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Farming today compared to the old way, My life my struggles,
Hub Pages, DIY brickwork. and this article at this link, DIY Retaining walls.
Today is easy to build retaining walls, there are firms that specialize and make it easy for the average bloke to build them like in this photo above. You see, some of these concrete blocks are made to be laid dry, so, the average bloke can lay them, and if it not right the first time you can relay them, since there is no mortar between the joints that sticks them together.
Link Block Mortar-less Walls
Link Block Mortar-less Retaining Wall Blocks
This is a different type of retaining walls
made with dry blocks, the mortar is not required, it is a low wall easy to
build, so, most people can do it themselves. Now let me tell you this, on the
internet I have found this local supplier who has placed a few short videos how
to build these walls; the videos are at the bottom of the page, please use the
link here-under, I reckon it is worth to watch them, if you want to build any
retaining walls. As I have said this is only a local supplier in Brisbane
Australia, therefore, the same materials may not be available where you are
living, but by watching these videos you are going to learn something useful, if the link works.
No need for Mortar
So, I hope you have used the link above and
you have been able to see the videos. Anyhow, whatever you have learned can be
helpful one day.
Now, let me describe how to build a garden rock retaining wall.
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I believe that rock retaining walls blend well in the garden, as they are natural, since rocks are found everywhere in the natural state agong trees and grass. So most times is the way to go.
Building a garden rock retaining wall
To build a garden rock wall as shown in the picture is a lot
harder than you think, and you need to know how to go about it, you see, you
need to have a good eye to see how the rocks that you have can fit together to
make a wall. There are a few ways how to do this depending how tall the wall is
going to be and lots of other things.
You see, if you have only a very low wall you can just lay
one single rock one after another, or two rocks one on top of another making
sure that you choose the best face to show at the top and at the front, the
other part of the rock can be hidden in the ground, or at the back since you
are backfilling behind the wall; in this case it is not necessary to use any
concrete, as the stones can be laid dry, but if you want you can use concrete.
Before you start the wall, you must dig all the grass and
loose soil, even if your wall is going to be low. If the wall is going to be in
a place where the ground is slopping down, make sure that you dig at least a
few inches into the solid natural ground, so that the wall you are building can
sit on firm natural ground, so, your wall is not going to slope down the first
heavy rain you have after building.
Now, in this example, we are building a low stone wall and
we are not going to use anything to bind the wall together, so, there is no
cement or anything else between the stones, in this case because there is
nothing to stop the rainwater to run between the stones you don’t need to worry
about drainage. You see, one of the greatest problems with retaining walls is
the water that can build behind them, the water and wet soil puts pressure on
the wall and if the water cannot get out the wall is going to fail.
Now it is helpful to have a look at some stone retaining
wall, and for this reason in mind I have found this link in the Internet; so,
have a look at the pictures in this link; www.australianrockwalls.com.au/ there are several types of stone
walls, now you can start thinking how and why they have been built that way.
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Deciding to
build your own rock wall.
Here let us assume that you need more space, because you want to build a car
port, and put a trampoline for the kids. So, you have been digging in the
backyard, and finally you are satisfied that they can fit them in the space you
have made. But now you have this bank that stands almost vertical in the
backyard, it looks ugly, and you know that when the first heavy rain comes it
is going to start washing it down, and worse still it may collapse. So, you
think of building a retaining wall to hold the soil up.
For this reason, you have had a couple of quotes and had a
good talk to the contractors as you did not want to spend more money that was
strictly necessary, they did their best but still you cannot afford to pay the
full price, beside that you found that if you lay a dry stone wall, ether you
have to use stones that have been cut at the quarry and they cost a lot, or you
have to have a rock wall with a wider base and this is going to take away some
of the space you created when you dug, so really you need to think about it.
So, you have decided to build the stone retaining wall yourself,
what you have decided is that you are going to build an hybrid stone wall,
which you believe can do the job without costing too much; therefore, you have
looked for a rock supplier and ask for prices of the different materials you may
need, because you think that you can afford it, if you do the job yourself.
