How to Build A TIMBER Retaining Wall [What's Behind the Wall?]

[Music] when it comes to any retaining wall the first  step in the process is going to be Excavating   the ground now we needed to excavate not only  where the retaining wall was going to go but   beyond that retaining wall so that we had room  for our drainage Stone and our tiebacks into   the hillside with the excavation done and then  laying out exactly where the wall is going to   go we can move on to the footing which is going  to require 6 to 8 in of 3/4 in crushed gravel   and then we're going to compact that all in place  with the footing in place then we can go ahead and   start laying out our first course now this is very  important given the fact that the entire wall is   going to stack on top of this first course so we  need to make sure that it's completely level and   we need to secure it to the ground below it using  3 ft of rebar spaced about 2 ft apart in order to   do that we're going to start by pre-drilling 1/  inch holes in each of those Timbers about four of   those per Timber and then we're going to drive 3ft  of that/ in rebar into the ground below it and I   found that the easiest way to do this is actually  using an attachment for a hammer drill and simply   vibrating it down into the ground now after you've  got your first couple courses in place you're   going to want to install your drain pipe now this  is going to be a perforated drain pipe and that's   going to be right up against the back of your  wall below that will be your nonwoven needle punch   Fabric and that's going to allow the moisture to  drain through but also hold back the soil and keep   that from entering into your drainage behind your  drainage Rock behind your wall now when it comes   to fastening all these Timbers together the old  school method was driving 10-in spikes through one   board and into the next Timber and that is a lot  of swinging of the hammer luckily for this project   we're going to be using Simpson StrongTie's Timber  Screws and a 10in long screw so as you can see   we're going to be grabbing into this second board  wherever we're fastening with a ton of strength   it also has this Wafer Head top which is going  to recess nice and flush into the top of our   timbers they're exterior grade so they're going to  stand the test of time and they don't require any   pre-drilling so you simply sink these into the  Timbers and all your connections are nice and   solid now when it comes to the timber wall itself  being structurally sound you can't just simply   build your wall up and then pour a bunch of top  soil or a bunch of soil behind it because you're   going to have what the the grade naturally wants  to do is come this way so in order to give this   wall some really good strength you need to tie  back into that Hill further back and to do so you   secure a Timber that goes into the Hillside and  then add a te on the back with some Timber screws   and if you want to get carried away you can also  use some of that rebar to tie into the ground. [Music] so as you can see the spacing for these dead men  are first course is buried and pin to the ground   and then we go up a foot we've got a dead man  here and a dead man down there every 8 ft and   then we go up a foot and then we stagger our dead  men so our next dead men is in the middle of this   section and then we go down 8 feet every 8T we  tie back in and then we come up here another   foot and we've got our other dead men that  goes even further back into the soil to make   sure everything is structurally sound when it  comes to a Timber retaining wall you're going   to have to make some Cuts that's inevitable so I  found that the easiest way to do it was actually   with a little 12in chainsaw and this one's from  RI it works great it's very easy and light to   use as well it's all the blade that you need in  order to cut through these Timbers the problem   with cutting any of the Timbers is that you  need to seal the edges to make sure that that   preservative is in place so you don't get any of  that decay in order to do that you just need to go   ahead and paint on some of that preservative on  any of your cut ends now the biggest thing with   walls like this whether they're stone or Timber  or whatever is keeping the water away from the   wall that's what's going to cause Decay that's  what's going to cause your your wall to fail   INE inevitably because of water water always  will find its way out now what we're doing to   protect ourselves against that is we're going to  be laying fabric all the way way back up the back   Hillside that we excavated and then we're going  to be filling that entire cavity which may be   a little bit Overkill filling that entire cavity  with that washed 6A Limestone that's going to give   us good compaction but it's also going to give us  that clean stone for the water to drain through to   get down to our perforated pipe and then exit all  the way out to Daylight now once you get about two   courses from the top then you can lay your fabric  back across the top of your drained Stone what I   did was I laid the fabric across the top of the  stone and then I stapled it to the back of this   wall and then that covers the entire Stone  so that you can add top soil for planting or   whatever you're going to be doing on top without  having that weep into your drainage rock below. [Music] Now I want to point this out that as far as  the height of the wall is a lot of things   vary from from town city to whatever wherever  your location is make sure you check into your   local zoning and building guidelines to see  if you need to pull permits for something   like this or to see how to build based on your  area so I hope you guys enjoyed this video and   have learned something from the process I know I  learned a ton throughout the research that I did   and just building the wall in general other than  that until next time be safe and happy building

Channel: Rogue Engineer

Views: 80,827

Keywords: Rogue Engineer, DIY, retaining wall, landscape timber, landscape, backyard, deadmen

Id: p6UbjD8wMrA

Length: 6min 48sec (408 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 10 2023