Posted: 5/27/2009 6:05:51 PM EDT
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The spouse spent the last 3+ months doing this:
Before 
During: 
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Wow, Very nice! 95% of the work on building walls is in the footer, the rest is just stacking stones. Leveling something that long had to have been a real challenge. How long is the wall end to end?
Make sure you have good drainage behind the wall, I've seen good looking walls screwed in short order by water pressure. |
What a lot of hard work your man has put in...I am sure with some help from you too! (maybe not lifting the 70# bricks, but then we hoist kids around at that weight...) 
Thank you! I am very proud of the work he did!
This was dh's baby from design to end. I donated my dad but really did very little expect feed them, took pics and stayed out of the way.  .
I am going to try to get a few more pics that include the whole yard tomorrow. eta-man I sound awful, but really there wasn't much I was qualified to do..... 
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LOL
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That is one hell of a wall! When I bought my house we had some guys come in and put up about 150 feet by 5foot high and then when I built my garage had them add another 50 ft. It would have taken me about forever to get it done, they were probably at my house approx. 3 weeks total.
Great job! 39 |
Dh did a great job. He told me a much lower number as the original estimate.  But with only a couple exceptions (he hired a couple of guys for help with the concrete and putting up the blocks), it was completely done by him and my dad.
Really, a bargain compared to what it could have cost. ( I say that repeatedly to myself......and try not to think about all the shoes, guns, ammo and other good toys I could have bought.  )
Thank you! |
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Quoted:
Wow, Very nice! 95% of the work on building walls is in the footer, the rest is just stacking stones. Leveling something that long had to have been a real challenge. How long is the wall end to end? Make sure you have good drainage behind the wall, I've seen good looking walls screwed in short order by water pressure. Got a few numbers from the husband There is 30 tons drainage rock behind the wall, 7 tons of base rock for the footer, the wall is 150 feet long and 6 ft tall. He moved 500 cu yards of dirt. |
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Wow, Very nice! 95% of the work on building walls is in the footer, the rest is just stacking stones. Leveling something that long had to have been a real challenge. How long is the wall end to end? Make sure you have good drainage behind the wall, I've seen good looking walls screwed in short order by water pressure. Got a few numbers from the husband There is 30 tons drainage rock behind the wall, 7 tons of base rock for the footer, the wall is 150 feet long and 6 ft tall. He moved 500 cu yards of dirt. Sounds about right on, looks like your soil is pretty sandy to begin with? I worked for a long time doing exactly this, only our block we used weighed in more around 80#. My primary "job" while working landscape constructions was basically laborer. So not only would i survey and prep the foundaton, compact 411 crushed limestone, lay the first row, and just about everything in between. The part i hated the most were the finish block at the top, because the type of interlocking block we used you could never replicated a perfect radius or right angle. 500 cu yards of dirt is nothing short of wild, for just a "backyard" project lol  It looks like you'll be plenty happy with it, looks like your man did a good job. My biggest concern is drainage and seepage, in walls over 4 ft high we always used a retaining mesh that was locked into the wall just incase all other methods of drainage failed this would hopefully keep the wall from inchin forward or even falling forward. I think the largest retaining wall i was involved in was a terrace with 3 sections each rought 5 1/2' tall and each section being close to 200' long. In the end you start to use block handles which make moving the block easier by pinching them, however all out material had to be lifted from below and put on the wall or behind it.
Very rewarding work. Someone deserves a pat on the back
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Quoted:
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Wow, Very nice! 95% of the work on building walls is in the footer, the rest is just stacking stones. Leveling something that long had to have been a real challenge. How long is the wall end to end? Make sure you have good drainage behind the wall, I've seen good looking walls screwed in short order by water pressure. Got a few numbers from the husband There is 30 tons drainage rock behind the wall, 7 tons of base rock for the footer, the wall is 150 feet long and 6 ft tall. He moved 500 cu yards of dirt. Sounds about right on, looks like your soil is pretty sandy to begin with? I worked for a long time doing exactly this, only our block we used weighed in more around 80#. My primary "job" while working landscape constructions was basically laborer. So not only would i survey and prep the foundaton, compact 411 crushed limestone, lay the first row, and just about everything in between. The part i hated the most were the finish block at the top, because the type of interlocking block we used you could never replicated a perfect radius or right angle. 500 cu yards of dirt is nothing short of wild, for just a "backyard" project lol It looks like you'll be plenty happy with it, looks like your man did a good job. My biggest concern is drainage and seepage, in walls over 4 ft high we always used a retaining mesh that was locked into the wall just incase all other methods of drainage failed this would hopefully keep the wall from inchin forward or even falling forward. I think the largest retaining wall i was involved in was a terrace with 3 sections each rought 5 1/2' tall and each section being close to 200' long. In the end you start to use block handles which make moving the block easier by pinching them, however all out material had to be lifted from below and put on the wall or behind it.
Very rewarding work. Someone deserves a pat on the back The soil is sand. With just a hint of dirt mixed in to make it really messy. Dh never does anything half -way or small. 
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We have grass!!!!
Final Project pics: (I admit not much different but .........)
eta: The tall post is going to have this: 
eta2-if you look at the last pic you can see we reused all the wood from the old fence to help save money. My dad cut each piece to create the dog-ear. If you have to do a project like this buying the blocks and rock directly from a concrete place (geez, I wish dh was awake to ask what that is called––maybe the batch plant) helps keep cost down. |
dh- dear husband, d___ husband........
Cook-out.......................... hmmmm good question! It was definately more than I wanted to do but hopefully we will live here for many years to come, thereby getting our money out it through use.
eta- now he should have time to take me to the range....
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Sounds like a perfect idea for a HTF cookout there....... Doing all that work makes my job look easy by comparison and I work at a body shop. Body shop work is hard work. The green Japanese beetle is my enemy. All of my trees and shrubs are infested. I spent yesterday treating as many as I could, today will be more of the same. The fire pit has been awesome!!!!
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Ehhhh it isn't all that HARD, if the car in question does not want to behave the way we want it to. then we have several tools on hand to persuade it to behave, like a hammer, a frame rack (hydraulics), torches and other cutting tools. after all that the bondo will cover the rest. 
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