So you're saying I shouldn't paint it like the Hindenburg? 🤣
Â
New house
- Thread starter Streetbu
- Start date
- Status
I think the insignia may attract the wrong crowd..
Of course, coating it in flex seal would basically turn it into a giant condom...
Â
Got off my a$$ and checked one project off the list today. Small retaining wall on the front corner of the house. Piece of slate you see is a step and will be the beginning of the sidewalk to the front door. Started at 9am, finished at 1pm. I'm whooped. It's 15 feet long and 2' tall on the right side.
Â
Started on the second retaining wall this morning. Ran out of blocks and motivation for the day LOL
Â
Oh hey look, a squirrel! Decided to start a different project today before I even finished the retaining wall 😅 This one went a little quicker though. Just some new 6x6 treated posts out by the road to mark the corners of the driveway and the ditch. I bought a used gas powered auger to drill the holes. Stumbled upon it on FB marketplace, took about 5 minutes per hole. Figured I'll use it for a couple of holes by the deck for stairs into the back yard then sell it for what I paid for it. Definitely a time and back saver!
Â
Thank you! I've helped build them before, but have never done one myself. I guess time will tell how well I did it! Hahaha
Â
The good news is they're like legos. Worst case scenario you take it apart in 5 years and rebuild it... and skip lifting weights a few days.
Nothing to worry about, and, looks good.
The only real question i have is based on what I see - it looks like the blocks are using the slab as foundation? If so, and, thinking of frost action, would that much weight (a few tons) on the edge promote slab tilt/heave? Would putting some type of cable lock footing under the edge to frost depth help support that weight help things?
Â
Very true. No they aren't using the slab, they are just off of it on undisturbed ground so there shouldn't be any settling. I only dug down a blocks height. Used the landscape fabric, the runner crush, then stone dust, then the first course of block. Should be good. Famous last words LOL
Â
If you think stacking the blocks is hard work, wait until you're shoveling load, after load, after load to backfill behind it lol.
Those look like the same style/type of blocks as the picture I posted having built those long walls at my old house out of. If so, the nature of the stacking process and block shape means there's going to be small pockets, LOTS of them, that even shoveling by hand and tamping down don't eliminate. The ONLY thing that fills them is time and water moving the material in. For about 2 years afterwards there was slow settling that made it LOOK like material was washing out or disappearing, when in fact it was just filling in the spaces.
So of that happens to you, don't worry about it. In hindsight, if I ever built another one - which I doubt my neck and back injuries will ever allow at this point - I'd backfill and tamp with each course/row I installed to see if that prevented the long term slow settling. Either that or I'd use a rubber mulch type product on top that could just be topped off without attracting termites instead of something heavy like the small river pebble I did go with.
Â
- Status
Similar threads
