian wall?
@@themostlymikeshowIt was a dry stone wall (it’s super rocky here). I followed up this year with an underground drainage pipe. I really like your idea of recycling leftover concrete and rocks.
Very cool! When I was in Afghanistan we used these to surround our base, only difference is we filled them with sand and stone and they had fabric liner inside to hold it in
@@preparedmindstrongspirit5724 well, yes, it does move through, but it slows it down and diverts it. It actually carved the ditch bigger the other direction from the diversion. What I like is that it allows the water to absorb when it gets high. It's always going to take the path of least resistance, at least from what I researched, which is making it carve the opposite bank. I own both sides of the ditch.
Anyone wanting to do this you better get permissions from the city or you may have an issue selling the house later. Even if you're not 'redirecting the river etc' the aholes at the city will have a conniption for no reason about this.
Thanks for watching Jeffrey. Yes, I would imagine that some municipalities would. I just think that being that I filed multiple complaints with my boro being that there's a 24 inch pipe feeding this ditch, which occasionally flows at full pipe when it floods... and then there's a 16 inch pipe at the end that flows under the road which dams up. Even if there's no obstructions it dams up. Usually one stick will go across that pipe and then the leaves and grass build up on it. I believe that this is a clear violation of plumbing code, and they don't want to do anything about it. They keep promising, but they don't produce any results. It's ridiculous. At least this wall keeps the water from just coming into my yard, and flooding my garage. Instead, it flows over the end and then goes down the road and washes my gravel out of my driveway.
Thanks for the new idea. We have a property next to a rental and there is a natural drainage that overflows in the rental's back yard and comes over to our property and runs beside our 48' garage. The water has flooded the building several times as the concrete is just a little above the grade. I told the owner and he acted like he wasn't comprehending what I was telling him. It hasn't flooded recently. This idea would be great for a border wall between the properties.
Thanks for the watching B A. There are commercially available pre-made gabion baskets, but for this application it had to be tapered, which they don't make, at least from my research, so I had to custom build these baskets. Good luck on your project if you decide to do this.
The legal principle of law called ‘nuisance’ is on your side if they did something that caused the flooding to travel your way if it didn’t ‘historically.’
@fishhuntadventure I wish that I knew how to pursue this. The whole reason for this ditch to flood is the undersized pipe where the water exits. I think that it's a clear violation of plumbing code as well as a deadly hazard if someone would fall into it. It's only a 16 inch pipe exiting and there's a 24 inch pipe feeding it which runs full pipe when we get a big storm. I have three complaints to my municipality in the past 5 years and they are doing nothing about it. I called the Pennsylvania state dep and they told me they would do something about it over a year ago and haven't done anything yet. Thanks for watching.
I worked on a wall in China in my younger days I had a lot of help there is no way I could have done it by myself. We did it all by hand we even made our own stone blocks. It took us a few years to finish the wall and they say you can see it from space people started calling it the Grate Wall of China but we just call it the border wall back then.
Great story Roy! Thank you for watching. Yes, border walls have been built for one reason or another since the beginning of time. This one was a real challenge for one man, but I stuck with it, and progress motivated me through. I don't think I would take on a project of this magnitude again, but I would certainly like to make some smaller ones and use better material for fill, so it's a little more ornamental. There's lots of pre-made gabion baskets that are in pretty cool shapes from cylinders to spheres.
Looks very good! This is a very eye-pleasing wall as well. I would definitely like to build one of these walls to separate me and my neighbor on the top of the ground. Then structurally trying to make it look aesthetic enough to please both sides.
Thanks JT! I've had mixed opinions on the eye pleasing part. I don't think it looks too bad, and I got a lot of compliments from my friends.. however, I've had people call it a hideous monstrosity in the comments. The comments help the video whether they are good or bad though.
I can't say that I've build exactly Gabion Walls, but we built a WHOLE CRAP TON of "Hesco barriers, or Hesco bastions" (Google them for photos) in Afghanistan! They're basically, Gabion walls but they're filled with sand instead of rocks and they kept us from getting shot by small arms and shrapnel! Love me a Hesco Barrier! Thanks for your Gabion Wall story! That was a labor of love! What a beautiful wall! Shalom, brother.
Pretty decent job. Needed a cutoff wall, but that's difficult without some equipment and some way to dewater. I've built miles of gabion walls in creeks/rivers/channels - hundreds of thousands of tons of rock. The worst part was always the cutoff walls since they were typically full of water and had to be dewatered. The problem with being in water is accelerated corrosion, especially the wire/hog rings. They make heavy-duty gabion wire and you're supposed to continuously lace all edges with a double wrap every other cell - very labor intensive. But they also make high-tensile hog rings (in stainless for high-corrosion areas or galvanized - also a new specialty coating with 120 yr lifespan) that are installed using pneumatic gabion guns. The rings come in 50-piece clips, vastly speeding up connecting baskets together. The real skill is maintaining level baskets and completely filling them to avoid sags. And if you need a decorative face, it adds another level of complexity/cost. We mostly used Maccafferi gabions (they claim they 'invented' gabions in the 1800s) which were more flexible - both a blessing and a curse (hard to maintain straight/level lines since the baskets sagged). Hilfiker made welded-wire baskets - they were difficult to bend, so they weren't as useful in the winding waterways we often worked in.
Wow! That's pretty impressive Arthur. I only use the hog rings to hold the baskets together while I lace them with the galvanized wire. I would have liked to have used heavier Duty hog rings, but I had trouble finding just the ones that I had over an inch in diameter, so I settled on these light ones. I tethered the wall to some stakes underground, and built a bridge to the shed on the opposite side which had a subframe of heavy angle iron attached to the bridge as well as the concrete slab under the shed which acts to keep the wall from leaning in. Time will tell if it will hold up or not. I considered as an added precaution to drill and sink heavy 2-in pipe as stakes in the areas where the wall is higher. Thanks for watching.
I’ve done this and it’s the best and greatest way to do it. TIP you can get any foundation rebar company to take 3/8 rebar and put a hook on each end like a candy cane the with of your wall and run a pice of rebar on the both outsides of your cage and just hook it from side to side . Very fast strong and straight. Just give the proper dimension for the wall. You won’t have to wrap and twist that wire to keep it from spreading
It's been a year since you posted this and I am curious if you have seen any erosion in the bottom of the ditch that has affected the wall at all? It looked to me as if there may have been the possibility of scour that would undermine the wall base due to the elevation above the waterline at which it was installed. How has it held up?
Hi Matthew. You are spot-on with the erosion at the bottom of the ditch. The wall seems to have speeded up the flow of water, so the bottom started to undermine one section near the culvert. I hoisted the wall back, and made diverters out of 4x4 pressure treated, and drove them under the wall at angles to divert the water away from the wall. A few careful placements of stone also made the water divert toward the opposite side. It is now cutting into that side, but that's what I want. I own both sides of that ditch, and where it is eroding to now is where it was originally. I will be posting a follow-up sometime in the future showing these repairs as well as some more sections of wall that I added. I also landscaped, put a bridge across to the shed, and added a culvert for my gutter drains.
liked the vid. When I saw the gabion I knew it was going to speed up the water and in time it will cut down and undercut one side. (lots of vids on this on YT) Putting down a layer of riprap and covering with 20 GAP stone chip to interlock it in place would mitigate that. Add a wall 10-12 inches deep of stone chip behind the wall to stop the water digging behind it. I also saw a shed on the unprotected side close to the bank, was it undermined? This looked like a bigger job where the culverts looked too small under the drive and mebbe could do with upgrading? effective result and good job on the cages.
@williamoloughlin8298 Thanks for watching William. Yes, it did exactly that. It started to cut into the opposite side. It's been about 2 years now and I think it is done eroding that side as well. I will be doing a follow-up video showing the back filling and how it was done. I basically laid out some Geo fabric underneath, filled it with number three limestone, and then about 15 in from the top, put another piece of Geo fabric on top then filled with topsoil against the wall. This way the water can still expand if needed. It's funny you mentioned the Culvert under the road. It is the main reason that this was done. If my municipality had put a bigger pipe in, this probably wouldn't be necessary. I have owned that property for over 5 years, and have been constantly trying to get them to fix this. When I do the follow-up video, I will show the 24 inch pipe feeding this ditch with a full pipe of water, while that measly 16 inch pipe is trying to drain it all. To me this is clearly a violation of plumbing code, but I am no code enforcement officer.
Just found your video. Love your videography and your commentary. I bought a "Rock Farm" and need to do a Gabian wall just to get rid of all the rocks/boulders/rubble lying around the property and to delineate the driveway. You made me know I can do this on my own. P.S. Love the brake rotors in the mesh, and will be doing the same.
Thanks for watching and sharing your plans for your project Roadmaster. You are welcome to share your pictures on the Mostly Mike show Facebook page. I like seeing pictures of people's progress with projects like this. I appreciate the compliments on the video and wish you the best of luck on your project.
Thanks for watching and the kind words pool inspector. I haven't been lucky enough to see high water on it, but saw marks about 3/4 of the way up with debris stuck to the sides. No water has gotten over where it had prior. I do plan to do a follow-up video in the near future which is long overdue. People have been asking about its performance. I had a couple unforeseen minor issues but nothing big which I will show in that video.
You can get rebar ties in various sizes to do the job those hog rings were supposed to do. The hog rings will only hold to the bending strength of the wire they are mad of. When they rust, that will be less. Not good. Rebar ties are short lengths of wire with a loop at each end. You wrap them around the two pieces you want to hold together and put the loops next to each other. There is a winder that has an offset hook in it that you push through the wire loops. By making a winding motion with the tool, you can wind the wire tight nearly effortlessly in about 3 seconds. They won't come open like your hog rings, although they will eventually rust away as well. Look up "rebar ties". Cheap and easy. Leave the hog rings for the pigs.
Thanks bomaite. I only used the stainless hog rings to temporarily hold it together before I laced it with high tensile strength galvanized wire. Those rebar ties are a great idea though.
Love it man. I'm dealing with a rail road tie wall that fell over. Looking for another build. You gained a sub. And thank you for helping keep America great😃
Glad you enjoyed OFF-Grid. I'm hoping to post an update showing the landscape,some more wall that I added, and a few small issues that I had to address. It's all holding up well. Thanks for the watching, commenting, and subbing. Much appreciated!
I live in Mexico and have two acres closing all in. We have SO MUCH extra broken concrete everywhere. This will work perfect! Roughly 7 grand USD right now just with gravel. This idea should make it it cut down extremly on hard cost!
I did do the walls in my back yard but instead of the hog nose rings I cut the one out side leg of the wire off and bent then around the sides piece . Also used the same method to make a 12 ft wide Matt 8” thick with the 3x5 rock to prevent erosion .
Nice Richard! I think that I am going to be making a mat along the bottom of that ditch to prevent erosion as well. I never thought that would be a problem but the ditch just keeps trying to match the elevation of the pipe going under the road. I started that project way too late in the year and I am just waiting for everything to thaw out and dry out to continue it. I might post an update video when it's done. Thanks for watching!
