How to Build a Retaining Wall! (Stackable Mortar-Less)

like share and subscribe yeah [Music] [Applause] so [Music] hi david o'dell here with odell complete concrete in this video we're going to be focusing on a mortarless stacked retaining wall the type of wall we're going to be using along the side yard is a split face abby blend from oracle block we're going to widen this side yard out a little bit then we're going to stack it about three feet high inevitably what's going to happen is we're going to do concrete along this side yard also on pavers in the backyard patio cover there's a lot of stuff going on in this project but within this video we're just gonna do the retaining portion of it so it's all hand work bringing this stuff out because round trip in the tractor usually takes more more time and trouble than it's worth so just scoop and load wheelbarrows run them on out to the front the object of uh finding the um elevations that we need is we're gonna start with the furthest point of the house the back corner we use that as the benchmark underneath the stucco screen about one inch transfer that over to the side to the hill where the retaining wall is going to go and we'll set it down three inches below that that'll be the the bottom of the first course of stack stone the stacked stone is about six inches the one the course for the bottom of course is six inch in height we're going to use that same stone even though there's four different sized stones in the retaining wall we're going to use just a six inch high on the first course that way when we pour the pet the side yard concrete it'll lock in about three inches of that bottom course also we're gonna get a three inch drain line along this side yard because i guess they had some uh water issues with that with it not draining properly here's a little more detail of the layout all right what's going on you guys let me show you what's going on with this project right now so we're about to get levels established on the retaining wall and the way we're going to start doing that is we're going off of our benchmark of the pavers which is right down here that's the mark i established before we're gonna go right off of that get the benchmark transfer it over to our laser level receiver okay so the benchmarks have been established now now that you know this is not gonna move i have it on the forefoot uh level now what we're gonna do is we're gonna take it over to our uh other stake where the retaining wall is and start setting those up see where we're at we need to be three inches under our benchmark and the reason why we need to be three inches under that benchmark is because i want three inches or more of my retaining wall underground and we're gonna be pouring concrete actually too so the retaining wall is gonna be getting three inches in case in the concrete which will make it even stronger so he's got a three foot bucket on there and he wants to get at least six inches of gravel base to set that first course on so he's just gonna dig it out the full width of the bucket six inches below whatever grade he's established and then fill it with gravel now if you had a backhoe attachment that wouldn't do much good because it's against the hillside even an offset an offset backhoe probably would work pretty good but you can't get it in the backyard so this is all hand work here's the new irrigation line going into the hillside also in the back right here we're going to do a little step up in the retaining wall because there's going to be um like a raised planter in the back along the whole back of the property so there'll be a six inch step up into that area here's the base for the stack wall going in also if you notice that slim stone wall at the gate that um footing is exposed because we've pushed the hillside back somewhat so what we're gonna have to do is a little return on the new wall to encase that the abbey blend split face stackable wall has a lot of different sizes in it and what they're gonna do on this particular one is they're going to use the large larger of the multiple size blocks they're going to use that for the first row just one row of the same size the large block that way when the concrete comes up against it you'll have a good three inches locked in all the way down then beyond that first course then it gets into the different sizes and shapes as it goes up so there's four different size blocks in this and i think we've got six pallets in total plus we have a flat cap also which is all the same the way these blocks work is they have a hollow core in them and they have a little um lip that interlocks with each each block as you go up and then you fill these voids the cores of the block with gravel clean gravel and then also a foot of gravel behind this wall that way any water will just pass through the wall without building any pressure behind it on top of that base they threw about an inch of sand just so it would set more level right now the string line is set to the back of the wall once you get that first coarse set in there nice and level and straight um it's relatively relatively easy at that point because you just keep stacking right on top so these are all the same block on this first course like i was saying earlier you could change it up if you wanted to but we felt like this would be a little bit better for the first course having the larger blocks along the bottom that way when you put the concrete up against it it'll be a nice straight line and you'll be locked in like if they use the splits you'll see the other sizes of these blocks and if they there they are there there's a half or splits so those would be completely buried and kind of pointless if you had that on your first course so we kind of we're going it's kind of similar to the um pyramid theory where all the biggest base rocks are much bigger than everything above it the whole