Retaining wall at home

[Bird]

Well the old sleeper wall has had it (well had it about 12mths ago).. Not going with sleepers again as they are just shyte.

I wanna replace it with the sandstone block setupi, and today I looked at the interlocking gig. Went past a place on the way to Somerville for no coffee at Xcavators, and dropped in

The interlocking blocks apparently just *sit* on each other, no mortar, no nothing.. this concerns me with kids around the street with no brains that somehow drop em on their toes, specially the top ones, or may rip them off and chuck em, or something just as dumb

Anyone got any comments on stopping the wall from moving, or from being ripped apart??

Other hints and tips, as this looks like something I could take on and not **** up... I think..

[D4D]

I have many retaining walls, I beam with timber and interlocking blocks. If I was to do it again I'd go I beam with concrete sleepers. Costs $ but won't move and won't rot.

[dazzler]

The interlocking blocks do just sit on each other. Some use nylon rods as keys also.
The main thing is to prepare the footings for the first row to make sure they are dead level.



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[Rumpig]

From memory, can't you fill the inside of those blocks that link together with crusher dust or the like?
I've done a couple of them but can't recall what we did as it was many years ago I did them

[muzza01]

Can you show us some pics of the height you need to retain as well as some pics of the sleeper setup that has failed. These blocks (link wall) don't use concrete or mortar to hold them together.  As Dazzler said, the footings need to be spot on for this to work.

The strength of these footings or thickness of the concrete base will vary a little depending on the height of this wall. Pics will help establish if we need drainage hose or crusher dust & terra firma cloth.

[Bird]

my main concerns.
1 - the first layer ... I've never concreted anything ever... and if you **** up the base level the whole thing will be crap.
2- is the CAPS.. these blocks that are the topping just sit there... and they are anything but stable..

the main blocks are 25kg ea
the corner blocks are 20kg ea
the caps are 16kg ea

Just don't want some kid to hurt itself and sue me.

These are the ones I'm looking at http://australmasonry.com/vic/retaining-walls/heron/

[fisher]

You fill the blocks with gravel, and you glue the caps to the top layer (similar stuff as liquid nails).  Once you get the base right its pretty easy.  Key is to make sure you have ag pipe behind the wall to take water away - otherwise the wall will fail.

Oh - and no need to concrete a foundation.  Compacted dolomite as a base is what is usually used.  A layer of sand on top of the dolomite allows you to knock the blocks with a rubber mallet to get everything sitting tight.

You can do it - put effort into the base and it will all come together nicely.

[Bird]

You fill the blocks with gravel, and you glue the caps to the top layer (similar stuff as liquid nails).  Once you get the base right its pretty easy.  Key is to make sure you have ag pipe behind the wall to take water away - otherwise the wall will fail.

I'm hoping all that is still in good condition from the current wall.

Hmmm liquid nails.. didn't think that would work. interesting.

[Doug.b]

Bird

I have used these blocks out the front of my house and just used liquid nails on the capping.
Kids like walking on the wall but never had a problem.
As ever has said make sure you get your base correct.


Doug

[TheWall]

I think most would say these blocks are limited to the 1-1.5m without some extra base work. I built a 1m wall a couple of years back and it is still going strong and is used by a thousand kids to launch their flying careers. Just used some cement mixed lightly with paving base for the foundation and it is rock solid.

Never thought of using liquid nails...nice.

[Jakster1]

Don't be fooled into thinking that the interlocking block retaining wall is "easy"
At 20 odd kgs a block your back will know about it when moving them around pretty fast
I did one about 1m high and 15m long.
Yes they do stack but as others have said I also used liquid nails on the top 2 layers
Good compacted footing is essential or the whole wall will sink or warp in spots as the ground settles
It is t hard tho
Take your time with the footings and first level and its all good
Good luck!

[dazzler]

I dont think you have to concrete the bottom.  Just crusher dust with some cement and vibrate it down.  You will need a petrol vibrator, not battery.

[hainess]

Concrete for the footings...And more concrete.
Anything less turns to crap.
You are building a wall. The footings must carry the load plus the pressure from the fill behind.
Forget what the salesman tells you. He's trying to make a sale.

For a 1 meter high wall my footings would be 400mm with the first block layer put down while the concrete is still wet.
This way everything is level and straight ,or curved, whatever.
When the concrete is dry just stack up the layers.
Wear gloves or you will lose your fingerprints.

Rod.

.Oh yeah.
Liquid nails for the caps is fine.

.

[jetcrew]

Concrete for the footings...And more concrete.
Anything less turns to crap.
You are building a wall. The footings must carry the load plus the pressure from the fill behind.
Forget what the salesman tells you. He's trying to make a sale.

