How to Build a Retaining Wall Start to Finish
Вставка
- Опубліковано 14 кві 2021
- How to Build a Retaining Wall Start to Finish
Here were building a 500 sq ft retaining wall. I go over all the different steps through out the process. The blocks we used are Allan Block AB Classic. The retaining wall was designed by an engineer and has three layers of geo grid.
Thanks for watching! Please don't forget to like this video and subscribe to my channel. - Навчання та стиль
It would be nice to see this wall in five years time.
I would have sold the owner on piping the gutter downspouts to the existing drain grate. Nicely done and explained.
As a Florida native, just watching this and seeing all that snow made my joints freeze up (no pun intended). Project looks great though.
Very professional job... rare that i see such attention to details. 👍
Great Job, I like the way you explain things
Damn, y'all do amazing work. Love the catch basin idea
It’s a great sound throughout the video of that water draining knowing y’all did a great job👍
Thanks 👍
It must be freezing doing that job elwitg the snow. Great job!
Nice job.. I like the grading and wall height, looks like it will last plenty of decades.
That wall looks awesome! I need one in my yard
Thank you very much
Really appreciated this kind of video. I do some landscaping work as a second job and this is invaluable info! I am a new suscriber and looking forward for other projects where you detail your process like this
Thanks for the comment and the subscription, I really appreciate it. I have another wall we built on a hillside with steps built into the wall. I just need some time to get all the clips edited together.
@@srmcontractingwhat’s the link to this other wall u speak of?
Great job bud looks really nice keep up the good work very few people take pride In what they do nicely executed
Thank you very much
You guys really take pride in what you build. Kudos to you your team. By the way loveeeee those blocks . They look amazing and beautiful.
Thank you, I really appreciate it
@@srmcontracting I would love to hire your team but I live in south africa. But I truly appreciate your work.
Much respect working out in the cold- nice work!
Thank you, it's not easy some days
Cold, for me working outside since the early 80's I would perfer the cold .you can put on another layer in the cold, the heat in need air conditioning and that is inside.
Really nice. I could use your expertise on my dilemma.
Love ur channel n videos......thanks brother .... Peace and love °°°°°°° stay safe out there
This is what we normally call an MSE wall (mechanically stabilized earth) engineered as you've done. And can go relatively. High depending on tail length of fabric or galvanized steel grid etc. Very nice work, our leveling slab on the west coast are concrete. but only a foot thick and a foot wide depending on height. Again, very nice work men
Thank you
Man you are so lucky you were able to get everything done by machinery. I had to dig it old school and bring all the materials in buckets and carry the blocks by hand because the entrance was too narrow to get in.
Those are tough ones for sure
Wow I'm impressed you were able to get that done with all the snow!
Snow is nothing, rain is the real show stopper
Hey Sean, I've watched a bunch of your retaining wall videos and I want to confirm the process for replacing a 32 inch retaining wall that's collapsing:
-dig down 12 inches, compact base
-put down 4 inches of 3/4 inch gravel, compact
-lay first blocks, level
-put landscaping fabric behind wall, French drain pipe
-stack additional layers of blocks
-backfill behind wall with 3/4 inch gravel, compact
-wrap landscaping fabric back
-cap stones
-beers with the boys
Eric, Your on the right track! I would do a 6" base and make sure 1 row of blocks are completely buried. So if your blocks are 10" tall, you will need to dig down 16". Also I never use fabric behind walls. Unless you live in an area where the soil is very sandy I wouldn't recommend it. Thanks for watching and let me know if you have any questions.
Hey brother. I think you meant geo grid behind wall.
Replace the fabric with geo grid and ur golden
What’s a geo grid ?
Nice vid. I want to replace a failing retaining wall at my girls place this summer and I'm trying to learn a few things.
Thank you, good luck with your project
Good job
I love your wall building episodes best of all! 👍👍👍
PS - Do you need a railing on the back of the wall since it is 4’ tall?