Thanks for watching! I'm going to try to make an update soon showing what everything looks like now, and addressing some questions, theories, political comments, etc.
Η εισαγωγή στο βίντεο όπου εξηγείς τους λόγους για τους οποίους αποφάσισες να φτιάξεις τον τοίχο σου είναι όλα τα λεφτά. Σε παραδέχομαι. Παρεμπιπτόντως εξαιρετική δουλειά.
Thanks for watching and sharing Scott. The larger holes in this material made it a little tougher to fill...especially when I ran out of the concrete rubble. I had to stack up the larger pieces of limestone, and then fill the middle in with the finer pieces.
Hi, loved watching you building the wall. Just like usual, someone that never built a thing will have an opinion: Shouldn't you tilt the wall and rest it against the bank? That way the wall would be more resistant to water erosion over time? Just a thought. Great video.
Thanks for watching and commenting. Not sure about tilting the wall, but I did tether it before backfilling, and did most of the backfill using #3 limestone with geofabric to allow expansion. The water is actually not fast moving when it rises.. Instead it sort of Dams up at the culvert. I will be doing the follow-up video and explaining this better sometime soon.
If you put a deep empty over-flow lake in there too (empty channel from the river to the deep seasonal pond you dig out) then when that river gets too high it will flow in to your large lake you’ve dug out….. preferable very deep, so it slows the water down and decreases flooding. (Maybe put one higher up the river too, before the river gets to your property, as that’ll probably help more!!)
Thanks for watching Jack. Yes, I wish that I could do all that. If you look at the pipe where the water exits this ditch, that pipe is actually 10 inches smaller than the pipe that feeds this ditch, and I cannot get my municipality to change it for anything. It is a clear violation of plumbing code. This wall sort of acts as a lake. I did not make it to stop the water, but just divert it so that it keeps going Downstream. Prior to having the wall, the sloped sides of the Rio Brandon allowed the water to just flow right up onto my property and flood my garage out. It does not do that anymore. It carries the water to wear that water should be exiting a larger pipe and then it overflows, and goes down the street washing my driveway out. Better the driveway than my house or garage though. I am still filing complaints to get a larger pipe put in. Wish me luck! 😁
Thanks for watching and the kind words Lorraine. I try to add humor, entertainment, and a story to all of my videos. Sometimes I get carried away with it, but I try to find a balance. 😁 I'm glad that you enjoyed.
@@themostlymikeshow Good job! For the most part... however, I fully expected that you would widen the ditch before building-- why didn't you cut into the bank on your side before building the wall? You effectively narrowed that channel-- which doesn't bode well for your neighboring "country" (Is war looming for you two once the flood waters swamp that property?) I disagree with Lorraine that you "explained everything perfectly". So many questions remain: aside from constricting the water flow, what ties the wall to your side of the Rio Brandon? Will the constricted flow undercut the wall and cause it to fall over? What was that additional wall structure around what looks like a manhole for? Why doesn't the wall extend above the height of the bank? A narrower channel gives excess water only one direction to expand-- up. Plus, the water will move faster through there (assuming the pipe on the other end can keep up with it). I look forward to a follow-up video addressing these issues-- and video of the channel next time it floods. Thanks!
@@crustycurmudgeon2182 thanks for watching Crusty Curmudgeon. There's a lot to digest in your questions, but first of all the wall is higher than the lay-of-the-land. The reason that I did not widen this ditch is because over the years it has eroded onto my side a few feet. As for the war with neighboring countries, I own both sides of that ditch. In the upcoming follow up I will show the diverters that I made to guide water away in the events of high water which is eroding into the other side. That's exactly what I wanted it to do because it's where it ran originally. This has made the ditch able to handle more water than original. When I landscaped, I backed it with a Geo fabric material on the bottom, and filled with number 3 limestone adding another layer of Geo fabric on top before finally putting topsoil on. Long story but you got to trust me on this one, it works.
It's kind of a long story what I actually did to keep the water back. The wall sort of absorbs a lot of the water while directing it Downstream. The Geo Fabric and the back filling are what actually keeps the water from going up on my property
What would work cool would be the IBC container cages with those bulk sand bags inside them filled with rubble and sand. They could be stacked and make a very formidable wall. Might even be a cool way to back up a dam.
Thanks Joseph. The water has gotten about 3/4 of the wall height, but not sure if it's as much water as the footage in the video. It's tough to judge because the water actually wore the ditch down to the level of the pipe in the culvert, and started to carve the opposite side of the ditch, which is just what I wanted it to do. The wall itself will absorb a lot of the water too. I added more features and landscaped since this video, which was made a year and a half ago. I plan to post an update soon showing the upgrades and issues.
Thanks for watching and the kind words Pacificloon! Glad you enjoyed. There's a one minute short follow up that I just posted last week. The link is in the description.
Ha ha Thanks Kathy. I will have to explain the "circle game" in a later video...which is the delusional white power hand gesture. It's just a stupid game that kids play that was on Malcolm in the Middle back in the day.
JoeBob get a life he did no such thing. Thanks for the great video you have the best one I've seen so far. You have given me hope of being able to fix our backyard. We have one heck of a hill and I'd love to have a yard. So this is now on my list of things to do. Keep doing videos man your great at making them and it was funny at parts too which makes any job easier for sure. Someone should put you on a home show id watch you.Thanks again.
@@heathersmith787 Thanks for watching and the kind words, Heather! These walls are a lot of work, but I am very happy with mine. I haven't landscaped around mine yet, but I might post something showing it after I get it completely done.
Very nice and simple. Good job! The only downside is that, at 9:23, I see the gabion is not in straight line. My perfection is kicking me seeing it that way lol. If it was me, I'll make sure all of them are straight using a string of rope before I fill it will rocks. But overall, its a good diy project.
I appreciate you watching Steven. Actually, the ditch kind of swings at an arc. I was able to manipulate some imperfections. I was really hoping by now to get an update video out showing the back filling and Landscaping. It looks a lot better now with grass growing around it, a few more sections, and even a culvert. The shed is actually spun around and there is a bridge going across. Hopefully by the end of summer I will have that video out. My schedule has been nuts lately.
Years ago, I told my father about such a wall along the Brandywine river just by the Chadds Ford Art Museum in PA. He quickly pulled out a brochure from some Italian company that he said invented them. There were pictures of them in WW1 fortifications. He was very proud of his Italian heritage. I was like it's a cool idea basically using chain link fencing to act like a bag and filling it with crushed rock. Nonetheless, it's not like they went to the moon! I guess I'm too much an American.
Thanks for watching 99. Actually, it has been the other way around. If you notice the pipe at the discharge end, you can see that it is a 16 inch pipe. I didn't not show the pipe feeding that ditch, but it is a 24 inch pipe. Clear violation of plumbing code. For 5 years I have been complaining to my municipality and have made three formal complaints and even contacted my State Department of Environmental Protection. I believe that at some point the discharge pipe will be enlarged to at minimum, 24-in, but at least 30 for minimum adequacy. This was a step in the right direction by making this retaining wall, but it is not a complete solution. It just kept the water from easily overflowing the banks and entering my garage. I hope to make an update video sometime soon showing the back filling and Landscaping as well as some additions that I made. I want to make another video addressing questions, and political statements that people have been making. Hopefully it will be humorous as well as informative. Thanks again for watching!
Thanks for watching Jason. Okay, in my own defense, that was in November and December when it gets dark at 4:30 in the afternoon in Pennsylvania. I don't think anybody Minds a little noise at that hour. I always made sure that I stopped by around 9:00 p.m.. most of my neighbors had stopped and commented on my progress with it.
Whenever you cut the hog panels into sections, you lose 4 inches because you have to cut the cross wires back to the longways wires to make a hem to the panel. If you can instead BEND the panel where you need to have a corner, you won’t lose 4 inches, and you will have fewer seams. But bending the panel corners is a LOT harder unless you make a nice jig to do it.
I thought about doing that Jim, but it would have been really hard to bend those without heat. That wire is about 5/16 of an inch thick, maybe more. At the end I had almost a 5 gallon bucket full of the 4-in stubs.
@@themostlymikeshow Thanks for letting me know. I read some more comments and I have to say I like the technique of leaving some of the stubs attached and using them to bind the panels together. Anyway, well done. Looks solid and attractive. Sift some dirt down in there and you can grow plants. In 20 years it'll be a wicked sturdy hedge.
Mike! I loved your video! 😂 Your dry sense of humor made me crack up! 😅 I'm planning on doing this as well. Do you need to put a drain pipe and gravel BEHIND the wall as when doing a block or stone wall, or is it sufficient as is? Planning on doing the same amount as you did. Great suggestion on rubble /concrete for the infill and backside, where it won't show! 😉
Thanks James! I put geofabric behind the wall and up the bank, then #3 limestone over it, all but about 12"...then geofabric with topsoil for the last 12". I figured that the limestone would provide extra drainage for the lawn, plus give some of the high water a place to expand. I hope to post a follow-up showing that part pretty soon, and maybe another video addressing the questions people asked, and the libtard remarks that some entitled Bidephile snowflakes had to make about my coincidental game of pretend.
i have done a fair bit of gabion work, as well as mattresses which are basically the same, except a mattress is 8 x 12 and 1 foot high they are mostly for stabilizing cuttings or hillsides.
Thanks for watching and taking the time to write a helpful comment. That's a great way to describe how these walls work. Mine only comes in contact with water after a heavy rain.
I read a while back that Gabions came from battle field defensive fortifications (wire baskets full of rocks) as designed by Michaelangelo to stop range weapons. I think a hog ring pneumatic gun would be faster to join the panels than all that wire wrapping.
Thanks for watching KarasCyborg. The hog rings were just to temporarily hold it together. I'm pretty sure that they wouldn't hold back that riprap without wrapping and tying it. I couldn't find heavier Guage rings anywhere.
Thanks! It was definitely way more work than it looks like in the video, and more work than I anticipated, but I stuck with it and added a lot more to it after this video, and I plan to make a follow-up showing the landscaping and other parts that I built including a bridge across to the shed. It's holding up well!
An even-more expensive gabian is made with split rocks. The flat surfaces facing outwards are easy on the eye, but not the pocket. Exotic rocks with beautiful colors, are even more expensive.
Thanks for watching and sharing some insight. This wall was made on a low budget and is more utilitarian than ornamental. It actually looks a lot better than the bank that was there before.
Nice looking project. The neighbors on the other side can have a nice flat surface to walk over and who knows, some flash flooding may actually undermine it as it flops on its side.
was looking for a solution for a retaining wall about that size... thanks for the idea. still might go with stone and cement, I'll have to check out prices of cement v.s. those cages.
