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Post by fauxmaha on Jun 14, 2018 12:02:10 GMT -5
New project underway...
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Post by Marshall on Jun 14, 2018 12:16:34 GMT -5
Now let's see if you can get your neighbor to pay for it !
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Post by brucemacneill on Jun 14, 2018 12:36:45 GMT -5
I built a wall similar to that in Pa. Spent lots of time leveling everything. Fortunately I didn't glue the blocks together on the first try because when I got it all up, checked level etc. I went in the house and looked at it out the back window and it looked like shit because the visible references from the lawn and the french doors out of the family room to the patio made it look unlevel by a few degrees. After taking it down and rebuilding it 3 times I wound up splitting the difference so it looked right although it wasn't really level.
Incidentally, good thing you have access to a bobcat. It was while attempting to move that pile of dirt with a shovel and wheelbarrow that I ruptured my left bicep.
Good luck.
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Post by fauxmaha on Jun 14, 2018 12:53:06 GMT -5
Now let's see if you can get your neighbor to pay for it ! Well, he already paid for the fence...
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Post by Marshall on Jun 14, 2018 12:56:09 GMT -5
PS - Use a filter fabric behind the blocks before you fill in the dirt. Moisture is going to come through the wall and it'll try to drag some soil with it. Messy stuff. and it causes settlement. If you want to be fancy, you can put a drain tile behind the wall that runs out somewhere downhill. If you do that you should have a draining gravel (round aggreate) behind the wall with a filter fabric separating the gravel from the backup soil. Gotta keep those fines from filling the drainage voids in the gravel. But your watershed behind the wall is probably not significant, so the drainage structure may not be necessary. But definitely use filter fabric. Cheap and a life safer.
The return walls at the stairs will help stabilize the wall. Sometimes, in long tall straight runs, you'll want to have a tie-back rod every so-often on center. But that's probably not necessary here.
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Post by Marshall on Jun 14, 2018 12:59:31 GMT -5
Now let's see if you can get your neighbor to pay for it ! Well, he already paid for the fence... A master negotiator you are. We shoulda sent you to Singapore.
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Post by RickW on Jun 14, 2018 13:04:02 GMT -5
That looks like too much work. Let the old wood one fall over, through some dirt and lawn seed on, and voila, a grassy slope.
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Post by theevan on Jun 14, 2018 13:10:28 GMT -5
Can't you sit still, man?
Does your pooch have an injured paw?
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Post by fauxmaha on Jun 14, 2018 21:21:30 GMT -5
Can't you sit still, man? No. He lost it in an accident a few years ago.
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Post by TKennedy on Jun 14, 2018 23:11:22 GMT -5
Don't you ever do less manly projects like knitting a sweater or something?
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Post by millring on Jun 15, 2018 6:11:23 GMT -5
That doesn't look like a boat any more than the motorcycle did.
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Post by Village Idiot on Jun 18, 2018 16:43:10 GMT -5
That, Jeff, is one undertaking.
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Post by fauxmaha on Jun 20, 2018 13:30:36 GMT -5
Well, the weather has sucked the last few days.
Got the first major section mostly finished (the block is up, but I still need to backfill behind the top two rows) and then the rain came. And the rain has continued. And apparently will continue. It is an absolute quagmire back there.
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Post by Village Idiot on Jun 20, 2018 14:15:18 GMT -5
There's a popular retail area in West Des Moines called Jordan Creek, where Kim and I stay about twice a year for Braille School stuff. The first time we came, about ten years ago, I saw a wall, actually a large oval about 8 feet high, made out of that very stone surrounding a pretty large area that I assume was designed for all the water to drain into after a rain as the place is all pavement.
The first time I saw it I noticed that they didn't angle the stones toward the embankment, or set each tier slightly back from the one below it. It was just built straight up. Whenever we go back I check the wall out of curiosity, and sure enough if you dropped a plumb line for the top of the wall to the bottom, there would be several inches of space between the line and the bottom of the wall, like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I'm waiting for the whole thing to fall.
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Post by fauxmaha on Jul 9, 2018 13:24:18 GMT -5
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Dub
Administrator
I'm gettin' so the past is the only thing I can remember.
Posts: 19,910
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Post by Dub on Jul 9, 2018 14:07:11 GMT -5
That’s looking great, Jeff. I don’t envy you.
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Post by Village Idiot on Jul 9, 2018 14:16:56 GMT -5
What Dub said. What an incredible amount of work, but it’s looking great.
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Post by dradtke on Jul 9, 2018 14:31:59 GMT -5
Just make sure you're on the outside of the wall before you put in the last few blocks. I think I saw that on Twilight Zone once.
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Post by fauxmaha on Jul 9, 2018 15:29:20 GMT -5
Just make sure you're on the outside of the wall before you put in the last few blocks. I think I saw that on Twilight Zone once. This thing is shaping up as a race between the hernia and the heart attack. Depending on how that works out, building myself in may be a very efficient solution.
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Post by Marshall on Jul 9, 2018 16:39:40 GMT -5
Pretty hot down there, ain't it.
When I was young and stupid, (I'm older now), I had 8 yards of top soil delivered one Friday morning. Going to reshape grades around the back of the house because of a basement flood. It was 95 degrees high humidity. I had a wheel barrow and a shovel to move 7,000 # of soil around the house. Sue took the kids to the pool.
I almost died. (Not literally). After several hours lugging soil, I had to stop and sit on the stoop, drink a coke and collect myself. I was so dizzy and spaced out.
Tough work.
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