Solid 👊
Could you explain what who makes it, and model filter fabric material you purchased and what size pipe you used. Also how much clean stone was used in this whole job. This is beautiful work! You guys overbuilt everything here. Truely inspiring! I am subscribing for sure Lot to learn here!
Thank you, a retaining wall is nothing you want to cheap out on. I always take my time to explain all the details to the customer and why they need to be careful who they hire to build one. I'm not sure of the manufacturer of the filter Fabric it's from the local supply yard. I know it's a little thicker and more heavy duty than what you get from The Big box store. The pipe is a 4-in perforated pipe. Thanks for watching and let me know if you need any more info.
The only way that wall is failing is if the concrete the blocks made out of deteriorates, damn, I love the over kill, is that code where your from to have geo grid every course? Beautiful work my man, you’re just like me, putting the wall on high display and just giving a little shout out to the patio.
2A MODIFIED is used when a solid compacted base is needed. 2B STONE is used where drainage is needed
Thanks for the video, it is much appreciated!
When designing this project, is there consideration on the load against the adjoining (neighbor's) retaining wall? Do you have to assume it was built appropriately and can withstand the added load on the face or is it confirmed somehow? Thanks
You're welcome, this wall was designed by and engineer so I believe they took that into consideration. With that said I don't believe we added any additional load to that cinder block wall. I think we did just the opposite by building up the grade. Now if that cinder block wall where to fail it would basically go unnoticed because the fill dirt would keep it in place. Thanks for watching
That's a lot of money for just a more level yard. At least you did it it!
Was there anything used to separate the dirt from gravel? And how do you make sure the dirt doesn’t mix in the gravel?
Hey Sean! Amazing work! Beautiful! I am curious about the start and finish regarding the weather. You obviously had a snowfall at the start of the job, and I think it appears maybe another snowfall. But then it looks like spring as you finished the job. Did you have to hold the job at some point because of the season and weather?
Thank you I appreciate it, we got hit with 3 snow storms within 2 weeks time. We started the job at the end of Jan and it was in the low 40s and then BAM mother nature changed her mind. The job took about 20 days on site, including the paver patio we did. But that was spread out over a 6 week time frame. So when we finished it was early/mid March.
@@srmcontracting Thank you for the reply! Weather is a frustrating "Murphy Factor" when working outdoors.
I appreciate you going above and beyond to make sure your work doesn't have problems "down the road". Character among contractors seems to be at an all time low, at least around the armpit of NJ where we are at. Thank you for giving me a glimmer of hope that I might one day find a solid contractor who will go above and beyond...even if it costs me a bit more...
Hello I live in Ontario and am having a hard time finding a nice retaining wall block other than unilock. Does anyone know of a good dealer? Also mint video 👌
Nice job!!
Thank you!
@@srmcontracting now I run a landscaping maintenance,I’m doing fine.
But I heard that the real money is in the construction area! What you think??
Is hard to start and get pavers done?? Thanks
@@fabricioalmeida348 Its great work and you can make good money doing it. Theres two major differences between hardscaping and landscaping. The first being the jobs take much longer. Most of my jobs take 1-3 weeks. The second is finding guys, it's a lot easier to find a guy that can run a landscape crew then it is to find someone who can run a hardscaping job. If your a small company like myself, then you should find someone to run your landscape jobs and you focus on building the hardscape side. Another factor is all the equipment is expensive. You could rent tools and equipment in the beginning but you want to purchase things on your own eventually. Hope this helps, please let me know if you have any questions.
@@srmcontracting I appreciate the response, I live in Massachusetts what about you?over here is hard to find even landscaping guys, but you right !! I have a small business as well,
@@fabricioalmeida348 No problem, it's tough here too. Even laborers want $20+ an hour. I'm in eastern PA.