BIG ASS WOW!!!! This was probably, No one of the best video's I ever watched on UA-cam. You did an outstanding job presenting this Motion Picture. I also reviewed your jackhammer video earlier before I found this. I got mine in the mail yesterday and can't wait to break up some of this TN rock. Liked and Subscribed. Looking fwd to checking out your other videos. You got a way of being serious & sarcastic at the same time with the dry sense of humor which equals funny and educational. Have a great Navy Day! From the Chief
An Automatic Tie Wire Twister would have helped no end. You can also by rebar reinforcing loop ties, rebar wire with a loop at each end that works great with this tool.
I've watched since day one? Well almost lol you love to see the world From a view only FPV pilot's and bird's get. And way More fun with a bird you built. Didn't buy, any One can do that. But building a one of kind Bird. That few can do. God bless my brother.. in my thoughts and prayers as always. I remember all our conversations over the years.. tell copilot high! Becoming a dam good pilot, thanks I enjoyed the video. Nice landing! Audio of motors was cool, not easy hit those small landing pads right in the bulls eye! God bless
Thanks for watching Tailgunner. Yes! I will probably be doing an update video in early Spring. I have since backfilled, planted grass, added more wall, and built the bridge across to the shed. There were a few minor issues that I needed to address, but it's amazing how well it's taking shape and widening towards the opposite side of the ditch.
The only thing that you didn't show, that I would have done is put filter cloth on the land side to prevent rain from washing the soil in your yard through the stone. I'm not sure about your area, but in my area we are required to control any sedimentary run off from entering the waterways.
Thanks for watching David. I was hoping to have a follow-up video done by now showing just what you were talking about. I purchased the roll of geofabric, and before I backfilled Against the Wall, I put a piece of the geofabric large enough so that when I filled old but about a foot with number three stone, that I could fold the fabric up the wall and then back over top of the number three stone. I then filled the rest with topsoil leaving a few inches stick out of the ground for looks. I will definitely be posting that follow up sometime in the future. It definitely looks a lot better and makes more sense seeing it the way that it is now. I added a bridge to the shed on the opposite side, which sort of acts as an added support for the wall. I also installed some tethering to the ground behind the wall.
Labour intestine it is indeed but I’ve built so many of them.Nice gabion by the way keep up the good content and god bless to you mate from us here in New Zealand
Thanks Redneck Philosopher. I try, but when people notice and tell me about it, it fuels that fire to make more! Stay tuned because sometime in the near future I will be doing a follow-up on this project with all the add-ons since this video was made a year and a half ago.
Thanks for watching James. Yeah, I guess they would work, but I just didn't want to leave the sharp chisel like end that bolt cutters often leave. Aside from that I would imagine they would work fine.
Thanks for watching and sharing the information. The smaller holes would definitely make it easier to fill. I found myself many times looking for the larger stones and sort of stacking them to keep it all in.
2 years later stumble across your video. Look impressive but let me ask about your experience. 'Thus the stones and rubble are stacked loose inside the gabion cage the water actually is still able to penetrate the wall. Means in case of higher water levels of that little creak ....??? Did it work to keep the water out.....just curious to know
Thanks for watching. As for my experience in building these walls, I was flying by the seat of my pants making this video. About the Loosely stacked stones in the baskets, they are not meant to hold water back as much as for guiding the water Downstream opposed to going up the sloped bank and flooding my garage. After backfilling with #3 limestone, geofabric, and a layer of topsoil for grass, it gives the water a place to expand as the waters rise... If that makes any sense. It actually works pretty well so far. As other commenters mentioned, there's a little bit of unforeseen minor undermining, which I plan to fix with some concrete mix and some limestone at the base. There's a one minute short that I posted showing the wall handling high water. I hope that this helps.
Hey I really enjoyed your clip…. How was your neighbor responding to the wall? Was the finished look on that side acceptable to them? Thanks again really appreciate your work on this one😄
Thanks for watching and the kind words Ross. I haven't really spoke to the new neighbors about this. The old neighbor thought it was an excellent idea and admired the work. That yard and said on the opposite side actually belongs to me as well, so it really doesn't matter that much. I try to make things look attractive as much as I can, but this was on a budget and I did what I could with what I had. I am glad that you enjoyed this. If you look through my short videos there is a follow-up showing this wall filled to the top with water during a rainstorm. I still plan to do a follow-up and answer all of the questions people have asked in the comments as well as some political comments that need to be addressed in this game of pretend, LMAO. Thanks again Ross!
I don't think that will happen for a long time... Perhaps even in my lifetime. It's been up over two years, and there's virtually no rust to speak of yet.
Man! You are hilarious! Great job on that wall too. I really like the idea of using unwanted debris. Better than taking the time to haul it to a dump and pay those fees.
Thanks for watching Robert. I appreciate the compliments on the humor and the wall. Yes, as a lot of people stated in the comments, it may be unsightly to some, but I had to get rid of that stuff and what better way than to feel a retaining wall with it. I personally do not think it looks that bad, and unless they are lying my neighbors don't seem to think that it looks bad either. Plus it mitigates the flooding issue! 😂
I enjoyed watching this video and loved your humor! What a great project and adventure. This would have been fun to do. I have a retaining wall I need to make repairs to and I’m going to try 🎉 …. You been fun! Thank you for the information, God Bless!
Gosh Michelle, thanks so much for watching and the kind words. I really appreciate the compliments on the humor. I wish you the best in success for your project. It was a huge undertaking with some trying times, but I made the most of it and kept it fun. That's the key! I welcome you to post pictures of your project on the Mostly Mike sHOW Facebook page. God bless.
Much respect for all your hard work!! Pat on the back. Did it work??? Also, I found this video while searching for "diy hesco barriers" and although you're diverting water, a similarly designed wall would be useful in a physical security situation on one's home front. Just sayin. 😏👌
Thanks for watching and the fun comment TR Speaks Truth! I couldn't agree with you more on this physical security situation on the homefront! To answer your question, in my shorts video playlist there a very brief follow-up showing the ditch full of water. That is all I have as far as a follow-up so far, but I do plan on making a video showing more of the wall that I built as well as filling the back side in with a combination of geofabric, number three gravel, more geofabric, then a foot or so of topsoil so grass could be planted. Many who watched this video assumed that my neighbors owned the opposite side of the ditch, but I own both sides of the Rio Brandon, LOL. The previous ditch kept eroding closer and closer to my boat house, so this wall actually sped up the flow of the water, diverting it instead of overflowing the banks, and sending it to the pipe that goes under the road, which is a whole other story. I have filed three complaints to my municipality over the past five years about the pipe being undersized at only 16 in. The pipe feeding the Rio Brandon Upstream is 24 in, and when we get a big rainstorm, a full pipe of water spews from it. It's clearly a plumbing code violation, but my municipality isn't doing anything about it. That violation though, is the cause of all the flooding to begin with. With adequate sized piping the water would never get that high. Sorry for the long-winded response. 😁
@themostlymikeshow2582 no apologies necessary! Sorry the local municipality caused you so much work, but hey, it's good exercise right!? Fortunately, they also lead you to make a very informative video, and you commendably kept your sense of humor throughout. You "embraced the suck" well. 😁
do you think these galvanized walls might survive the harsh maritime conditions when applied/submerged on sea water? We're currently working on a project partiularly with stone-walled fishtraps. Do you think gabion wall might be appropriate? Thanks
Thanks for watching. I don't know for sure, but I don't think galvanized would hold up real well with seawater. It's been 2 years since I started this project and the initial parts that got exposed to the elements still look almost as good as the day I put them in with a little bit of rust of course where the cuts were made or if they got scratched, but I am pretty impressed the way they are holding up. This is fresh water passing through them though. I hope to do a follow-up video showing what it looks like now that it is back filled with dirt and gravel. Everything is landscaped and it paints a clearer picture of how the wall really is. A lot of people thought by the video that I was building a wall in the middle of a ditch, but I was just shearing up the side and filling in with dirt using this wall as a retainer.
Thanks for watching and commenting Alex. The wall is holding up pretty good. In the description there is a short video link showing it full of water. I hope to make an update video sometime soon addressing lots of questions, comments, and political statements that people had made as well as showing the finished Landscaping and backfilling. It certainly looks a lot different after being back filled and looks more like it belongs in the landscape.
Loved the wall (with the exception of the brake rotors :-)... how did the wall do against the heavy rain waters??? Love to see the follow up video ! Great job ! :-)
Thanks for watching Doug. I get mixed reactions on the brake rotors. Some people like them, and some don't. I thought they added a little character so that's why I showed them. I posted a one minute follow up showing the ditch completely filled after everything was landscaped. It's just a one minute short. All in all though, the wall is holding up great, and it controls the water. When I say controlling, it does not hold water back, but diverts it the direction it needs to go. Prior to me building this the water just went up the slope and flooded my garage out, and eroded the ditch closer and closer to the garage. This brought the ditch where it needed to be and it is eroding the opposite direction now. I do plan to make a follow-up video in long form and address all the different types of questions that people have asked. I'll include the link to the short version after this comment.
You do realize the wall is porous. Anyway, two thumbs up because that thumbs ache in the cold comment was just so funny and I have no idea why. Maybe the delivery. Nice wall, great script.
Thanks for watching Cat! I always try to work on the delivery, lol. I should have explained better in the video the whole concept in why I am doing that as porous as it is. The wall is more or less there to sheer up the bank, and prior to backfilling I put a layer of geofabric up the wall and underneath the layer of number three limestone which took up all but a foot of the back filling and then another layer of geofabric to keep the topsoil from dropping through. This allowed the water to expand into that entire porous area instead of raising over the banks and flooding my yard and garage. Since installing the wall, it diverts the water into the opposite Bank and is eroding it which is exactly what I wanted it to do. It has also gotten deeper, also what I wanted it to do. I will be posting a follow-up explaining all of this better and showing exactly how I did the back filling and Landscaping along with some other additions including a bridge and a culvert added to the wall.
@@themostlymikeshow Ah, very smart - I see what you did now. In Canada, we call this a curtain wall or a french drain but this scope is way beyond that in mass and functionality. You must be a civil engineer, nobody else would even know to do this. Thanks for the explanation, I'll be watching. Subscribed.
@@schrodingerscat7218 nah I'm not a civil engineer. Not sure in the long-term if this is even going to work. I have the state department of environmental resources involved now concerning the exit drain. They might end up eliminating the ditch and burying a pipe
Thanks for watching and the kind words Gypsy Free Spirit. I'll be posting another update in the near future. If you look in my shorts videos, I have some rough footage of it full of water.
Thanks for watching and the kind words R Cook. I hope to post the follow-up in the near future showing the completed Landscaping and a little bit more addition to the wall that this video does not show. I will all set try to address a lot of questions and comments that viewers had.
The bad news is that wall will be undermined in short order, you really need to take it down to avoid the scour. You could alway line the bottom the the creek infront of it to protect it.