idea of this block is to um break up your vertical lines and stagger them you just don't want your vertical lines to be continuous through you know from top to bottom all right guys so we got the bottom chorus laid in i did want to show you real quick how the pattern is coming together so for the bottom it's all classics these are all classics on the bottom that's a great way to just get your base started and get everything going next what we did was um we use three small pieces let me show you over here where it's open so three small pieces and then two big after that the next course you have to switch it up or everything won't align properly we use two half big ones so that piece two of them right and then back to two big and three small but you also have to change that up we had this one in the middle earlier and these two on the side then we just switched it so two in the end too small at the end one at the other one now here's where you can see the different size blocks that the abbey bling comes with so if you staggered that first course with the different size blocks you would have had one entire block if you use those splits on the bottom that would have been completely covered once the concrete goes in but by using that full course at the bottom now they're gonna be short you know if you calculate the actual pattern when you order the block if you calculate your lineal foot by in your height and you get your order and you don't use the specific pattern you're gonna come up short somewhere all right so here is the base we're using to infill the block and behind it this is all three-quarter inch natural no dirt or debris inside of it we don't want to clog the block wall with the compacted water or dirt debris stuff like that we want the water to free flow through the rock and out like we're gonna be filling this wall up with just like that all these and behind as well all the way down [Music] here's the clean gravel going into all the hollow cores of the blocks and you got to do that on the way up because if you don't you're not going to get gravel to the bottom so every couple courses fill it up and then continue and you can see they're filling it up filling the cores up with gravel on the way up there is a top solid cap that goes on all this and that's going to be glued down with a masonry adhesive so as we're building the wall i did want to just show you guys how these interlocking blocks connect this is the top with a lip facing up and here's the bottom with the lip facing down now how the interlocked is let's show them how it goes make sure there's no rocks underneath so it sits flat that's important all right so you just put it on slide it forward it'll hit the top lip to the bottom lip of the new block and then they're locked in together pretty simple to set these it's a good diy project if you've got a lot of time on your hands sweet and simple system we picked up about three feet of flat usable space by putting this retainer in so now the trash cans can go back here fit pretty easily and just a lot cleaner i have to do a little return on this retainer just to hide the footing from the slump stone block wall on the back portion where it meets the existing we have the same situation with that footing of the slim stone block wall being exposed somewhat so we're going to encase that with a return so this is going to be the final height of this wall right here [Music] and at this point just a matter of back filling with gravel and then we're going to glue down some cap we're gonna use some masonry adhesive [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] oh [Music] okay the wall is completely built out what we're going to be doing now is we're just going to be setting the caps and um to get these caps completely straight since they are split face on the top they do have this like nice little corner edge right here up top right there that's nice and straight so we're gonna set one cap down here one cap way down there put a string line up and just uh follow this follow the stream line that'll give us a perfectly straight cap for this whole wall we're also going to be using some uh landscape adhesive what this is called yeah landscape construction adhesive works great on dry or wet blocks well that's what we're going to be doing all the way down you can see we have our block completely packed to the top with three quarter inch natural aggregate so the water could pass through no problems so you don't want buildup up behind or inside the block so this is the final step just dropping the caps on there please [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] here's a final look at the finished product now the concrete will come up halfway on that bottom course but looking really good right now that about wraps up this wall now we're ready for some ground work getting the side yard slab ready to pour but it turned out real nice and flat level opened up this side space quite a bit nice transition to the higher portion of the yard anyway that wraps up the retaining wall anyway make sure that you uh subscribe hit the like button uh hit the notification button that way you'll be notified when we do our next upload for this series it's a four-parter so enjoy have a good day you

Channel: Odell Complete Concrete

Views: 176,210

Keywords: odell, odell concrete, odell complete concrete, build retaining walls, how to build a retaining wall, retaining wall design, retaining wall ideas, how to dig for a retaining wall, retaining wall with drains, retaining wall curved, how deep to dig for a retaining wall, DIY retaining wall, step by step retaining wall build, diy, how to, retaining wall construction, retaining wall with steps, landscape wall block, stackable retaining wall, stackable wall, mortarless wall

Id: m4ljv_YK-h4

Length: 19min 23sec (1163 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 10 2022