By pure chance you have learned from the blokes that have
given you the prices, how many cubic meters of rocks you need and other things
that you were not sure before; well done sometimes in the building game things
work out this way, you learn a bit from here a bit from there and then you can
decide what to do with the information you have collected. There is nothing
wrong for doing this, unless you do it purposely to learn something, but if it does
not work out, then it is okay to use what you have learned from them.
I have to say that it has been done to me many times and
that I have done this myself; not only on quoting but also in buying something
new, if I have to buy something that I have never used before, I go to at least
three places and inquiry about it, by asking the right questions not only I
learn how much it is going to cost me, but I have learned how to use whatever I
was going to buy in the first place, of course, I end up buying from one of
them what I wanted to buy in the first place; sometimes I call this let me go
first to spy and then to buy, I know that some of these people are going to
feel a bit hurt, for using their time for nothing, but so what, sometimes you
win and sometimes you lose, as I have said it has been done to me as well and I
have felt a bit hurt, when I had to spend some time working out a price to
build something, and at the end I did not get the job, so, I spent all that
time for nothing, but that is life and we should accept the outcome whichever
way it goes. Anyhow, now let us go back to building the rock wall.
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Start building the
hybrid rock wall.
This hybrid wall that we are going to build is a big job, it
starts at the same level, as we have dug the ground approximately level, but
because we are building the wall only to the height of the natural ground
level, it is going to start from almost nothing and at the highest point will
be 1.8 meter, it is really two walls that meet and forms a square at the
highest point.
Here we must say that today some people think that this
should not be done, as this is neither a rock wall nor a concrete masonry wall,
as it mixes about everything, but so what, if it is convenient, why not do it?
I must say that in my life time I have built walls like this with whatever was
available on the site; and I mean everything in fact I was using stones that
were laying in this small creek bed, and pieces of concrete that we had broken
to do some alterations and old bricks, some concrete and some mortar, this has
happened a few year ago and last time I have seen the owner he said that the
wall is still there. So, most things can be done if you know that it has got a
good chance to last a long time.
Let us go back to build our hybrid rock wall. Now, to build
this wall you need a few cubic meter of rocks, because you want the wall to
look as a rock wall, you don’t need very big rocks or special size rocks,
because you can use the cement wherever necessary to fill the gaps and this is
good, since the cement is less costly, you need a mixer, you need some gravel,
sand and cement; and of course, you must have the tools to do the job.
You got all this on site, and you can start to build. First
of all, drive a couple of pegs in the ground, exactly where you want the face
of the wall to be, tie and stretch a line on these pegs and see any adjustment
that you need to do before you start laying the first stone. What you are
looking for here is that the bank you are going to build the wall against has
been dug straight, it is almost vertical or a few degrees sloping, you have dug
a shallow foundation, because you want the wall to be strong and last for a
long time, so, you are satisfied that the foundation is going to be solid
enough, since it is well below the original natural ground, therefore, it can
hold a lot of weight and pressure, because the ground is very compact.
You have done all this, you have set the pegs again so that
your wall is set to be at least 10” thick overall, you have chosen this
thickness because most of the large rocks seem to be that thick, so now you are
ready to lay the first course of stones, mix a few batches of concrete and lay
it in the foundation and then before this concrete sets lay the first course of
stones on this concrete making sure that the bottom of the stones are below
ground level, so that the entire stone wall seems to start from below the
ground; once you have done that you can fill the back of the stone with
concrete a bit above ground level but below the full height of the stones,
because you want to leave enough room to lay next course of stone easily. Now
the wall is all set to go, but we need to reset how we must continue and
complete the hybrid rock wall, the right way with the right lean against the
bank. You need to lean the wall against the bank, so that the weight of your
wall by itself adds strength to the wall.
This blog is becoming too long, so, we will complete to build the hybrid rock wall, in part three. See you soon.
To see more, or the entire article click on this link, DIY Retaining walls.
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