Thanks for watching John. Yes, there's a little bit of that happening, and the short fix was to drive some pieces of sharpened 4x4 pressure treated posts under the wall at angles to divert the current away from the base of the wall, which works decently. I still plan to take concrete mix and limestone to make a barrier on that side. The water has cut the opposite side of the ditch a little, which is what I wanted it to do. I own both sides and the shed. The root cause of the flooding still needs to be addressed by state or municipal level. The exit pipe of the ditch is actually 10" smaller than the pipe filling the ditch, which I believe is a plumbing code violation.
Stainless steel and Zinc galvanized steel don't play well together. You are essentially making a half cell reaction between the Zinc on the surface and the Nickel in the Stainless and the it quickly eats the Zinc up which then lets the underlying steel which it is protecting rust. Use Zinc coated steel fasteners with Zinc coated steel and Stainless fasteners with Stainless steel!
Thanks for watching and the advice Linmal. I don't doubt what you were telling me, but it's been 2 years and I haven't noticed any rust as of yet. I plan to do a follow-up video at some point and I will show some random close-ups of different parts of the wall.
I hope to get an update video or two out soon showing it after landscaping, as well as addressing some of the questions and political statements that some have made. Thanks for watching Stuart!
Some advice from a final grade and amenities contractor (who happens to exist jus-this-side of the Rio Brandon). If you would have had some of your neighbors (to the South) help build that wall, you would have been done in a day, not a month. All puns aside, good job.
Thank you Jason! Truth be told it actually took a few months to build working on it by myself. I'm happy with the result after a few tweaks. I will be posting an update sometime in the near future addressing some of the questions that were asked in the comments as well as showing some add-ons. If you look in my short videos there is a follow-up showing the wall filled up to full capacity just recently. If you want I can provide a link.
Thanks for watching Esther. I have seen these along real rivers, but I'm sure that they would need to be anchored to the ground in a special way so it doesn't wash out. I'm not sure how that would be done though. Sorry I don't have that advice.
Thanks for watching Doom Bunny. Hopefully I will get an update video out soon showing all the landscaping, additions, etc. As well as answering the questions people have. The only thing that I would have done differently is maybe set the wall a little deeper. I never anticipated the ditch getting a little deeper on the downstream end. It eroded the opposite side like I had hoped for to restore it to the course that the water took about ten or fifteen years ago.
I liked and subscribed. Great video! I'm getting ready to do this as bridge abutments for my creek bridge. I ride a Harley and have never known anything but hard work. Maybe that's why I'm 70 and still going.
That's awesome Frankenstein Rules! Hard work definitely keeps us going. I have a Springer Softail that appears in the background of my videos occasionally. Thanks for watching! I'd love to hear how your bridge abutments works for you.
I have no idea about construction, but just as a thought, wouldn't it be better to create a wall using concrete bags with some rebar going through? My uneducated guess is that would be better and will prevent water getting though the actual wall...
Thanks for watching and commenting. The wall wasn't designed to not let water through. I will be making a follow-up video showing what I mean. When the water level rises, this wall gives the water a place to expand and directs the water downstream instead of just flowing over the banks. Since this video was made, I back filled with mostly #3 limestone with geofabric to allow topsoil on the top 12 inches of soil to facilitate growing grass on top. I hope that this helps you to understand my goals on the project. The water only gets this high once or twice a year usually.
@@themostlymikeshow does this really prevents your yard overflowing? cause I would assume the water just goes through the wall into your yard... I would love to see the aftermath video, cause I failed physics in school and don't understand how that works without actual concrete ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
There's a one minute short showing one of the times that water reached the top and even flowed over. I don't believe that it would ever get that high, but the pipe that this ditch runs into is way undersized, causing the water to damn up.
Thanks for watching! I hope that you got some laughs as well as learned something about this gabion wall madness. Please click the thumbs up button if you enjoyed!
Gabion wall is a temporary wall.
Not sure what you are saying, but thanks for watching!
Yeah, I got some laughs, like your sense of humor. 😀
Thanks Scott!
SO? What happened with the next Rio Brandon Flood - High Water?
Two years later ... I stumble across your wall. The gabion wall is just what i need to hold my retaining wall in place and protect it from when creek rises. I will have to do mine by manual labor as well. Luckily I'm still young (70) . Super fun narration and love the dry humor. Thank you for the timeless quote from President Reagan.
Hi Doug, thanks for watching and the kind words. I get a lot of comments from some that don't appreciate the humor, but such is life. I am my own person. I have been wanting to post an update video and address some of the comments and questions people have as well as Stand My Ground on my side of things. Everything's holding up fairly well. I added more to it as well as filling everything back in with dirt, some Geo fabric, and some number three gravel topped with topsoil and grass.
@@themostlymikeshow Just finding this as well. Would really like to see a follow up and some high water video would be great to see.
@Igor-xl4wz Thanks for watching Igor. I do plan on making a follow-up video showing all of the Landscaping as well as some additions that I had made since that video. If you look on my channel in the shorts section, there is a one minute short showing the wall with the water level at the top.
@Igor-xl4wz here is the link to that video.
ua-cam.com/users/shortsdNvwMh9plZ0?feature=share
Genius. I’ve been looking for months on what type of wall we could use on our property for a very similar purpose. And we have tons of huge concrete chunks left on our property by some unknown dumpster. Not mad about that anymore. Now we wait until spring and we’ll take pics for you.
Thanks for watching Debbie! Looking forward to seeing the pictures of your project. There's a review video that I made on that demolition hammer to break up the concrete. I'll post the link under this comment. I'll be doing the follow up video soon with the completed wall after I back filled it, and added a culvert as well as a bridge to the shed across the ditch.
Here's the link to the demolition hammer :
ua-cam.com/video/wxSxpR2pSGY/v-deo.html
On Riversides, this can work, but places like BC dont want you using Concrete..it affects the Ph of the water..harms Salmons they say..so How deep do you want to think before your head hurts..lol..Another reason to use the Stones on the facade side
I did a mass wall a number of years ago. Stone face either side,, rubble fill. Grade change from front yard to walk out basement rear.. I feel your pain. Mine was only about 30 feet long,, being a mass wall 8 feet high meant 8 feet wide at the base,, plus a footing that reached another 3 feet down below the frost line. Half a dozen of the stones were very large 400 to 700 pounds. Most were in the 20 to 100 pound range. Just muscle, pry bars, and sneaky when needed. Evenings and weekends as time and weather permitted, zero mortar or cement except the busted up stuff in the center. Just dry laid. This is 30 years on,, nothing has moved or shifted. Wife complained that it took too long,,,, it did.
Thanks for watching and sharing your wall story Sailor. It's hard, backbreaking work, but certainly rewarding. I love to just walk around looking at it to enjoy the fruit of my labor. I've done a few dry stacked stone walls with natural stones and some with store bought blocks in recent years. They appear as a backdrop in my fair weather videos. I'll be posting a follow-up after a year and a half with some additions and upgrades to this wall.
I have built gabber walls on a professional basis. The biggest one was a retaining wall for a shopping center where we used 4.5 thousand tons of granite and 17 thousand tons of road base behind it. I have also built gabber fortifications for re-enactment, where we weave the baskets out of willow strands and fill with dirt and soil. These are good things to protect cannons with.
Thanks for watching Armoury Terrain. I'm sure that as a professional who has built many of these walls, you may have shook your head in disagreement with some of my methods, LOL. I just sort of flew by the seat of my pants as I went about this project. It's relatively low to the ground, but I did make sure that I tethered it so that it could not wash away in a flood. I will be doing a follow-up video with some of the issues I've had with it as well as some improvements I've made. I built this a year and a half ago, so the Landscaping is now done and there's a bridge across it.
@@themostlymikeshow It will never ever wash away, it is too massive. The worst that can happen is that running water may be able to undercut it, causing some sections to slump a little.
That's spot on. It's exactly one of the issues that I had. One section had washed underneath and caused it to slump a little. I was able to drill a hole in the frozen ground, hook a strap and come along to it, and pull it straight. I then drove 4x4 pressure treated posts horizontally on angles to divert the water away from the wall. I filmed it, and will put it in the follow up video.
@@themostlymikeshow even though it takes a lot more material and effort, the best results are to first dig a ditch and bury half a basket in the ground to create secure footings.
Not to shabby for your first time. Normally you compact fill and level under before you get going. But difficult in that situation. Well done. Subscribed
I had done a shoreline repair using a product that was essentially gabion walls. It was from a company called Propexglobal the product was called Scourlok. Its basically a gabion wall but using geotextile material lined the inside. It held up to the forces of Lake Michigan and has survived 5 years so far. These 3'x3'x4' bins were ancred down using 9' earth anchors. Any material can be used in the bins. It was a ton of hard work but the end result was well worth it.
Thanks for watching and sharing Matt. I love hearing different ways that people dealt with similar issues. Time will tell if my project will hold up. It was just an idea to get rid of some junk concrete and bricks as well as functional for controlling the erosion from high water.
I used the geofabric type material against the back side of the wall and then back filled with number three limestone, added a layer of the geofabric on top of the limestone, and then finally put topsoil. It has damned up just a couple days ago to the top of the wall, and everything seemed to hold up well. The part that I am having issues with though, is the exit pipe. I will address this in a future video. You see, there is a 24-in pipe supplying water to this ditch, and the exit pipe at the end of my wall is only 16 in. Not good. My municipality refuses to address that, so I am going to state level and see what they can do with the State Department of Environmental Protection.
Massive respect! I repaired a collapsed wall and related drainage system this past fall. It’s so true about the days getting shorter while working in the cold with a head lamp and lights.
Thanks for watching and the kind words T23001. I started on this when the days were a little warmer and with more light and once I get involved like that, it's all that I want to do. After the wall was complete I did wait until spring to do landscaping and back filling. Was your wall a gabian wall?
@@themostlymikeshowIt was a dry stone wall (it’s super rocky here). I followed up this year with an underground drainage pipe. I really like your idea of recycling leftover concrete and rocks.
Very cool! When I was in Afghanistan we used these to surround our base, only difference is we filled them with sand and stone and they had fabric liner inside to hold it in
Thank you so much for watching, and thank you for your service.
Same here in Iraq. Good 'ol Hesco barriers.
I am curious, though, isn't the water just going to push through the loose stones' gaps?
@@preparedmindstrongspirit5724 well, yes, it does move through, but it slows it down and diverts it. It actually carved the ditch bigger the other direction from the diversion. What I like is that it allows the water to absorb when it gets high. It's always going to take the path of least resistance, at least from what I researched, which is making it carve the opposite bank. I own both sides of the ditch.
I built gabion towers for my driveway. They are about 10’ tall
Sounds awesome Michael. They're a really cool artform. If you have any pictures of them, feel free to share on my Facebook page. Thanks for watching!
WoW!. That's Awesome!. I'ma just a female.with no help!. So Thankyou for sharing. 🙏👌💃
Thanks for watching and the kind words Sharyn. I'll post the video in the future showing all the Landscaping and some more I added to the wall.
No such thing as "just" a female :)
Anyone wanting to do this you better get permissions from the city or you may have an issue selling the house later. Even if you're not 'redirecting the river etc' the aholes at the city will have a conniption for no reason about this.
