Today I'm going to transform this boring
bed in our front yard to give it some more structure with a
retaining wall and a nice raised bed look. This is a project
you can easily do in a weekend. I'm Brad from Fix This Build That,
let's build something awesome. So the first thing to do is grab a string
line and some stakes and to string it out and find out what the actual drop is from
one side to the other. Then we can start planning out the wall. So I came down to the other end of the bed
and I'm right at the edge of the porch here, and that's
where we're going to have our line. I've got it at 90 inches,
which is the same distance from the porch to the other steak. So I'm just going to take this in
and tie it up right in my 90 inches the knot that I tied. Here is a tall
line hitch, which is super helpful. Take your loose end.
You cross it over the top. Do one loop under. Another loop under. Then come back over
the top of this one and back in. And you can just pull that tight. So now you have a line that won't slip,
but you can adjust it any way you need it. And it keeps tension and it doesn't move. All right. So here's the pavers
that I'm going to be using. It's a nice thick four inch one. And these are tumbled
and they are wedge shaped. So we'll talk more about that later. So this is going to be the highest part
over here next to the sidewalk. And I want the stone to be about two and a half inches above the surface,
so an inch and a half down. So that's where I put my stake. I use this measurement to put the line two
and a half inches from the sidewalk. So that starts my reference line
and then we'll run it and take measurements off of
that as we go down. Now I can use my top line and throw a little line double level on it to get level. And the stakes are all in my lines are level and now I can take
the measurements that we were two and a half inches high over the sidewalk
and now all the way back at this end, at the deepest point,
we are right about 14 inches. So I've got 14 inches
between this line in the ground and that quickly goes to 12 inches and
then ten and nine inches at the corner. So to figure out how many pavers
I'll need, I'll just divide the thickness, which is four inches into 14,
and that gives me three and a half. Now that's nice because I will
just round up and I will use four pavers and my bottom paver will be halfway
buried in the ground. So think about that. When you're rounding up, you won't have that bottom layer buried
at least half and maybe even more. The higher your wall is going to be, some of the mark out lies
16 inches on this little stick here. But I'm also going to add three inches
for my paver base. So I'm actually going to be digging out
this trench, 19 inches in the front. I'm also going to make marks and four
inch increments from that 19 inches. So when I go from four stones
to three stones to two stones, I can measure it that way. So I've got the trench on the short side dug and then I did
kind of an initial dig all the way down. But somewhere in between here
and right about over here, I'm going to go from four bricks to 3 to 2. So I'm not exactly sure how deep I need it
in all of these areas. So what I want to do
is start kind of building this out and then see how it works
around this corner and the going to be a whole other thing
that we have to talk about. So for right now, I think it's good. I got a late start to the day
Susan's calling me in for dinner, so I'll pick it up tomorrow. All right. So today has been filled
with some challenges already. I came out this morning and I was checking
the level lines just to make sure that nothing had moved
and they were totally off. So I readjusted everything and then looked
and it was like four inches lower. So I scratch my head for about 15 minutes
and then I realize that the bubble level actually is not level. So great way to check your bubble level is to level it out
and then turn it 180 degrees. That level should remain
exactly in the same place. And if it doesn't, then it's out.
