Comments on: Finishing Our Retaining Walls

By: Luke @ Money & Fitness

Luke @ Money & Fitness — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 04:42:03 +0000

Excellent work on the home project. Any other recommendations for those considering it?

By: Clever Dude

Clever Dude — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 13:03:47 +0000

@MGL, no mortar on these, but they do have a lip on the rear bottom edge to keep them together. Depending on the amount of pressure behind the wall, though, you may have to get one professionally installed. Since I don’t have a huge amount of soil and hopefully no underwater streams (since it’s so close to the pool and house), I shouldn’t have a problem with heave.

There are rules about building retaining walls such as maximum height depending on the block you use, and proper footing and drainage. I used gravel beneath the wall as well as behind the first 3 rows so that soil doesn’t compact so tightly as to retain the water. Thus, the water won’t freeze and cause “frost heave”.

By: MoneyGrubbingLawyer

MoneyGrubbingLawyer — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 19:22:10 +0000

Nice job!

From the photos, it looks like those are just stackable bricks and don’t require mortar, right? Do they hold in place very well? I’ve looked at this option for our house, but I’m afraid that frost heave would force me to re-do the bricks every spring. Frankly, my arms are Popeye-ish enough as it is.