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Category: DIY Projects
Tags: ConstructionDIYLandscapingMaterialsRetaining
Entities: ca6Home DepotLandscape Supply CenterLowe'sMenardsScott
00:00
how's it going you guys it's Scott with everyday home repairs now taking on your own DIY retaining wall project can be a large job but you can save a ton of money doing yourself I want to help you avoid the five most common mistakes that most homeowners are making how do I know because I've made all these mistakes in the past and I've even put together a
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multi-page guide that will help walk you through your process avoid mistakes but also know what tools materials and supplies you should be using to make your project as smooth as possible so let's jump into it now number one comes to the block that you're SEL Ing we kind of have residential grade block here
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commercial grade block here residential grade you'll find pretty much anywhere usually is about 4 in tall it weighs about 24 lbs give or take your commercial grade is going to be more like 8 in tall this one weighs 83 lb and
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you're just going to get an absolute Superior product with your commercial grade now if you're just doing a small landscaping job to kind of level things out maybe it's just a garden bed okay you can go with the residential grade do that type of project but if you're making any sort of pad that's going to
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actually hold any weight I highly recommend going with the much larger commercial grade and get a helping hand because 83 lbs will add up over time but remember most of these blocks are held into place with a small lip on the back
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side so the amount of weight on top of each one of those blocks is critical so I highly recommend going with the larger commercial grade blocks compared to your residental itial grade blocks so the second one to avoid is where are you getting your materials do not go to the
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home improvement stores the Home Depot the Lowe's or the Menards if you're in the midwest try to go to a Landscape Supply Center a local Landscape Supply Center why would you want to go there well that's where you're going to find things like the commercial grade block opposed to the residential grade block a
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simple example of this is the difference between a 1x 2 36 in Long Stak that you can get at let's say lows and and a 2X two way better Point 48 in Long stake that you'll get from your Landscape Supply Center just a simple example of
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kind of the residential grade versus the commercial grade and usually the prices are pretty competitive so you can just go to Google Maps and look for landscape supply or Landscape Supply Center and you'll find a bunch of options most likely in your area now I do recommend have a plan of attack kind of think
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through your project know your Dimensions use this guide right here and ask specific questions and you're going to get better results with the Supply Centers because they don't necessarily have all the time in the world to work with homeowners but homeowners that show they know what they're doing they're happy to help and they are a source of
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knowledge you're usually talking about somebody that's worked for years or decades in this industry opposed to the home improvement stores which you do know the kind of help that you get there if you can even find anybody so number three has to do with basically the solid
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foundation and digging out your Trench check the manufacturer of the block you're using to see how much space you have in the front and in the back here I might need to trim things back a little bit more to get a little bit more drainage gravel and provide drainage here on the backside and then the
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foundation itself usually that's a minimum 4 in if not 6 in of ca6 also called Road pack now for you if all this is new I get it and that's why we put together the guide you'll see a link in the description or you can scan this QR
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code on the screen if you're watching on your TV and you can get that downloadable guide for free that will have all these type of references to help you with your own project now you're either going to hand Tamp or maybe you rent a plate compactor
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either way you're going to do a lot of adjustment on that Foundation to get it just right and I do not recommend pouring down an inch of sand I recommend using this base Foundation material like the ca6 a lot of homeowners skip this step and that can really impact the
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structural Integrity of your retaining wall so use the right materials and that is also why those lscape Supply Centers are great references because they'll have the knowledge and the right materials now when it comes to the depth of your trench remember you need to dig
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down far enough to get your 4 to 6 in of base and then also far enough to get at least 4 in on this type of block under your grade so this is my lowest point here that is why I measured to get 4 in
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of grade above the block but you can see as we go down the line actually I'll have the first course completely buried further down line to make sure this is all level but that is perfectly okay and that's what you're going to want to go with now common mistake number four is
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not taking enough time on your first level or your first course of retaining wall blocks this can catch you off guard in terms of the amount of time it's actually going to take to get everything leveled front to back side to side and across each of your blocks but if you do
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not take your time here it only gets worse as you add your second third or fourth level and if you do not have a solid compacted base that's going to cause you a bunch of problems here is an example of me setting about my sixth block now I have this sped up about 16
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times the normal rate but you can see I have to go back and forth multiple times with the ca6 or the road pack get getting that leveled out I put the big old block 83 lb Block in place and I see it's a little high on that side so I got to actually roll it out take out some
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material repack it check with my torpedo level on that base move it back in place and then use my large Mallet to do final adjustments this took about 8 and 1/2 minutes for the one block now I think I'll get it down to four or five minutes
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just depending but it also depends on the time of day and if you're worn out or not so you can use that as a multiple to see how long it might take you to put your first course down but just know you need to take the time a mistake home owners make is they Rush this process and then it impacts your entire project
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now number five is not having the appropriate drainage behind your wall now if you do not do this it can lead to early failure and let me show you how I'm going to use this custom piece here to integrate the drainage right into the retaining block wall so that piece
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actually fits on my second course and it's going to be right above the bra here just know you can trim this one down as it is a universal fitting so for this one you'll see that I'll come back to a T and then I'll be using drainage line with the holes in it wrapped in a
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fabric to keep dirt or any debris out of this pipe or even Roots if Roots come in and then I'll be filling with a clean 3/4 of an inch that will fill my blocks here that will be placed in the BLX and this is also the type of gravel that
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you'll put behind for drainage so at least six in with this type of block but again reference your manufacturer call outs on that and this is not ca6 so you see ca6 is a mix of rock but also F so
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you'll have the smaller pieces and dust and debris in there that is for your compact base you'll want 3/4 in rock clean Rock for your drainage so that's what's going to be surrounding this entire area to help with drainage
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bringing it down to our pipe going down to our te and then it'll go out that Universal fitting right onto grade and make sure we don't build up any hydrostatic pressure behind from the water that could lead to this wall being blown out so let me know what you guys think whether you disagree with some things I said or other mistakes that you
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think I left out the nice thing is I'm able to update these plans with the hundreds or even thousands of comments we get over time so not only is this all my thoughts put together but we kind of crowdsource all the comments and improve these over time so you guys are able to
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download this and get the benefit for your own project now if you need a little help just laying things out and finding your grade you can check this video right here I'll walk you through how to use Stakes String Line string bubble levels which is a great skill to have as a homeowner and then if you want
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to see this entire project start to finish if you need more details check out this video right here and lastly you will see a link down the description to help you with your homeowners insurance if you just need to know do I have the right coverage or am I paying too much we can point you in the right direction with a thousands of viewers that have
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given their feedback and also are independent insurance agents in your own state so thanks for joining me on this video and we'll catch you on that next one take care