The wall is indeed intended retain the dirt behind it. Actually, the
area is 8' wide. At one end it is just over 2' tall, comes out 2 feet
or so, then slopes down to bottom. We put in the wall, which mean
digging into the hill/slope. The wall was constructed of manorstone
(60lb blocks), 2' high. It had crushed rock (2-3") underneath and
backfilled with same rock. Now completed, the ground is near flat
behind it. We set the fence 5 inch back from the inner edge of wall,
which was RIGHT where the electrical lines ran...didn't want to take a
chance. All in all, looks great. (still would have been happier if
first layer had been partially burried though).



On Mon, 31 May 2004 11:15:53 -0700, David Ross
wrote:

Travis wrote:

hermine stover wrote:

On Sat, 29 May 2004 06:03:11 GMT, Dooler wrote:


I have fence company installing a retaining wall 2' tall and a fence.
They have done retaining walls before and seem to know what they are
doing, but they are setting the prefab stones at ground level (they
flattened and leveled even with sidewalk) with crushed rock on top
rather than dig down 3" + gravel as per the instructions of
mutualmaterial.com states for manorstones. When questioned, owner
said they will put dirt in front (wall inset from sidewalk a foot).

They just finished first day and got ground level and just started
putting blocks in. Quick recommendation/help appreciated.

Thanks,
Clayton



Well, a REAL retaining was is not much different from a dam, except
that it is holding back earth, and during rains,may also be holding
back water. All of which which is exerting force in a horizontal
direction. That is, if the wall holds. it is an engineering issue.
Don't you need approved drawings, plans, from some local building
department? You seem to have no below-grade footings!

hermine

If the wall is only 2' tall I don't think our local building code
requires plans or approval.

In some jurisdictions, a 2' retaining wall requires a permit, which
means plans drawn by a professional engineer. At the same time, a
5' slough wall requires no permit.

The difference is that a RETAINING wall must indeed retain the
slope against which it is built while a slough wall is a
free-standing wall against which LOOSE dirt might accumulate AFTER
construction. The permit process might involve inspections by both
the government agency that issues the permit and the engineer who
drew the plans. The purpose is NOT bureaucracy for its own sake;
the purpose is to ensure that the wall is built safely (e.g., that
it will not fail and dump a mudslide into someone's home).

As I tried to indicate earlier in this thread, if the person
starting the thread is not really trying to support the slope, then
he does not need a retaining wall. Instead, he might merely need a
slough wall.