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Landscape Design

Retaining Wall

15 years ago

Last summer, I dug a staircase into the hill behind our house. Each step is fronted and held in place by chunks of old railroad tie that we had salvaged from an old bridge that spanned the creek that runs at the base of the hill.

The problem that we are facing now is that the high side of the stair cut is collapsing onto the stairs. We expected this to happen to some degree, but haven't come up with any good looking solutions. We're looking for ideas on how to reinforce that side.

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Comment (1)

Jon 6a SE MA
15 years ago
I would suggest drilling through the ties with a 3/4 inch or so spade bit and getting rebar that press fits into the drilled hole and use a sledge hammer to anchor the ties. I would get rebar long enough to go through the ties and about two feet into the ground. I have done this with steps fabricated with 6x6 pressure treated connecting the steps together (each rise two 6x6s high) and anchoring the assemblies.

A couple of "anchors" on each end of each tie would hold it.
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Hi! I'm a landscape company owner in Georgia. We've found that while you do not necessarily need the drainage aggregate behind a small garden wall like this, it does not add very much cost to the project, so you might as well go ahead and put at least 4-6 inches of gravel backfill. This protect the wall and help prevent any dirt from flowing through the cracks in the wall, causing a dirty appearance. If you'd like to think about wall options a little more, check out our retaining wall page on our website. Happy wall building!
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