Thanks for watching Jeffrey. Yes, I would imagine that some municipalities would. I just think that being that I filed multiple complaints with my boro being that there's a 24 inch pipe feeding this ditch, which occasionally flows at full pipe when it floods... and then there's a 16 inch pipe at the end that flows under the road which dams up. Even if there's no obstructions it dams up. Usually one stick will go across that pipe and then the leaves and grass build up on it. I believe that this is a clear violation of plumbing code, and they don't want to do anything about it. They keep promising, but they don't produce any results. It's ridiculous. At least this wall keeps the water from just coming into my yard, and flooding my garage. Instead, it flows over the end and then goes down the road and washes my gravel out of my driveway.
It's not a permanent structure, so no permits needed.
Free men don’t ask
@smellycat249 Ha ha very true . I am not a fan of big gubment.
@@smellycat249
Proud member of the outlaw builders association 28yrs, no permit required.
Thanks for the new idea. We have a property next to a rental and there is a natural drainage that overflows in the rental's back yard and comes over to our property and runs beside our 48' garage. The water has flooded the building several times as the concrete is just a little above the grade. I told the owner and he acted like he wasn't comprehending what I was telling him. It hasn't flooded recently. This idea would be great for a border wall between the properties.
Thanks for the watching B A. There are commercially available pre-made gabion baskets, but for this application it had to be tapered, which they don't make, at least from my research, so I had to custom build these baskets. Good luck on your project if you decide to do this.
The legal principle of law called ‘nuisance’ is on your side if they did something that caused the flooding to travel your way if it didn’t ‘historically.’
@fishhuntadventure I wish that I knew how to pursue this. The whole reason for this ditch to flood is the undersized pipe where the water exits. I think that it's a clear violation of plumbing code as well as a deadly hazard if someone would fall into it. It's only a 16 inch pipe exiting and there's a 24 inch pipe feeding it which runs full pipe when we get a big storm. I have three complaints to my municipality in the past 5 years and they are doing nothing about it. I called the Pennsylvania state dep and they told me they would do something about it over a year ago and haven't done anything yet. Thanks for watching.
Wow, that border joke was painful. Good thing you stuck to the project after that.
Ha ha, thanks for watching Drew C.
@@themostlymikeshow Why did you have to be a dick to start off the video?
border joke was pretty good!
I worked on a wall in China in my younger days I had a lot of help there is no way I could have done it by myself. We did it all by hand we even made our own stone blocks. It took us a few years to finish the wall and they say you can see it from space people started calling it the Grate Wall of China but we just call it the border wall back then.
Great story Roy! Thank you for watching. Yes, border walls have been built for one reason or another since the beginning of time. This one was a real challenge for one man, but I stuck with it, and progress motivated me through. I don't think I would take on a project of this magnitude again, but I would certainly like to make some smaller ones and use better material for fill, so it's a little more ornamental. There's lots of pre-made gabion baskets that are in pretty cool shapes from cylinders to spheres.
If it’s made in china it won’t last 😂
Ha ha, right?!?! 🤣
Looks very good! This is a very eye-pleasing wall as well. I would definitely like to build one of these walls to separate me and my neighbor on the top of the ground. Then structurally trying to make it look aesthetic enough to please both sides.
Thanks JT! I've had mixed opinions on the eye pleasing part. I don't think it looks too bad, and I got a lot of compliments from my friends.. however, I've had people call it a hideous monstrosity in the comments. The comments help the video whether they are good or bad though.
I can't say that I've build exactly Gabion Walls, but we built a WHOLE CRAP TON of "Hesco barriers, or Hesco bastions" (Google them for photos) in Afghanistan! They're basically, Gabion walls but they're filled with sand instead of rocks and they kept us from getting shot by small arms and shrapnel! Love me a Hesco Barrier! Thanks for your Gabion Wall story! That was a labor of love! What a beautiful wall! Shalom, brother.
Thank you for your service Charlie, for watching, and the kind words. I will have to look up Hesco barriers.
Pretty decent job. Needed a cutoff wall, but that's difficult without some equipment and some way to dewater. I've built miles of gabion walls in creeks/rivers/channels - hundreds of thousands of tons of rock. The worst part was always the cutoff walls since they were typically full of water and had to be dewatered.
The problem with being in water is accelerated corrosion, especially the wire/hog rings. They make heavy-duty gabion wire and you're supposed to continuously lace all edges with a double wrap every other cell - very labor intensive. But they also make high-tensile hog rings (in stainless for high-corrosion areas or galvanized - also a new specialty coating with 120 yr lifespan) that are installed using pneumatic gabion guns. The rings come in 50-piece clips, vastly speeding up connecting baskets together.
The real skill is maintaining level baskets and completely filling them to avoid sags. And if you need a decorative face, it adds another level of complexity/cost. We mostly used Maccafferi gabions (they claim they 'invented' gabions in the 1800s) which were more flexible - both a blessing and a curse (hard to maintain straight/level lines since the baskets sagged). Hilfiker made welded-wire baskets - they were difficult to bend, so they weren't as useful in the winding waterways we often worked in.
Wow! That's pretty impressive Arthur. I only use the hog rings to hold the baskets together while I lace them with the galvanized wire. I would have liked to have used heavier Duty hog rings, but I had trouble finding just the ones that I had over an inch in diameter, so I settled on these light ones. I tethered the wall to some stakes underground, and built a bridge to the shed on the opposite side which had a subframe of heavy angle iron attached to the bridge as well as the concrete slab under the shed which acts to keep the wall from leaning in. Time will tell if it will hold up or not. I considered as an added precaution to drill and sink heavy 2-in pipe as stakes in the areas where the wall is higher. Thanks for watching.
Making your back yard Great Again. 😊
Thanks for watching Erik! Yes, hopefully the country will soon be great again as well! 🇺🇲🇺🇸
I’ve done this and it’s the best and greatest way to do it. TIP you can get any foundation rebar company to take 3/8 rebar and put a hook on each end like a candy cane the with of your wall and run a pice of rebar on the both outsides of your cage and just hook it from side to side . Very fast strong and straight. Just give the proper dimension for the wall. You won’t have to wrap and twist that wire to keep it from spreading
Thanks for watching and the helpful tip Richard! Sounds like a great idea.
It's been a year since you posted this and I am curious if you have seen any erosion in the bottom of the ditch that has affected the wall at all? It looked to me as if there may have been the possibility of scour that would undermine the wall base due to the elevation above the waterline at which it was installed. How has it held up?
Hi Matthew. You are spot-on with the erosion at the bottom of the ditch. The wall seems to have speeded up the flow of water, so the bottom started to undermine one section near the culvert. I hoisted the wall back, and made diverters out of 4x4 pressure treated, and drove them under the wall at angles to divert the water away from the wall. A few careful placements of stone also made the water divert toward the opposite side. It is now cutting into that side, but that's what I want. I own both sides of that ditch, and where it is eroding to now is where it was originally. I will be posting a follow-up sometime in the future showing these repairs as well as some more sections of wall that I added. I also landscaped, put a bridge across to the shed, and added a culvert for my gutter drains.
@@themostlymikeshow
Interesting. Have you considered amounting the bottom of the ditch?
Armoring (damnable spell check!)
liked the vid. When I saw the gabion I knew it was going to speed up the water and in time it will cut down and undercut one side. (lots of vids on this on YT) Putting down a layer of riprap and covering with 20 GAP stone chip to interlock it in place would mitigate that. Add a wall 10-12 inches deep of stone chip behind the wall to stop the water digging behind it. I also saw a shed on the unprotected side close to the bank, was it undermined? This looked like a bigger job where the culverts looked too small under the drive and mebbe could do with upgrading? effective result and good job on the cages.
@williamoloughlin8298 Thanks for watching William. Yes, it did exactly that. It started to cut into the opposite side. It's been about 2 years now and I think it is done eroding that side as well. I will be doing a follow-up video showing the back filling and how it was done. I basically laid out some Geo fabric underneath, filled it with number three limestone, and then about 15 in from the top, put another piece of Geo fabric on top then filled with topsoil against the wall. This way the water can still expand if needed. It's funny you mentioned the Culvert under the road. It is the main reason that this was done. If my municipality had put a bigger pipe in, this probably wouldn't be necessary. I have owned that property for over 5 years, and have been constantly trying to get them to fix this. When I do the follow-up video, I will show the 24 inch pipe feeding this ditch with a full pipe of water, while that measly 16 inch pipe is trying to drain it all. To me this is clearly a violation of plumbing code, but I am no code enforcement officer.
Just found your video. Love your videography and your commentary. I bought a "Rock Farm" and need to do a Gabian wall just to get rid of all the rocks/boulders/rubble lying around the property and to delineate the driveway. You made me know I can do this on my own.
P.S. Love the brake rotors in the mesh, and will be doing the same.
Thanks for watching and sharing your plans for your project Roadmaster. You are welcome to share your pictures on the Mostly Mike show Facebook page. I like seeing pictures of people's progress with projects like this. I appreciate the compliments on the video and wish you the best of luck on your project.
Awesome project! Now that it’s a year old, do you have more footage after heavy rain to show comparison before and after?
Thanks for watching and the kind words pool inspector. I haven't been lucky enough to see high water on it, but saw marks about 3/4 of the way up with debris stuck to the sides. No water has gotten over where it had prior. I do plan to do a follow-up video in the near future which is long overdue. People have been asking about its performance. I had a couple unforeseen minor issues but nothing big which I will show in that video.
You can get rebar ties in various sizes to do the job those hog rings were supposed to do. The hog rings will only hold to the bending strength of the wire they are mad of. When they rust, that will be less. Not good. Rebar ties are short lengths of wire with a loop at each end. You wrap them around the two pieces you want to hold together and put the loops next to each other. There is a winder that has an offset hook in it that you push through the wire loops. By making a winding motion with the tool, you can wind the wire tight nearly effortlessly in about 3 seconds. They won't come open like your hog rings, although they will eventually rust away as well. Look up "rebar ties". Cheap and easy. Leave the hog rings for the pigs.
Thanks bomaite. I only used the stainless hog rings to temporarily hold it together before I laced it with high tensile strength galvanized wire. Those rebar ties are a great idea though.
Love it man. I'm dealing with a rail road tie wall that fell over. Looking for another build. You gained a sub. And thank you for helping keep America great😃
Glad you enjoyed OFF-Grid. I'm hoping to post an update showing the landscape,some more wall that I added, and a few small issues that I had to address. It's all holding up well. Thanks for the watching, commenting, and subbing. Much appreciated!
Lol I have a rail road tie wall as well and I'm being proactive before it falls. Have you been able to build a new wall?
@@ellispn9377 Thanks for watching Ellis. Sorry I don't have an answer to your question.
I live in Mexico and have two acres closing all in. We have SO MUCH extra broken concrete everywhere. This will work perfect! Roughly 7 grand USD right now just with gravel. This idea should make it it cut down extremly on hard cost!
