Episode 025 1995 - 96 Season
| Concrete Block Retaining Wall | Home Security Checkup | Handy Hands | Internet Homepage | Replacing A Plug | Mateflex Flooring | The People Behind the Loan | |
To order a Video Tape, call 1-800-TO-BUILD and ask for Episode #025.
Michael Holigan: Even since there's been trains, there's been people building retaining walls out of railroad ties. You can span a great distance with 'em and they can hold a lot of weight, a lot of pressure. The problem is, all that land that's against it has moisture in it and as you can see, they deteriorate. Plus, in the winter time, the water actually goes down in the railroad tie and when it forms ice, it expands and breaks the railroad tie apart. We're going to look at a modern method. It's much nicer, will last much, much longer and it looks better as well. It's concrete block, but it's not the ugly kind of concrete block that you're thinking about. The hardest part about this job was pulling out the old retaining wall that was there. They had to remove all the old railroad ties. Now we've got our expert with us, Charles Graves from Decorative Paving Systems. Good to have you here Charles.
Charles Graves: Hi Mike, how are you doing?
M.H.: Doing good. It looks like they're leveling up. Is that the first step for the block wall?
C.G.: That's the first step for the block wall, right. First thing we do is we get the ground level, then we'll come back in with a portland cement as a base.
M.H.: They're mixing it up and mixing it with sand, but no water. When do you add the water?
C.G.: Well, the water kind of gets added by nature later on. The reason we put it in dry like this is so if we make a mistake we can go back and correct it without it being wet.
M.H.: Charles, now that they leveled up the portland, what are these pipes in place for?
C.G.: We're going to put sand in on top of this.
M.H.: Ah-huh.
C.G.: And then we'll take a board and run across the top of those pipes and sweep that sand out perfectly level. Then we start laying the stone on top of that.
M.H.: And you use the metal because it won't flex. You will have to....
C.G.: We use the metal because it won't flex and also it, it gives us a one-inch sand base.
M.H.: Okay.
C.G.: Which is what we want.
M.H.: Good, what comes next?
C.G.: We just start stacking the wall. It's a very easy process. It's just one stone on top of the other until we get it to the height that we need.
M.H.: Now when we start stacking this, I know that it's going to lean backwards, each one a little further than the next.
C.G.: Ah-huh.
M.H.: So, how far do you know to pull out? We've got about two and half or three foot here.
C.G.: Well, we've got a three-quarter of an inch set back on each one of the stones in this little lip right here. So, depending upon the height, we just multiply that, each stone times three-quarters...
M.H.: ...and just pull it out that far.
C.G.: In this case...yeah, we'll pull it out that far. In this case we're about three inches.
M.H.: Do you use any mortar on the stone?
C.G.: There's no mortar. It's a completely dry stacked wall that will not build up hydrostatic pressure like a normal concrete wall would.
M.H.: And in hydrostatic pressure you mean that the water won't be against it...the water will actually just seep right through the wall?
C.G.: Correct.
M.H.: So there won't by any heavy weight when it rains...
C.G.: Right.
M.H.: ...trying to knock the wall over.
C.G.: Correct.
M.H.: Charles, all we do is just set it on top and slide it forward?
C.G.: That's correct. Just lay it right over that...there we go.
M.H.: And then the lip catches in the back.
C.G.: The lip catches it in the back and keeps it from being able to be pushed forward.
M.H.: Okay, since it's just a few feet, can we just use this backfill to back fill it?
C.G.: We're going to use, use this dirt that we took out as backfill behind this, correct?
M.H.: Yeah, what if it was much taller than that? What would we have to do?
C.G.: If we go over three foot, one, we'll use a larger stone. It looks very much like this stone, it's just bigger. We backfill with gravel and put a french drain into the bottom of it.
M.H.: To let the water out so no pressure and everything?
C.G.: Right.
M.H.: Okay. How does it compare on price to other types of retaining walls? Is it pretty competitive?
C.G.: Yes, very competitive.
M.H.: I, I hear that a railroad tie has approximately seven years life. How about something like this?
C.G.: This'll be here when you and I are long gone.
M.H.: All right Charles. Thanks for the help.
C.G.: Sure thing.
M.H.: It's looking great. I'm sure it's going to look perfect once it's done.
C.G.: Thank you Michael.
| Concrete Block Retaining Wall | Home Security Checkup | Handy Hands | Internet Homepage | Replacing A Plug | Mateflex Flooring | The People Behind the Loan | |
To order a Video Tape, call 1-800-TO-BUILD and ask for Episode #025.