Yard work AGAIN!
So thanks to Brandon we were able to get a lot more work done on the yard yesterday and after reading a lot about concrete bag retaining walls we decided to give it a try… We had some good and some bad come of it so far.
What we were told to do:
– Look up city guidelines to see if a permit is required.
– Level the area for the retaining wall roughly making sure it is wide enough for one cement bag a 3″ drain and gravel.
– Lay out the concrete bags end to end tamping down to make them even.
– Backfill with drain pipe and then gravel for each level of the wall.
– Layer in a brickwork pattern and wet down the bags every two rows (we only built a 2’tall wall so it wasn’t difficult.)
– The top 4inches behind the new wall should be soil compacted down to make sure water rolls off the wall and doesn’t pool behind it.
– Water the bags until the paper is completely soaked and continue soaking for 20min (as a tip we also are keeping the bags wet for the next few days)
What you are not told:
– If you use the bags that are “water resistant” from a big box store you can cut slashes in the tops of the bags to allow more moisture in, but MAKE SURE YOU DO IT BEFORE ADDING WATER!!! Cutting into a semi wet bag of cement will cause the cement to stay in the grooved cut.
– Do not put ANY pressure on the top of the bags for some time and do not try to adjust the bags once wet. This will cause the front rounded section to separate from the rest of the block being created…. I do not know the actual result as we are going to wait for the bags to wilt away, but I will post pictures when I do.
