Timber Retaining Walls Before Demolition Demolition and Prep Before beginning the project we need to address a serious eye sore. The over hundred linear feet of rotten timber that was currently being used as the retaining walls. This timber was barely hanging on and needed to be demoed immediately. This was no easy task. The timber was held in place with rebar and framing nails. Both needed to be removed along with the timber. Since these timber retaining walls where in place for so long, we started noticing the inhabitants that made their home in these retaining walls. Lots of critters and crawlers, including a venomous centipede that our team quickly took care of safely. Once all the timber was demoed and the ground was exposed we where able to begin the first step to building the retaining walls, digging and pouring the concrete footing.
Pour Your Concrete Footing The first step in any successful retaining wall project is to ensure that the foundation is strong enough to support the structure. That's why we started by pouring concrete footing into the ground. This provided a solid base for the rest of the wall to be built upon. The concrete footing was 10in wide and 6-8in deep. This allowed our team enough space on the footing to lay the CMU blocks and weather wash stone. We used 4 x 6 x 6 CMU block and a verity of chopped weather wash stone. Each stone was roughly 3 - 5 in wide. During pouring the concrete footing we also laid rebar between the ditch to insure this footing would stay in place for years to come.
Completed Masonry Retaining Walls with Cap CMU Block Back-Up Support Next, we laid CMU blocks to reinforce the retaining wall. This helped to provide additional support and stability to the structure. Once the CMU blocks were in place, we filled them to further improve the strength of the wall. We used 4 x 6 x 6 CMU blocks for this project. These smaller CMU blocks where a great option for the backup of these walls because they where light and easy to carry across the job site. This cut the work load on our masons and mason tenders in half due to the light weight of the blocks. During the process of laying the CMU blocks, we inserted aluminum wall ties between the joints. This helps tie the stone masonry wall to the CMU backup wall. This project required roughly 120 - 130 CMU blocks.
Select Your Stone Material Then came the fun part - laying the weather wash stone! We chose this type of stone because it perfectly matched the years of weathering on the existing masonry work. Our expert masons carefully laid the stone in a pattern that matched the existing stonework, creating a seamless transition between the old and new sections of the wall. Each wall had its own unique pattern and shape. The retaining walls followed the curvature of the ground and meshed well with land. We laid one additional coarse of stone to finish the retaining wall with a 9 inch cap. This added an extra layer of protection to the wall while also giving it a, finished look that matched the existing stone masonry on the property.
Completed Masonry Retaining Wall with Step Inserted Decide On A Pattern and Layout At one point project we needed to make a decision on the layout of a specific retaining wall. This wall was laid in front a downward slope. This meant that one side of the wall would be about 4-6 in lower than the other side. We had two options that we brought two the homeowner. One option was to make the retaining wall level across the top regardless of the slope. Second option was to insert a 4-6in step. After reviewing the options with the client we decided on the step. This was a good option because if we had kept the top level the wall may have become a tripping hazard in the future. Our team did an excellent job communicating with the client and bringing multiple solutions to the table. The homeowner was very please to have been involved with the decision making during this process.
At Lozano Masonry, we take great pride in our work. We believe that every project we complete is a reflection of our commitment to quality craftsmanship and attention to detail. These stone masonry retaining wall are no exception. We're thrilled with how it turned out, and we're confident that it will provide the homeowners with years of reliable service.