Nicely built. I have worse slop that this. And require a 5.’5” tall retaining wall . I have two kids , what type of fence is best of this type of application, ?thanks
Thank you, a cable railing system is light weight and in most cases can be installed directly on top of the wall. A aluminum railing is also a good option. If you wanted to install a privacy type gate it would need to be 3 ft away from the wall. So it didn't add extra load to the wall. Thanks for watching!
This looks like super quality work, well done. By any chance, do you know a contractor you'd recommend for this kind of job in Texas?
Thank you, sorry I don't. Just do your research, ask the contractor to see photos of his work and check his online reviews. Good Luck
That looks freakin awesome! So,
5 blocks high, about 80 ft width, 70-80yrds of dirt, 3-4yards of topsoil? How how many yards of rock did this take? And about 5-6 days of work With 2-3 guys? Again, great work!
I think he said 45 yards and 25 yards to finish so about 70 yards
Very nice work! We have a nearly identical block in Australia called a Tasman block ( that's the brand name) and looks so good like the block you used in the video
The code in Australia specifies a concrete footing, the blocks to be core filled with no fines concrete and the wall also.back filled with no fines concrete too
Does code in the states specfy things like that?
Thank you, there are certain applications where we us no fines concrete. But it's not a requirement for every wall.
@@srmcontracting yep makes sense, you guys have snow and freeze thaw to contend with too i guess, we dont have the down under
excellent work
nice work, on the first course of blocks are they level on front to back completely or is there a slight lean back that is most common with these blocks or the redi rock walls?
Thank you, these blocks step back with each course so we keep them level.
What is the purpose of the geo grid?
Is geo grid placed beneath the stone on every course?
What does something like this cost???? I have something similar to this. Looking for a ballpark number
That look immaculate!! Ballpark.. what’s the price range on work like that.
Thank you, there are a lot of variables on projects like this but ballpark is around $30k. I hope this helps, Thanks for watching
Can the home owner fill and level if they wanted?
You don’t use a filter fabric between stone and subsoil? I’ve always found it adds a layer of insurance. Keeps stone from weeping into the surrounding soil.
No sir, here is eastern PA the soil has a high clay content. This will clogged the fabric very quickly and put hydrostatic pressure on the wall. I've built several walls that have been designed by engineers, none of which called for vertical filter fabric behind the wall. I would only use it if the soil was very sandy. Thanks for watching!
@@srmcontracting makes sense. Thanks for the info. In my area we have a lot of sandy soil. No matter what you do the ground is still somewhat soft and really like to hold water. So filter fabric is an absolute requirement for us. I use 2 separate stones for my base material. 3/4 clean for about 7/8ths of the base at whatever depth is required then the top 1/8th I use 3/8” limestone chips. Really helps lock everything together when tucked into the filter fabric trench liner.
How much does a project like this typically run?
Wow! It`s a nice workmanship and super result! Do you know is there any limitation with max. height and a slope degree for such method of retaining, please? Also, we have nearly the same task, but the land is much steeper there and... the boundary line (where this retaining wall is planned) is "arrested" in between communal water pipe line (~1,5 metres behind our land) and a sewerage (the same 1.5 metres, but inside our LOT). Can it be any restriction to build something like this in such circumstances, please? Thank you
Nice job. I've watched other videos on retaining walls and yours looks to be the correct way to build one. DIY walls leave a lot to be desired and I don't think anyone should take advice from the weekender landscaper. Kind of a crapshoot with UA-cam unless it's from a company that's in the business. Homeowner spent a lot of money so his neighbor had a beautiful wall to look at. I wonder does the neighbor split some cost like a fence between neighbors?
What is the purpose of the geograte? Is it to help hold the wall up from when the soil and rock are pushing against it?
Building a retaining wall right now for myself and wondering if I should add this to mine. Thanks!
It acts as an anchor for the wall. If the wall is over 3 ft or is supporting a load I would definitely recommend it.
Shweet
Would you ever cement the bottom blocks - if you’ll have a pool or something heavy sitting in the new raised backyard?