So I got a new one. We leveled everything out
and now everything came down a bit. So we're actually going to be doing
three stones here. So make sure you check your tools and equipment
before you start doing all your digging. I've got it all leveled out now
and I had to backfill some of that dirt. Everything's tamped back down
and now I am at 15 inches over here for the three pavers and 11 inches
where I go to the two. And I do have the transition right here. But this is like the most important area. So as we go into it, I want to make sure
that's going to all line up on the top. So I did a mock up and let me show you
what it looks like. It all right. So I made this little layout
and this would have been great when I was a kid
playing army in the backyard. But this is a perfect representation of what I want it
to look like when it's in the trench. So because these stones are keystone,
if you line them up edge to edge, then they make this curve. And I want to make sure
that the top doesn't have huge gaps. So I set this up just to kind of get a feel
for what I needed to do at the bottom row to make sure that the top row looked good. So I'm going to go ahead
and put these in the ground because I want to make sure
that your trench is right before you start
putting in your paper base, because once that's in,
there would be a huge pain in the butt to change things like that. So running it down to the wall, I can see that I'm going to have a little less than half
a brick at the end, which is fine. I just wanted to make sure that it wasn't
going to be like a small little sliver that was going to be
maybe one or two inches. Now, a lot of times
people just start from the wall and work the way out, and that's
part of the more traditional way. But I really wanted to make sure
that I was going to nail that curve on the corner and hit that
transition. So I started there. But you can really do it either way
because it's your wall to draw. All right. The first
layer is the paver base. And I'm just going to layer this
in about two inches deep and then I'll take it down
and get it really flat. I got some paper saying here,
I transferred it into a bucket because it's just so much easier
to pour in than in the bag. So I'm going to put it in a one inch bass and I'm going to smooth that out
and get it level again. I'm starting in the corner here. She needs a little concrete tool to help
smooth it out, move it around. This is where you want to start
checking for the level to get the high spot secreted out. It needs a smaller level
to go front to back because you obviously can't pick that up
with the bigger level. All right. Now, I'm
going to start over here in this corner. And once you get these bricks going,
then you can level them off each other. But with these tumbling stones, it's a little difficult
because they're not flat on top. But you can just add
a little bit of sand underneath them. If it doesn't look level, you just knock them into place
with a rubber mallet. I'm going to work my way around. So you see, I have about a half inch gap in between these
and that's because it's the base row. And as you go up,
you're going to inset them and as you insert them,
that gap will close. So in the top layer,
these will all be nice and flush, but they'll line up on the blocks below them. As bright and sunny this morning. And I need to cut this stone down on that
first tile to fit up against the wall. So I'm just going to use a cold chisel
and a sledgehammer to do that. I've also used tile saws, but these stones are four inches thick,
which is too big for my seven inch blade . So I'm going to try it by hand
and we'll see what happens. I'm just going to strike a line down this
and we do this all the way around because it will help it split easier. Ooh. All right. That
actually split pretty well, especially for a bottom layer on the top
layer may need to adjust a little bit. But that was a pretty straight
line split there. Oh, like a glove. We've got the first row in. And just like before, I'm
going to start at the corner and then work my way back because I am
using this keystone shape on the brick and I want to make sure that it's all going to hit up properly
when I get to the end. So for these, I'm going to put them down
and I'm going to center on the gap below it. But I'm also just going to set
these back a little bit. You want the wall moving in as it goes up, and I'm just going to leave a little bit
of a gap here in between them. So on my next layer,
they can be tight together right as I come around this turn, this is where that bottom stone starts
getting fully submerged into the ground. But once that stone goes under the ground,
that's where I transition to just two layers
versus three layers that we had over here. So now I've put some extra dirt in here
and I'm going to build up the paver stone in the sand so that when I put
the next rock in, it will set flush on top of the last paver
in the first row. That's like hitting this
with a mallet really does anything. I think it's just all an illusion
and it's whispering. I hate you guys pit stop here because I want to be honest,
these things are kicking my butt. Understand how I can keep taking away
so much sand and it keeps not being level. It's the most worthless footage ever. I just need pounding
on a rock for 20 minutes. That was too low. These tumbled stones look amazing,
but they are so hard to level. And it's just because
there's the ups and downs. If you're using, especially a small level
like this, on one side of the break, you might be up here and another side
you might be over here. So I'm really having
a hard time with these. So a four foot level is really important. But man, the tumbled stones are tough. You can go to flat
variety. It's can be a lot easier. Let's keep going now. We can do it. So we got the whole second row laid out up into where it's going to transition
into the final layer over here. But coming around
this corner is going be a little tricky. The problem is I'm working
between two fixed points, the end of the house over here
and the sidewalk here. And so I'm kind of
at the mercy of that length and how the bricks end up angled
at this last row. So I'll probably have to have a gap
in the top here to make this curve. I'll show you what I mean on the top row, but either way, we can figure a way around it and might be able to cut some things
and make it look a little nicer. We're almost ready for the top row,
but before I get to that, the second row is still just sitting here and I want to use some construction