Sounds like an awesome project! I hope that it works out well for you. Thanks for watching.
I did do the walls in my back yard but instead of the hog nose rings I cut the one out side leg of the wire off and bent then around the sides piece . Also used the same method to make a 12 ft wide Matt 8” thick with the 3x5 rock to prevent erosion .
Nice Richard! I think that I am going to be making a mat along the bottom of that ditch to prevent erosion as well. I never thought that would be a problem but the ditch just keeps trying to match the elevation of the pipe going under the road. I started that project way too late in the year and I am just waiting for everything to thaw out and dry out to continue it. I might post an update video when it's done. Thanks for watching!
2 years later, an update video would be great 👍👍
Thanks for watching! I'm going to try to make an update soon showing what everything looks like now, and addressing some questions, theories, political comments, etc.
Very cool I look forward to hearing your long term review of this wall build
Thanks Mike. It'll be featured at some point in the future, as part of a backyard mtb feature.
Η εισαγωγή στο βίντεο όπου εξηγείς τους λόγους για τους οποίους αποφάσισες να φτιάξεις τον τοίχο σου είναι όλα τα λεφτά. Σε παραδέχομαι. Παρεμπιπτόντως εξαιρετική δουλειά.
Thanks for watching. I can't access a translator from my phone, but I will get back to you when I can read your comment.
You definitely made your yard great again, loved your dad humor - it made my day!
Thanks for watching and the kind words Hank! Glad you enjoyed.
In the British Army we used hesco/gabians. They have hessian material pined to the inside so they can be filled with sand or soil, aswell as rocks.
Thanks for watching and sharing Scott. The larger holes in this material made it a little tougher to fill...especially when I ran out of the concrete rubble. I had to stack up the larger pieces of limestone, and then fill the middle in with the finer pieces.
Hi, loved watching you building the wall. Just like usual, someone that never built a thing will have an opinion: Shouldn't you tilt the wall and rest it against the bank? That way the wall would be more resistant to water erosion over time? Just a thought. Great video.
Thanks for watching and commenting. Not sure about tilting the wall, but I did tether it before backfilling, and did most of the backfill using #3 limestone with geofabric to allow expansion. The water is actually not fast moving when it rises.. Instead it sort of Dams up at the culvert. I will be doing the follow-up video and explaining this better sometime soon.
You had me at Rio Brandon. Subscribed.
Ha ha! Thanks Dayton. I try not to get too political on my channel but sometimes I can't resist throwing a jab or two.
If you put a deep empty over-flow lake in there too (empty channel from the river to the deep seasonal pond you dig out) then when that river gets too high it will flow in to your large lake you’ve dug out….. preferable very deep, so it slows the water down and decreases flooding.
(Maybe put one higher up the river too, before the river gets to your property, as that’ll probably help more!!)
Thanks for watching Jack. Yes, I wish that I could do all that. If you look at the pipe where the water exits this ditch, that pipe is actually 10 inches smaller than the pipe that feeds this ditch, and I cannot get my municipality to change it for anything. It is a clear violation of plumbing code. This wall sort of acts as a lake. I did not make it to stop the water, but just divert it so that it keeps going Downstream. Prior to having the wall, the sloped sides of the Rio Brandon allowed the water to just flow right up onto my property and flood my garage out. It does not do that anymore. It carries the water to wear that water should be exiting a larger pipe and then it overflows, and goes down the street washing my driveway out. Better the driveway than my house or garage though. I am still filing complaints to get a larger pipe put in. Wish me luck! 😁
Loved your imagination and making this into more of a story. You kept it interesting and explained everything perfectly. Thank you, 😊👍
Thanks for watching and the kind words Lorraine. I try to add humor, entertainment, and a story to all of my videos. Sometimes I get carried away with it, but I try to find a balance. 😁 I'm glad that you enjoyed.
@@themostlymikeshow Good job! For the most part... however, I fully expected that you would widen the ditch before building-- why didn't you cut into the bank on your side before building the wall? You effectively narrowed that channel-- which doesn't bode well for your neighboring "country" (Is war looming for you two once the flood waters swamp that property?) I disagree with Lorraine that you "explained everything perfectly". So many questions remain: aside from constricting the water flow, what ties the wall to your side of the Rio Brandon? Will the constricted flow undercut the wall and cause it to fall over? What was that additional wall structure around what looks like a manhole for? Why doesn't the wall extend above the height of the bank? A narrower channel gives excess water only one direction to expand-- up. Plus, the water will move faster through there (assuming the pipe on the other end can keep up with it). I look forward to a follow-up video addressing these issues-- and video of the channel next time it floods. Thanks!
@@crustycurmudgeon2182 thanks for watching Crusty Curmudgeon. There's a lot to digest in your questions, but first of all the wall is higher than the lay-of-the-land. The reason that I did not widen this ditch is because over the years it has eroded onto my side a few feet. As for the war with neighboring countries, I own both sides of that ditch.
In the upcoming follow up I will show the diverters that I made to guide water away in the events of high water which is eroding into the other side. That's exactly what I wanted it to do because it's where it ran originally. This has made the ditch able to handle more water than original. When I landscaped, I backed it with a Geo fabric material on the bottom, and filled with number 3 limestone adding another layer of Geo fabric on top before finally putting topsoil on. Long story but you got to trust me on this one, it works.
@@themostlymikeshow Thank you Mike!
Dang, that's a lot of wall and WORK! I'd be tempted to mortor over the one side to be even more sure to keep water back.
It's kind of a long story what I actually did to keep the water back. The wall sort of absorbs a lot of the water while directing it Downstream. The Geo Fabric and the back filling are what actually keeps the water from going up on my property
If he read through the comments I tell the lengthy story a couple times. I hope to get a follow-up video up sometime soon showing just what I mean.
@@themostlymikeshow Makes sense. Hey, maybe you could hook up a motor to that hot noise and turn it into free power.
I loved the allegory. Your wall looks great.
Thanks for watching and the kind compliment Richard.
What would work cool would be the IBC container cages with those bulk sand bags inside them filled with rubble and sand. They could be stacked and make a very formidable wall. Might even be a cool way to back up a dam.
Wow, I bet that would make a neat wall. Thanks for watching!
Very interesting build....I was wondering if you had a high water event since completion and how did the wall hold up/ help.
Thanks Joseph. The water has gotten about 3/4 of the wall height, but not sure if it's as much water as the footage in the video. It's tough to judge because the water actually wore the ditch down to the level of the pipe in the culvert, and started to carve the opposite side of the ditch, which is just what I wanted it to do. The wall itself will absorb a lot of the water too. I added more features and landscaped since this video, which was made a year and a half ago. I plan to post an update soon showing the upgrades and issues.
I love your sense of humor. So many moments had me cracking up. The ancient mysteries of the Gabion civilization.
Thanks for watching and the kind words Pacificloon! Glad you enjoyed. There's a one minute short follow up that I just posted last week. The link is in the description.
Check out some of my other videos. Same style of humor. I'm a simpleton, lol. 😂
Didn’t need the political commentary or white power hand symbol.
Sorry, but I'm not sure what you are talking about.
Ha ha Thanks Kathy. I will have to explain the "circle game" in a later video...which is the delusional white power hand gesture. It's just a stupid game that kids play that was on Malcolm in the Middle back in the day.
You'd know as well as myself how the Rio Brandon has a tendency to flow over it's banks! 😂
JoeBob get a life he did no such thing.
Thanks for the great video you have the best one I've seen so far. You have given me hope of being able to fix our backyard. We have one heck of a hill and I'd love to have a yard. So this is now on my list of things to do. Keep doing videos man your great at making them and it was funny at parts too which makes any job easier for sure. Someone should put you on a home show id watch you.Thanks again.
@@heathersmith787 Thanks for watching and the kind words, Heather! These walls are a lot of work, but I am very happy with mine. I haven't landscaped around mine yet, but I might post something showing it after I get it completely done.
I appreciate your humor. Nice job on the wall too.
Thanks for watching! Glad you got some laughs.
Very nice and simple. Good job!
The only downside is that, at 9:23, I see the gabion is not in straight line. My perfection is kicking me seeing it that way lol. If it was me, I'll make sure all of them are straight using a string of rope before I fill it will rocks. But overall, its a good diy project.
I appreciate you watching Steven. Actually, the ditch kind of swings at an arc. I was able to manipulate some imperfections. I was really hoping by now to get an update video out showing the back filling and Landscaping. It looks a lot better now with grass growing around it, a few more sections, and even a culvert. The shed is actually spun around and there is a bridge going across. Hopefully by the end of summer I will have that video out. My schedule has been nuts lately.
Years ago, I told my father about such a wall along the Brandywine river just by the Chadds Ford Art Museum in PA. He quickly pulled out a brochure from some Italian company that he said invented them. There were pictures of them in WW1 fortifications. He was very proud of his Italian heritage. I was like it's a cool idea basically using chain link fencing to act like a bag and filling it with crushed rock. Nonetheless, it's not like they went to the moon! I guess I'm too much an American.
Thanks for watching and the interesting history fact Terrence. I live in Pennsylvania. What city is the Chadds Ford Art Museum located?
ty Mike
Thanks for watching Maurice! Hope that it helped.
I'm surprised that the city or country didn't come and shut you down. Your fence looks good, it's easy to see all the work involved.
Thanks for watching 99. Actually, it has been the other way around. If you notice the pipe at the discharge end, you can see that it is a 16 inch pipe. I didn't not show the pipe feeding that ditch, but it is a 24 inch pipe. Clear violation of plumbing code. For 5 years I have been complaining to my municipality and have made three formal complaints and even contacted my State Department of Environmental Protection. I believe that at some point the discharge pipe will be enlarged to at minimum, 24-in, but at least 30 for minimum adequacy. This was a step in the right direction by making this retaining wall, but it is not a complete solution. It just kept the water from easily overflowing the banks and entering my garage. I hope to make an update video sometime soon showing the back filling and Landscaping as well as some additions that I made. I want to make another video addressing questions, and political statements that people have been making. Hopefully it will be humorous as well as informative. Thanks again for watching!
6:38 Jack hammer in the dark. Everybody's favourite neighbour. Even more beloved than the dog who barks insistently all night.
Thanks for watching Jason. Okay, in my own defense, that was in November and December when it gets dark at 4:30 in the afternoon in Pennsylvania. I don't think anybody Minds a little noise at that hour. I always made sure that I stopped by around 9:00 p.m.. most of my neighbors had stopped and commented on my progress with it.
@@themostlymikeshow I know how it goes. Short days here in Canada too
Whenever you cut the hog panels into sections, you lose 4 inches because you have to cut the cross wires back to the longways wires to make a hem to the panel.
If you can instead BEND the panel where you need to have a corner, you won’t lose 4 inches, and you will have fewer seams. But bending the panel corners is a LOT harder unless you make a nice jig to do it.