These walls aren't designed to have cement used. I would have the pool 6' from the wall but it's best to consult an engineer to be sure
Quick question, can you pour a concrete patio on top of a retaining wall like this?
Yes, as long as the wall was built to withstand the surcharge from the patio.
those blocks always fall apart. i wouldn’t.
How does water enter the drainage pipe?
no adhesive to hold the wall together? can you add adhesive if wanted to? PL600 or something like that? how strong is the wall without any adhesive?
No adhesive needed for these type of blocks. This is how the manufacturer designed it to be built. Thanks for watching
I am doing mine myself could I use 3/4 dense as base on top of subgrade
Yes, I'm assuming that's what I know as 3/4" modified. Which is a mix of 3/4" stone down to stone dust. I've used that for my base many times. Thanks for watching
No tie in to the neighbors wall, no return in that corner, half the yard is graded into that corner, and you're in a cold climate? What's to stop the soil from filling the clean rock (I know you added a cloth on top, but soil slides sideways too) freezing and pushing that corner out? Is the stone lip enough of a setback to hold the wall in?
The neighboring wall is a CMU wall, the wall I built is a segmental retaining wall. You should never tie these different wall types together. Yes I'm in eastern PA, we go through many freeze thaw cycles. We never put fabric vertically behind retaining walls, our soil has a very high clay content and will quickly clog the fabric. Once that fabric clogs it will put hydrostatic pressure on the wall and lead to failure. There is at least 18" of clean stone behind that wall, it will take 50 years for the soil to migrate through it. In addition to the lip, we also put Geo Grid which acts as an anchor behind the wall. The blocks are also filled with 3/4" stone, this also holds them together. I've built many walls designed by engineers and this is how it's done in my region. Thanks for watching!
@@srmcontracting thanks so much for answering, I now have a much better grasp on it. Though out the video we never see that corner and I was totally confused. Thanks again for clearing this up . Great work, love seeing you guys create a usable back yard out of a useless hill.
If you add a layer of plastic above the topsoil, will that cause the wall to collapse?
Yes that would cause problems because it would hold water. Thanks for watching!
Wow amazing!!!! .... What was the bottom line on this project? Looks similar to what i was thinking about doing in my backyard.
Thank you very much, the wall was about 25k. Depending on where you live, access to your yard, and the material you choose you could pay more or less. Thanks for watching!
We're can I purchase the drain outlet you used between the bricks? I'm building a 3 ft retaining wall in my back yard & loved the look of the drain between the bricks. Plz help
Your local landscape supply or even Amazon. There called Wall drain pro
@@srmcontracting thank you so much
How many do you recommend installing for a wall only 30ft. Long?
@@RADDBUS I would do 2, one near each end
@@srmcontracting thank you, I wish you were located closer, would hire you to finish the job, :)
How much is the cost similar wall?
What was the all-in $ for a job like this?
Where did you buy concrete blocks and do they have a lip?
They are Alan Block which I believe you can get nation wide from different suppliers and they do have a lip
how much does this work usually cost?
What does something like this cost?
Nice video.....very informative. Maybe add some music during parts you are not talking.
Fuk the music.. I'm Here to learn not be annoyed
@@joepaullawncare7222 🤣. So true. I think for some people, the music is the equivalent of a fidget spinner. One minute of silence is too much to handle.
How do you give a quote for this? What is an average rate to charge?
If one was going to build an 80 ft. Retaining wall by hand with shovels and tamper, how would you give a rate?
How was this able to be built without cementing the joints? Special kind of block? How does it all stay together and why is it not needed?
Cool work!
They have interlocking flanges on the block which hold them together.
❤
What was the cost for this job?
Lovely work, that skid steer is on the brink of slipping onto your worker please be careful guys
Thank you!
How much it cost for everything?
Do you charge an additional fee (besides the cost per square foot) for backfilling dirt
Yes by the yard of dirt
@@srmcontracting thanks!