adhesive to block those together. And you want to make sure you get the one
that is specifically for landscape. I'm going to put this down
on top of the second row, get these all in place,
and then we can move on to the final row. I'm just going to take these up and you want to make sure
that the surfaces are free of dust. At least just give them
a quick little dusting. It doesn't have to be perfect,
but you just want to make sure that that adhesive is going to set right. When I put this down,
I'm going to put it on the high spots because the bottoms of
these stones are flat. So you want it on the high spots to make
sure that the adhesive is going to stick. I'm gonna work my way through the rest, and we'll be ready for the next layer. Now we're ready for the top layer. And again, just like I did before,
I wanted to start with the corner here. You can do this or not. Honestly, I can definitely over
engineering this because I am still a recovering engineer
and I try to get everything just perfect. But these are stones. None of it's going to be perfect,
but this looks good to me. So I'll start removing these one at a time
and then work my way back to the wall. And then we can go on the straight path, which should be the easiest part
of the whole job. When you're putting these down,
you still want that about half inch overlap on the back
so that everything leans in as it goes up and these don't have a lip
like some of the papers do. So you're going to have to do that by the nice thing. The adhesive doesn't
set immediately, so you can still kind of wiggle these around
once you put them in place. I mean, you're certainly,
as you can kind of see where that wiggles and then more of the adhesive
sort of be nice and firm attachment. All right. We're coming up
to the last corner here. And it's not laid out
exactly how I would want it. If I lay these in here the way that I want
to, then I'm not going to be able to start turning because this next brick,
the angle is going the wrong way. So when I start this next brick here, it's
just going to shoot off straight. So what I'm going have to do
is just take off the back end of this brick right here, and I can do that again
just with the chisel in. Then I should be able to make the turn and we'll try to clean it up
and make it look tumbled. But it shouldn't stand out that much. All right. I went
ahead and got this thing cut and didn't turn out exactly how I wanted. There's still quite a bit of gap
here. That's okay. We've got more rocks. I try it again. This one looks great. Now I can continue along with there,
and this thing fits right in. And this actually turned out a lot
better than I thought it would. I've got the wall in and with the adhesive it is nice and solid,
but there are some things we need to do on the backside to make sure
that it's going to hold up over time. And part of that's going to be raising the soil in the bed
and putting some support behind it. So I went ahead and I removed the variety
that we had there, as well as I trimmed up these new bushes
just so that we can be prepared for that. On this far side of the wall,
we have a nice trench, so that's going to be great. But around the front edge, we really don't have a spot
to put that backfill of stone I'm going to put in,
so I'm going to build that up first. I can start putting in some stone
and making sure this wall has got some good support behind it
and it's not going to erode away. We're getting close to level on the bed, but I want the top layer of soil
to be really good for the flowers. So I'm going to be mixing in some vigorous
all purpose garden soil with it. I got this from the Home Depot,
who is the sponsor of today's video. So I'm just a beginner gardener, but I've been using Figaro products
for a couple of years now, and they've been giving me
really good results. They've been a lot of different items
from landscaping fabric to the river rocks, which I'm going to use
behind the retaining wall, and of course, mulch and flowers. I'm using a lot of those to make
the garden bed look really amazing. And if you're trying to build a bigger or bolder garden,
then you can check them out. They make high quality products
that are affordable. They're available at the Home Depot. I'll have links down
below in the description to all the items that I use
so you can go check them out. And a big thank you to Home
Depot for sponsoring today's video. And right behind the wall,
we're going to add some stone that's going to help give it some drainage
as well as some support. So I cut some of this
vigorous fabric liner and I'm just going
to put this down in here. The fabric liner
is going to keep the rocks from getting all clogged up with dirt, as well as it's going to help that sand
from eroding into it. And the stones I'm using
are the big river pebbles, and I'm just going
to dump them down in there. They're kind of a medium sized rock,
so they're going to add a lot of support, but they're going to let a ton of water
go through so the water can come out the ends and go through the slope
that I grated the bed with. I'm going to add these rocks up
to the top of this little trench here. Now, to close this off,
I'm just going to fold it over and then we'll cover
that over with some dirt here along the front
where it's only two bricks. I wasn't able to get as much
of a trench here that I would like, so it's going to be a little bit harder
to kind of get it contained. I'm going to do my best
to pour those rocks in and then kind of fold them over
and then backfill it with dirt. And I think that'll just help
push everything up against the wall. But honestly, since this wall is only two
bricks high, the support's not going to matter a whole lot. It's going to be more about the drainage
anyway, so I'm not too worried about it. All right, I've got the bed pretty
well leveled out. I'm just going to go over it
with some fresh landscape. Fabric. Then I can transplant the Lorraine up
and put in some new vigorous flowers and some vigorous mulch on top.
And we'll be ready for the reveal. This was a lot of hard work,
but definitely doable for a beginner. I love how it turned out. We have some extra space here in the bed
and it really makes a statement in the front yard. Now we're going to be
enjoying this all summer long. If you want to check out
some other outdoor videos I've got a playlist
queued up for you right there. I think you're going to love I want to give a big
thank you to those folks who've been joining the FTBT
Builders Club. Until next time, guys
get out there and build something awesome.