I thought about doing that Jim, but it would have been really hard to bend those without heat. That wire is about 5/16 of an inch thick, maybe more. At the end I had almost a 5 gallon bucket full of the 4-in stubs.
@@themostlymikeshow I wonder if you could have cut them down and used those stubs as hog rings to hold it together?
@@bobcostas9716 I actually considered that, but they are at least a quarter of an inch thick. Pretty difficult to bend around that tight of a radius.
@@themostlymikeshow Thanks for letting me know. I read some more comments and I have to say I like the technique of leaving some of the stubs attached and using them to bind the panels together. Anyway, well done. Looks solid and attractive. Sift some dirt down in there and you can grow plants. In 20 years it'll be a wicked sturdy hedge.
@@bobcostas9716 if it could be done it would certainly look nicer.
Mike! I loved your video! 😂 Your dry sense of humor made me crack up! 😅 I'm planning on doing this as well. Do you need to put a drain pipe and gravel BEHIND the wall as when doing a block or stone wall, or is it sufficient as is? Planning on doing the same amount as you did. Great suggestion on rubble /concrete for the infill and backside, where it won't show! 😉
Thanks James! I put geofabric behind the wall and up the bank, then #3 limestone over it, all but about 12"...then geofabric with topsoil for the last 12". I figured that the limestone would provide extra drainage for the lawn, plus give some of the high water a place to expand. I hope to post a follow-up showing that part pretty soon, and maybe another video addressing the questions people asked, and the libtard remarks that some entitled Bidephile snowflakes had to make about my coincidental game of pretend.
i have done a fair bit of gabion work, as well as mattresses which are basically the same, except a mattress is 8 x 12 and 1 foot high they are mostly for stabilizing cuttings or hillsides.
Thanks for watching Waza. I have never heard of the mattress concept before. Sounds interesting.
Gabion walls are quite strong. They basically take a lot of small rocks and make them act as one rock. Great for enforcement of creek banks.
Thanks for watching and taking the time to write a helpful comment. That's a great way to describe how these walls work. Mine only comes in contact with water after a heavy rain.
I read a while back that Gabions came from battle field defensive fortifications (wire baskets full of rocks) as designed by Michaelangelo to stop range weapons. I think a hog ring pneumatic gun would be faster to join the panels than all that wire wrapping.
Thanks for watching KarasCyborg. The hog rings were just to temporarily hold it together. I'm pretty sure that they wouldn't hold back that riprap without wrapping and tying it. I couldn't find heavier Guage rings anywhere.
salute for the 1man power build!!
Thanks! It was definitely way more work than it looks like in the video, and more work than I anticipated, but I stuck with it and added a lot more to it after this video, and I plan to make a follow-up showing the landscaping and other parts that I built including a bridge across to the shed. It's holding up well!
tq for replying.. your videos full of tips and cool ideas! regards from Sabah,Borneo(east Malaysia.)@@themostlymikeshow
An even-more expensive gabian is made with split rocks. The flat surfaces facing outwards are easy on the eye, but not the pocket. Exotic rocks with beautiful colors, are even more expensive.
Thanks for watching and sharing some insight. This wall was made on a low budget and is more utilitarian than ornamental. It actually looks a lot better than the bank that was there before.
Nice looking project. The neighbors on the other side can have a nice flat surface to walk over and who knows, some flash flooding may actually undermine it as it flops on its side.
Thanks for watching Clayton. It's tethered and there's diverters in place. 🤞Hopefully that won't happen.
Best wishes from Ireland 🇮🇪 to the Patriotic wall builder's of America 🇺🇸 👍
Thank you so much for watching and the kind words Mark. Patriotic wall Builders of America 🇺🇸 😂!
was looking for a solution for a retaining wall about that size... thanks for the idea.
still might go with stone and cement, I'll have to check out prices of cement v.s. those cages.
Thanks for watching King James. I wish you the best on whatever method of retaining wall you choose to take on.
BIG ASS WOW!!!! This was probably, No one of the best video's I ever watched on UA-cam. You did an outstanding job presenting this Motion Picture. I also reviewed your jackhammer video earlier before I found this. I got mine in the mail yesterday and can't wait to break up some of this TN rock. Liked and Subscribed. Looking fwd to checking out your other videos. You got a way of being serious & sarcastic at the same time with the dry sense of humor which equals funny and educational. Have a great Navy Day!
From the Chief
Thanks so much for the kind words and supporting this channel F14Tomcat! Also thank you for your service. Glad you enjoyed. Many more to follow.
Great job!! I'll bet there have no aliens cross that wall! Just one look at rubble contained will send shivers down their spine!
Thanks for watching. I'm not sure about aliens. I'm just trying to keep the water under control from the Rio Brandon.
i clicked thumbs up. i farm solo so i totally understand the whole, "hard work" thing.
Thanks for watching and the kind words!
An Automatic Tie Wire Twister would have helped no end. You can also by rebar reinforcing loop ties, rebar wire with a loop at each end that works great with this tool.
Thanks for watching and the helpful tip. Are those rebar ties available in stainless? That would be perfect if they are.
I've watched since day one? Well almost lol you love to see the world From a view only FPV pilot's and bird's get. And way More fun with a bird you built. Didn't buy, any One can do that. But building a one of kind Bird. That few can do. God bless my brother.. in my thoughts and prayers as always. I remember all our conversations over the years.. tell copilot high! Becoming a dam good pilot, thanks I enjoyed the video. Nice landing! Audio of motors was cool, not easy hit those small landing pads right in the bulls eye! God bless
Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment!
Can we get an update on how it's working out?
Thanks for watching Tailgunner. Yes! I will probably be doing an update video in early Spring. I have since backfilled, planted grass, added more wall, and built the bridge across to the shed. There were a few minor issues that I needed to address, but it's amazing how well it's taking shape and widening towards the opposite side of the ditch.
The only thing that you didn't show, that I would have done is put filter cloth on the land side to prevent rain from washing the soil in your yard through the stone.
I'm not sure about your area, but in my area we are required to control any sedimentary run off from entering the waterways.
Thanks for watching David. I was hoping to have a follow-up video done by now showing just what you were talking about. I purchased the roll of geofabric, and before I backfilled Against the Wall, I put a piece of the geofabric large enough so that when I filled old but about a foot with number three stone, that I could fold the fabric up the wall and then back over top of the number three stone. I then filled the rest with topsoil leaving a few inches stick out of the ground for looks. I will definitely be posting that follow up sometime in the future. It definitely looks a lot better and makes more sense seeing it the way that it is now. I added a bridge to the shed on the opposite side, which sort of acts as an added support for the wall. I also installed some tethering to the ground behind the wall.
Labour intestine it is indeed but I’ve built so many of them.Nice gabion by the way keep up the good content and god bless to you mate from us here in New Zealand
Thanks for watching and the kind words Jasin!
You should show a video of this wall in use during daylight so we can see how well it works - During high tide as it were !
Thanks for watching Patrick. I have been waiting to get that on film. I have never been lucky enough to see it when the water is up.
I truly hope you can someday , thanks for the reply.
Really like how you created this Let's Go Brandon story/analogy. I agree!!
Thanks for watching. Glad you enjoyed the Rio Brandon story. There's a few that didn't appreciate it...but such is life.
You have an awesome sense of humour.
Thanks Redneck Philosopher. I try, but when people notice and tell me about it, it fuels that fire to make more! Stay tuned because sometime in the near future I will be doing a follow-up on this project with all the add-ons since this video was made a year and a half ago.
Have found for welded wire fencing that bolt cutters are fastest and just plain easy (no electricity needed)
Thanks for watching James. Yeah, I guess they would work, but I just didn't want to leave the sharp chisel like end that bolt cutters often leave. Aside from that I would imagine they would work fine.
Tractor supply also sells 2”x4” panels which are better because you can use smaller rocks; just a bit more expensive not much
Thanks for watching and sharing the information. The smaller holes would definitely make it easier to fill. I found myself many times looking for the larger stones and sort of stacking them to keep it all in.
2 years later stumble across your video. Look impressive but let me ask about your experience. 'Thus the stones and rubble are stacked loose inside the gabion cage the water actually is still able to penetrate the wall. Means in case of higher water levels of that little creak ....??? Did it work to keep the water out.....just curious to know
Thanks for watching. As for my experience in building these walls, I was flying by the seat of my pants making this video. About the Loosely stacked stones in the baskets, they are not meant to hold water back as much as for guiding the water Downstream opposed to going up the sloped bank and flooding my garage. After backfilling with #3 limestone, geofabric, and a layer of topsoil for grass, it gives the water a place to expand as the waters rise... If that makes any sense. It actually works pretty well so far. As other commenters mentioned, there's a little bit of unforeseen minor undermining, which I plan to fix with some concrete mix and some limestone at the base. There's a one minute short that I posted showing the wall handling high water. I hope that this helps.
Anxious to see finished with dirt fill and video of next rain. Should be a hoot to watch all that water pass you by.
Thanks for watching Bob. It's been back-filled for a while now. I hope to post the follow-up videos sometime in the near future.
Your country will soon exceed the USA in nicest places in the world to live. Nicely done.
Thanks for watching and the kind words Shawn!
Hey I really enjoyed your clip….
How was your neighbor responding to the wall?
Was the finished look on that side acceptable to them?
Thanks again really appreciate your work on this one😄
Thanks for watching and the kind words Ross. I haven't really spoke to the new neighbors about this. The old neighbor thought it was an excellent idea and admired the work. That yard and said on the opposite side actually belongs to me as well, so it really doesn't matter that much. I try to make things look attractive as much as I can, but this was on a budget and I did what I could with what I had. I am glad that you enjoyed this. If you look through my short videos there is a follow-up showing this wall filled to the top with water during a rainstorm. I still plan to do a follow-up and answer all of the questions people have asked in the comments as well as some political comments that need to be addressed in this game of pretend, LMAO. Thanks again Ross!
I guess the rock will provide french draining advantages even after the wire cage rusts and decays....
I don't think that will happen for a long time... Perhaps even in my lifetime. It's been up over two years, and there's virtually no rust to speak of yet.
Man! You are hilarious! Great job on that wall too. I really like the idea of using unwanted debris. Better than taking the time to haul it to a dump and pay those fees.
Thanks for watching Robert. I appreciate the compliments on the humor and the wall. Yes, as a lot of people stated in the comments, it may be unsightly to some, but I had to get rid of that stuff and what better way than to feel a retaining wall with it. I personally do not think it looks that bad, and unless they are lying my neighbors don't seem to think that it looks bad either. Plus it mitigates the flooding issue! 😂
I enjoyed watching this video and loved your humor! What a great project and adventure. This would have been fun to do. I have a retaining wall I need to make repairs to and I’m going to try 🎉 …. You been fun! Thank you for the information, God Bless!
Gosh Michelle, thanks so much for watching and the kind words. I really appreciate the compliments on the humor. I wish you the best in success for your project. It was a huge undertaking with some trying times, but I made the most of it and kept it fun. That's the key! I welcome you to post pictures of your project on the Mostly Mike sHOW Facebook page. God bless.
