Critique my Retaining Wall

[SEB]

First Retaining Wall I have Built & wanted input, I actually rebuilt it & with some Help from other Landscapers they helped with the design to relieve the water. This is the 4 time its been rebuilt with a drainage system cause it keeps blowing out

[ceyko]

To start off with, I'm nit picking the one thing I do see and dislike - specifically for an HOA home.

Possible to cap with a mesh of some sort those pipes? Something decorative? Also stop anything from crawling up there and croaking - which could clog drainage.

It's hard to say how good/bad it is since a lot of the details that need to be known are hidden behind the stone/underneath. Can you provide more about what was used behind the wall? Stone, sand, dirty, drainage...etc

I read this in a magazine once for places where the wall does not drain as fast as the water builds - to glue to retaining wall stones to each other with a masonry type glue. Never had to do this, but thought it was a decent idea - AS LONG - as the water is actually draining.

[BlueCoupeRedVert]

Looks good

[SEB]

To start off with, I'm nit picking the one thing I do see and dislike - specifically for an HOA home.

Possible to cap with a mesh of some sort those pipes? Something decorative? Also stop anything from crawling up there and croaking - which could clog drainage.

It's hard to say how good/bad it is since a lot of the details that need to be known are hidden behind the stone/underneath. Can you provide more about what was used behind the wall? Stone, sand, dirty, drainage...etc

I read this in a magazine once for places where the wall does not drain as fast as the water builds - to glue to retaining wall stones to each other with a masonry type glue. Never had to do this, but thought it was a decent idea - AS LONG - as the water is actually draining.

Well the house doesnt have a gutter system & the lowest point of the yard is at that corner & that whole corner fills up like a Big Bowl of water in a Hard rain.

BEFORE
Just the stone you see & it was all one level & not stepped. But the contractor who built the house used his base bricks level with the soil on the property & not the sidewalk & that design was great till the sidewalk was installed & thus the bottem Base bricks tilted towards the sidewalk which I think contribute to the wall blowing out, Behind the Contractor Bricks he had Geo Grid with nothing but sand behind the bricks with no drains

AFTER
I dug out about 4 yards of Dirt & Sand & then re installed the Geo Grid & layed about a 8 inchs of 1inch River Rock & packed it & then installed a drainage tube with a sock over it to keep debris from packing it & then covered the drainage tube with the Same 1inch River & replaced all the Dirt & Sand I took out with 1inch River Rock to the top of the wall.

Also on the base bricks I took those up & ran the base bricks even with the side walk & dug out under the base bricks to that thick Gumbo Clay for the first layer of bricks

Def needs to be capped off. But problem is the Bricks on this wall are contractor bricks & 30 of the old contractor bricks couldnt be reused as they had morter all over them. Well the bricks they sell at Home Depot & Lowes are not Contractor size bricks & after pricing the bricks they came out to $5.37 each brick +tax to run the wall even I bid 40 bricks & this threw my Budget to hell. So for now till Budget allows for new bricks, Gonna run with this.

One of my Landscape buddys suggested weap holes every 6 feet. So gonna go rent a 1inch Drill & drill Weap holes & run 1inch pipe about 1ft up from the base of the wall to help relieve the water since the house doesnt have a Gutter system. I really dont want to have to rebuild this wall again! Some people say the French Drain Design I did with the Drainage pipe is good enough & the weap holes are overkill. But I think better safe then sorry!

[slow06]

(Note - I have zero experience building this type of stuff)

I second the mesh cover idea.

Also on the long side, purely for aesthetic purposes, I would space those layers out so they slope down more evenly. There may be a reason for the way you did it, but I think it would look much better if it had a gradual slope.

[SEB]

(Note - I have zero experience building this type of stuff)

I second the mesh cover idea.

Also on the long side, purely for aesthetic purposes, I would space those layers out so they slope down more evenly. There may be a reason for the way you did it, but it looks a little odd.

Your talking about the top layer of bricks correct?

Yes I actually have the caps for the two drain reliefs that come out the corner. Just didnt install them yet. I was more concerned with it doing its job & focus on the aesthetic look of it with the caps. I think 30 to 40 more bricks to run even & then cap it off at the top.

[JimD]

Looks good to me.

[mustang1200]

I've used the masonry glue recently and it hold very well. Not to mention it's easy to use.

[STRONGNUFF]

Looks good. I had a guy bid to redo a retaining wall, and he stated that if its greater than 3 feet high, it needs drains every 4 feet otherwise the amount of water would push the wall out over time. How many drains did you do?

[SEB]

Looks good. I had a guy bid to redo a retaining wall, and he stated that if its greater than 3 feet high, it needs drains every 4 feet otherwise the amount of water would push the wall out over time. How many drains did you do?

Gonna drill out weap hole drains that run opposite of the wall every 6 feet on the long side of the wall! Prolly on the corner the wall is at its highest point gonna put weap holes in every 2 feet about foot n half from the base

[slow06]

Your talking about the top layer of bricks correct?

Yes I actually have the caps for the two drain reliefs that come out the corner. Just didnt install them yet. I was more concerned with it doing its job & focus on the aesthetic look of it with the caps. I think 30 to 40 more bricks to run even & then cap it off at the top.

In this case it's all bout function before form, but IMO paying attention to those little things will keep your customers coming back. Sounds like you got it handled though.

I wasn't thinking a solid wall but obviously that would look good. I was thinking if you were going to leave the ends of the layers sloped like they currently are that you could get maybe 10 or so more bricks and even out the ends so they slope more evenly.

That spot where you drop down two layers at the same time is what sticks out to me. Even that out and I think you improve the look significantly.

If I'm doing it I make the ends of each row touch this line.


Either way it looks good, I hope it drains like you need it to.

[Mark Preus]

Shit I think it looks pretty damn good. I'd be happy with it

[SEB]

In this case it's all bout function before form, but IMO paying attention to those little things will keep your customers coming back. Sounds like you got it handled though.

I wasn't thinking a solid wall but obviously that would look good. I was thinking if you were going to leave the ends of the layers sloped like they currently are that you could get maybe 10 or so more bricks and even out the ends so they slope more evenly.

That spot where you drop down two layers at the same time is what sticks out to me. Even that out and I think you improve the look significantly.

If I'm doing it I make the ends of each row touch this line.

I agree & its worth the extra $60 bucks on the contractor bricks to give it that finished look!

[forbes]

the pipe on the left is going to be a fail point. notice how the joint isnt supported above. it will cause a domino effect. at least that is the way the picture looks

[SEB]

the pipe on the left is going to be a fail point. notice how the joint isnt supported above. it will cause a domino effect. at least that is the way the picture looks

You mean the drainage pipe of fence? I do know the fence posts really need to be dug out & re concreted or its gonna help push the wall back out