For a 1 meter high wall my footings would be 400mm with the first block layer put down while the concrete is still wet.
This way everything is level and straight ,or curved, whatever.
When the concrete is dry just stack up the layers.
Wear gloves or you will lose your fingerprints.

Rod.

.Oh yeah.
Liquid nails for the caps is fine.

.

X 2 on that

we built a 40 mtr wall with these blocks about 12 years ago at our last place,, the trick was exactly what is written above the base row of blocks should be set into concrete to do this the mix needs to be a little dry or the weight of the block will keep sinking. We used a level and a rubber mallet and worked our way along by the end of the first day all we had was the base row down and let it really set for a day, the we just played lego and glued the caps on. I will try find a picture for you.

This time round we went 300 profile besser blocks core filled with a 600 x 450 footing.  took 7m3 of concrete  in the footing and 6m3 to core fill. 

But the old wall is still up straight and looks good so the stack blocks do last and can look good but as others have said MUST be done right.

Jet

[Bird]

X 2 on that

we built a 40 mtr wall with these blocks about 12 years ago at our last place,, the trick was exactly what is written above the base row of blocks should be set into concrete to do this the mix needs to be a little dry or the weight of the block will keep sinking. We used a level and a rubber mallet and worked our way along by the end of the first day all we had was the base row down and let it really set for a day, the we just played lego and glued the caps on. I will try find a picture for you.

This time round we went 300 profile besser blocks core filled with a 600 x 450 footing.  took 7m3 of concrete  in the footing and 6m3 to core fill. 

But the old wall is still up straight and looks good so the stack blocks do last and can look good but as others have said MUST be done right.

Jet

road trip theo

[Big Tread]

I used these type of blocks
http://www.boral.com.au/productcatalogue/product.aspx?product=716
They stack neatly and then you fill them with gravel or concrete.  The finish is a bit poxy though, so I rendered mine.
As others have said, a concrete footing is pretty critical and at least for a high wall needs to extend either forward or behind the wall to effectively create an L shape when the wall and footing combine. This stops the wall from rotating over.

[jetcrew]

road trip theo

My back hurts just remembering 

Jet

[crappsy]

Bird how high is this wall? As others have said I would not use timber over 1.5m. If it's 2m plus you may consider getting something more structural ie some steel reinforcement in the blocks to tie it all together.
Chris

[Marschy]

I've just replaced 18m of iron bark sleepers with concrete sleepers on one side of my block, the other side is getting replaced in the new year. 45 sleepers, tinted with a charcoal colour, came in at just under $40/sleeper, so a little over $2K.

Depending on how high your existing retaining wall is (mine is 1 metre high on both sides of the block), it may be easier to replace your existing sleepers. My I-beams are in the ground 1 metre deep with a 1/4 tonne of concrete each beam.

The very thought of getting them out of the ground to replace them with any other sort of retaining wall convinced me to use the existing i-beams and just replace the sleepers. To be honest, I didn't do the hard yakka, I paid my son and his business partner to do it. He thought he could get it done in a couple of weekends, he's a fit 27 yo, and it ended up taking him about 6 full days.

I had a bit of a giggle when he said he could get it done so quickly, but at least he can give a quote on the labour required for doing a retaining wall replacement now. I think he learned a valuable lesson.

It's a bugger of a job.

[Bird]

its around 1mtr high probably less (3 sleepers high).... the ****head who did it used old sleepers for the uprights - not C Channel so basically its a start from scratch job..... **** knows how the uprights are held in place....

[GeoffA]

Move to Werribee.......

Nice place for sale just up the street...but would we have you...??

[Bird]

Move to Werribee.......

Nice place for sale just up the street...but would we have you...??

I don't have a passport... 

[GeoffA]

I don't have a passport... 

I don't have a retaining wall....

[Bird]

I don't have a retaining wall....

yes I do.. its just falling apart...

[MDS69]

You should be fortunate in that the ground behind the retaining wall would be fairly stable if it is a few years old. I built a garden wall with dry stack blocks 3 courses high and the caps stuck on with construction adhesive. These were set on a concrete footing mainly because it was going to be a propor brick wall.Stable as.
I built another retaining wall 15m long 600mm high with treated pine. Auger your holes 1.2m apart and 1m deep if you are going 1m high and install a 200 x 100 treated pine sleeper with 2 bags of concrete per hole. Get a dingo with attachment or a petrol post hole digger from Kennards. Then install whalings 200 x 50 as your horizontal boards held to the posts with gal cuphead bolts nuts and washers. Install Geo fabric behind the wall, blue metal with an ag line then back fill.