Much respect for all your hard work!! Pat on the back. Did it work??? Also, I found this video while searching for "diy hesco barriers" and although you're diverting water, a similarly designed wall would be useful in a physical security situation on one's home front. Just sayin. 😏👌
Thanks for watching and the fun comment TR Speaks Truth! I couldn't agree with you more on this physical security situation on the homefront! To answer your question, in my shorts video playlist there a very brief follow-up showing the ditch full of water. That is all I have as far as a follow-up so far, but I do plan on making a video showing more of the wall that I built as well as filling the back side in with a combination of geofabric, number three gravel, more geofabric, then a foot or so of topsoil so grass could be planted. Many who watched this video assumed that my neighbors owned the opposite side of the ditch, but I own both sides of the Rio Brandon, LOL. The previous ditch kept eroding closer and closer to my boat house, so this wall actually sped up the flow of the water, diverting it instead of overflowing the banks, and sending it to the pipe that goes under the road, which is a whole other story. I have filed three complaints to my municipality over the past five years about the pipe being undersized at only 16 in. The pipe feeding the Rio Brandon Upstream is 24 in, and when we get a big rainstorm, a full pipe of water spews from it. It's clearly a plumbing code violation, but my municipality isn't doing anything about it. That violation though, is the cause of all the flooding to begin with. With adequate sized piping the water would never get that high. Sorry for the long-winded response. 😁
@themostlymikeshow2582 no apologies necessary! Sorry the local municipality caused you so much work, but hey, it's good exercise right!? Fortunately, they also lead you to make a very informative video, and you commendably kept your sense of humor throughout. You "embraced the suck" well. 😁
do you think these galvanized walls might survive the harsh maritime conditions when applied/submerged on sea water? We're currently working on a project partiularly with stone-walled fishtraps. Do you think gabion wall might be appropriate? Thanks
Thanks for watching. I don't know for sure, but I don't think galvanized would hold up real well with seawater. It's been 2 years since I started this project and the initial parts that got exposed to the elements still look almost as good as the day I put them in with a little bit of rust of course where the cuts were made or if they got scratched, but I am pretty impressed the way they are holding up. This is fresh water passing through them though. I hope to do a follow-up video showing what it looks like now that it is back filled with dirt and gravel. Everything is landscaped and it paints a clearer picture of how the wall really is. A lot of people thought by the video that I was building a wall in the middle of a ditch, but I was just shearing up the side and filling in with dirt using this wall as a retainer.
Gotta have a way to keep people from coming in and trying to earn back what we stole from them!
Thanks for watching and commenting, which helps this video get shared to more people. Not sure what you're talking about US stealing.
How’s the wall holding up up?
Thanks for watching and commenting Alex. The wall is holding up pretty good. In the description there is a short video link showing it full of water. I hope to make an update video sometime soon addressing lots of questions, comments, and political statements that people had made as well as showing the finished Landscaping and backfilling. It certainly looks a lot different after being back filled and looks more like it belongs in the landscape.
Nice work!
@@lakersalex thank you!
Loved the wall (with the exception of the brake rotors :-)... how did the wall do against the heavy rain waters??? Love to see the follow up video ! Great job ! :-)
Thanks for watching Doug. I get mixed reactions on the brake rotors. Some people like them, and some don't. I thought they added a little character so that's why I showed them. I posted a one minute follow up showing the ditch completely filled after everything was landscaped. It's just a one minute short. All in all though, the wall is holding up great, and it controls the water. When I say controlling, it does not hold water back, but diverts it the direction it needs to go. Prior to me building this the water just went up the slope and flooded my garage out, and eroded the ditch closer and closer to the garage. This brought the ditch where it needed to be and it is eroding the opposite direction now. I do plan to make a follow-up video in long form and address all the different types of questions that people have asked. I'll include the link to the short version after this comment.
ua-cam.com/users/shortsdNvwMh9plZ0?feature=share
You do realize the wall is porous. Anyway, two thumbs up because that thumbs ache in the cold comment was just so funny and I have no idea why. Maybe the delivery. Nice wall, great script.
Thanks for watching Cat! I always try to work on the delivery, lol. I should have explained better in the video the whole concept in why I am doing that as porous as it is. The wall is more or less there to sheer up the bank, and prior to backfilling I put a layer of geofabric up the wall and underneath the layer of number three limestone which took up all but a foot of the back filling and then another layer of geofabric to keep the topsoil from dropping through. This allowed the water to expand into that entire porous area instead of raising over the banks and flooding my yard and garage. Since installing the wall, it diverts the water into the opposite Bank and is eroding it which is exactly what I wanted it to do. It has also gotten deeper, also what I wanted it to do. I will be posting a follow-up explaining all of this better and showing exactly how I did the back filling and Landscaping along with some other additions including a bridge and a culvert added to the wall.
@@themostlymikeshow Ah, very smart - I see what you did now. In Canada, we call this a curtain wall or a french drain but this scope is way beyond that in mass and functionality. You must be a civil engineer, nobody else would even know to do this. Thanks for the explanation, I'll be watching. Subscribed.
@@schrodingerscat7218 nah I'm not a civil engineer. Not sure in the long-term if this is even going to work. I have the state department of environmental resources involved now concerning the exit drain. They might end up eliminating the ditch and burying a pipe
@@themostlymikeshow Parasites. We have them here in spades. Good luck to you, sir.
wow what a fantastic idea and yes definitely a labor of love ... good job on protecting your space
Thanks for watching and the kind words Gypsy Free Spirit. I'll be posting another update in the near future. If you look in my shorts videos, I have some rough footage of it full of water.
Dang that’s a lot of rubble. I’ve done jobs like this before too and glad to see you were able to finish. Good job
Thanks for watching and the kind words R Cook. I hope to post the follow-up in the near future showing the completed Landscaping and a little bit more addition to the wall that this video does not show. I will all set try to address a lot of questions and comments that viewers had.
@@themostlymikeshow looking forward to it. Wife’s always on me for my own outdoor projects but it’s hard to find the time haha cheers 🇨🇦
The bad news is that wall will be undermined in short order, you really need to take it down to avoid the scour. You could alway line the bottom the the creek infront of it to protect it.
Thanks for watching John. Yes, there's a little bit of that happening, and the short fix was to drive some pieces of sharpened 4x4 pressure treated posts under the wall at angles to divert the current away from the base of the wall, which works decently. I still plan to take concrete mix and limestone to make a barrier on that side. The water has cut the opposite side of the ditch a little, which is what I wanted it to do. I own both sides and the shed. The root cause of the flooding still needs to be addressed by state or municipal level. The exit pipe of the ditch is actually 10" smaller than the pipe filling the ditch, which I believe is a plumbing code violation.
Stainless steel and Zinc galvanized steel don't play well together. You are essentially making a half cell reaction between the Zinc on the surface and the Nickel in the Stainless and the it quickly eats the Zinc up which then lets the underlying steel which it is protecting rust. Use Zinc coated steel fasteners with Zinc coated steel and Stainless fasteners with Stainless steel!
Thanks for watching and the advice Linmal. I don't doubt what you were telling me, but it's been 2 years and I haven't noticed any rust as of yet. I plan to do a follow-up video at some point and I will show some random close-ups of different parts of the wall.
I was thinking railroad ties or concrete blocks. I like the idea of the Gabon wall. Any Rio Brandon updates on the wall?
I hope to get an update video or two out soon showing it after landscaping, as well as addressing some of the questions and political statements that some have made. Thanks for watching Stuart!
Better border wall than the orange guy, good job
Thanks for watching!
Some advice from a final grade and amenities contractor (who happens to exist jus-this-side of the Rio Brandon). If you would have had some of your neighbors (to the South) help build that wall, you would have been done in a day, not a month. All puns aside, good job.
Thank you Jason! Truth be told it actually took a few months to build working on it by myself. I'm happy with the result after a few tweaks. I will be posting an update sometime in the near future addressing some of the questions that were asked in the comments as well as showing some add-ons. If you look in my short videos there is a follow-up showing the wall filled up to full capacity just recently. If you want I can provide a link.
Great. Thank you so much. Very educative. Can one build it along a river side.
Thanks for watching Esther. I have seen these along real rivers, but I'm sure that they would need to be anchored to the ground in a special way so it doesn't wash out. I'm not sure how that would be done though. Sorry I don't have that advice.
Great video! I love your sense of humor. You have a talent for story telling.
Thanks for watching and the kind words Rich. Glad you enjoyed!
Love this video, in Jamaica we call this a Gideon basket I think we just can’t pronounce 😂😂😂
Thanks for watching and the kind words Michael. I don't think that it matters how you pronounce it or spell it as long as it does its job! 😂
Any update on it how’s it doing? Anything you do different on your setup and design?
Thanks for watching Doom Bunny. Hopefully I will get an update video out soon showing all the landscaping, additions, etc. As well as answering the questions people have.
The only thing that I would have done differently is maybe set the wall a little deeper. I never anticipated the ditch getting a little deeper on the downstream end. It eroded the opposite side like I had hoped for to restore it to the course that the water took about ten or fifteen years ago.
I liked and subscribed. Great video! I'm getting ready to do this as bridge abutments for my creek bridge. I ride a Harley and have never known anything but hard work. Maybe that's why I'm 70 and still going.
That's awesome Frankenstein Rules! Hard work definitely keeps us going. I have a Springer Softail that appears in the background of my videos occasionally. Thanks for watching! I'd love to hear how your bridge abutments works for you.
I have no idea about construction, but just as a thought, wouldn't it be better to create a wall using concrete bags with some rebar going through? My uneducated guess is that would be better and will prevent water getting though the actual wall...
Thanks for watching and commenting. The wall wasn't designed to not let water through. I will be making a follow-up video showing what I mean. When the water level rises, this wall gives the water a place to expand and directs the water downstream instead of just flowing over the banks.
Since this video was made, I back filled with mostly #3 limestone with geofabric to allow topsoil on the top 12 inches of soil to facilitate growing grass on top. I hope that this helps you to understand my goals on the project.
The water only gets this high once or twice a year usually.
@@themostlymikeshow does this really prevents your yard overflowing? cause I would assume the water just goes through the wall into your yard... I would love to see the aftermath video, cause I failed physics in school and don't understand how that works without actual concrete ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
There's a one minute short showing one of the times that water reached the top and even flowed over. I don't believe that it would ever get that high, but the pipe that this ditch runs into is way undersized, causing the water to damn up.
First time seeing a Gabion Wall.
Thanks for watching Panttera.
Great tutorial. Thank you.
Thanks for watching Dennis. Glad you enjoyed.
You did a fantastic job all alone and I was very impressed and I subscribed instantly. Job well done Champ.
Thanks for watching and the kind words! Glad you enjoyed.
The narration is 🤌
Kudos 😂
Thanks James! I put a lot effort into narrations and audio. I'm glad you enjoyed and thanks for the kind compliment.