Does the drainage tube have holes in it?
Yes it's perforated pipe
How much is something like this?
So, are the “heal” and “toe” drain pipe solid or perforated? I understand wanting to do a great job and building a wall that will last forever, but being there really isn’t a down hill grade issue, all that geo fabric is unnecessary and over pricing the project by hundreds of dollars. IMO
Both pipes are perforated. I'm perfectly content with over building everything that I do. I explain that to all my customers up front. Also we had the pull permits for this job and have an engineer design the wall. So the wall was built per their design. Thanks for watching.
Even if that amount of grid wasn't required, I'd still use it. Overpricing a job by a few hundred dollars on a job this size which likely was priced at $15,000+ is nothing for cheap insurance. The way they built this wall, unless there's a flood or earthquake, it will probably never fail.
@@kyesniper That's exactly how I think! Thanks for watching
very nice. I was surprised that you put in as much geo fabric as you did. Typically you see it every every 3-4 feet in walls taller than 4 feet. I have seldom seen it at all in walls under 4 feet. I was also surprised to see a 2 drains (toe and heel) instead of just 1 especially with wall under 4 feet. Finally, I was puzzled by the fact that your lawn level is under the top course of your wall. Typically the lawn should be higher than the all so runoff goes over the top of the wall rather than in behind it.
Thank you, this wall was designed by an engineer so everything was built to his spec. With that said I often build 3 - 5' walls with geogrid every 2 courses. Its cheap insurance in my opinion. Thanks for watching
I’ve worked with engineers over 25 years. They all over engineer everything as to avoid any possible lawsuit. If I can help it, I go out of my way to give them free reign on design.
I think the right way would include a concrete footer. Crush doesnt actually compact, it just smushes into the ground. But since its a short wall, maybe it will be ok.
What was the cost?
HI, Im trying to get better are retaining walls and just curious on why you put 3/4 clean instead of modified for the base? I've seen other contractors on UA-cam do it like that but I've never understudy why
It all depends on your drain placement, we used 3/4" clean because the base drained directly into the storm drain below grade. If that drain wasn't there, we would have used modified for the base and behind the blocks until we got to the drain height.
How much stone did this take?
I believe it was around 35 tons
hello Could you please give me a price range for a project like this?
Every project is different and so is every market. In my area you could expect to pay 25-30k for a project like this.
How much this project cost?
How much would this cost for a 300 foot long by 6 feet tall From ground level?
That is a large wall and there are many variables. Your market, site Access, commercial or residential all play a big factor. This wall would require an engineered design and the wall will require geogrid reinforcement. Assuming at least 1' of the wall would be buried. 7' x 300' is 2100 SQ ft add about 10% for waste, cuts, etc. 2300 SQ ft x $45 = $103,500. Now if the site is an easy access commercial job then it could be less. If it's a home on a mountain side then it could be more. Hope this helps.
How much was this?
With thys idiot a fortune, 1 only needs around 6 inches to a foot of rock from wall, up to 6 inches below it. But hes dumber than a box of rocks so he dnt know any better. Thats y he hasnt answered u.
A LOT.
No cement between the blocks?
No sir, these blocks are designed to be dry stacked. They're held together by a lip on the top and bottom of each block. As well as the cores being filling with 3/4" angular rock. This also gives the wall the ability to flex if it were to be subjected to any hydro static pressure. Thanks for watching!
@@srmcontracting that's some hi tech blocks. I'll research into that. Thankyou
@@srmcontracting you sure know your work. First time I saw dry Wall stacked like that.
Is there a reason you rolled the grid down the wall like that. The Strength in that grid is only front to back. Not side to side unless it's HP300 or greater
It's SRW Biaxial geogrid, it has the same strength either direction
Nice good looking wall. I've been building them for the past 10 year's now. For BC Hardscapes but I'm on the Commercial side of building them just got done with a 2,000ft 56 row wall. For Amazon here in Kansas City
@@shanegerhardt6316 Thanks, I'm currently working on a commercial retaining wall as well. It's 1300 sq ft and we're using Redi-Rock (Big block wall). Stay tuned for the video and Thanks for watching!
How much for this?
What's the formula to bid something like this
It going to very a lot per region, you could expect $35 - $50 per square ft plus back fill and grading. Thanks for watching.
@@srmcontracting thanks
I have been designing MSE walls for 35 years. One comment - the geogrid is supposed to be installed 90 degrees from the way you did and stretched tight before backfilling and compacting to take the slack out of it. Each section of grid is to be overlapped 6-inches. You do not roll it out parallel to the wall.
Thanks for the comment but we used "Biaxial Geogrid" which has the same strength in both directions. It was installed correctly per the manufacture recommendations.
Why u don’t used the fiberglass paper
I’d recommend the land no mix with the gravel
How would some of you price a job like this? Per sqf?
Linear feet*
Price?
4ft geogrid?
Yes it is, we put 3 layers in this wall. Which is definitely over kill for a 4' wall be I like to over build retaining walls so I don't have to worry.
@@srmcontracting how much did the blocks cost you
How is water suppose to get into a pipe that’s laying on top of 12”+ of crushed stone? I don’t think any water would get into it unless the wall retained 12” off water, not to mention you already have a pipe below that one. I also don’t understand the Georgrid so low in the wall?
Water takes path of least resistance. Some will enter the top pipe before ever making it to the lower pipe. Most goes to lower, it’s just an added insurance.
Any wall that tall should just be footings and stem wall with rebar . Those retaining walls should only be 3 feet or shorter …
Where's the mortar?
No mortar needed on these types of walls
I got a quote for 15k to build one in our backyard to separate our property from the rest of the woods
Yikes!😢
Where's cement concrete!!
3/4 clean is not a base material! Clean stone does not compact, your base must be as hard as concrete. Class5 or modified stone is a base material. Your drainage pipe is useless when the water can flow right past it and under the wall into the base. Otherwise beautiful job
Sorry but I have to disagree with you. 3/4" is great base material and compacts very well. Ive seen 50' tall retaining walls holding up parking lots built with 3/4" clean stone. Not to mention, this wall was designed by an engineer and it called for 3/4" clean stone. As far as the drainage goes, you are correct the water will flow past the pipe through the stone. One thing I left out in the video is the base actually drained directly into the storm drain at the corner of the wall. The pipe was basically just a backup system. Thanks for watching!
@@srmcontracting clean stone contains absolutely no fines and therefore , will not compact. Guaranteed. Clean stone is for under a concrete slab to prevent freeze and thaw. A retaining wall base should not be built with clean stone. Have you ever compacted 2A modified and then 2B clean. The compactor will bounce on the modified and on clean it will move it out of its way. You do a great job but I would never trust building my walls on clean.
@@MrBmxbrawler I've built many retaining walls and yes I've compacted 100 of tons of modified. Modified gives the effect of being more compacted but I assure you 3/4 stone compacts just as well. At the surface it seems loose but the angular nature of the stone locks them together. ncma.org/resource/srw-design-manual/ if your interested download this manual and read chapter 2. Its shows "Well-graded gravels, little or no fines has excellent Shearing Strength when Compacted and Saturated". I don't want to argue with you, that's not what my channel is about.
@@srmcontracting You do a great job. Everyone does it a bit differently. We set walls on compacted modified with a thin layer of screenings for fine tuning.
@@srmcontracting Thank You sooo much for that design-manual link!
Looks good but do yourself a favor don't use those hollow blocks, don't matter how good job you will do they will give you trouble down the road.
LET'S GO BRANDON
You wasted the time using a string line, walls still aren't straight, compacting anything over 1" at a time was another mistake. 12:15 is that corner supposed to be gross or was it planned?