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Retaining Wall

18 years ago

Hello everyone!

We need to put in a couple of short (2-3 ft.high, 1 about 20 ft long, another only about 8 ft) retaining walls on our property to help make more of the space in our backyard usable. We LOVE the look of IA limestone but the price is really out-there. And honestly, it wouldn't add the value to the house that it would cost to put in. So, my question is, what are your retaining walls made out of? - if you have any that is! We're looking for ideas here. My husband and I got to get this decided so we can start actually planting/gardening in our yard!

Tanna B.

BTW - if only people valued outspace living more the price of nice quality hardscape materials would be worth it!

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Comments (4)

iowa50126
18 years ago
I have a small wall made from concrete cast wall blocks. They are the kind the big box stores sell. They have a lip on th lower back side to hold them in place after stacking.

If you plan to do it your self, then these are a cheap way to go. The blocks are about $2 to $3 each depending on size and color. Most of the stores that sell them have brochures to help you calculate how many you need. Usually the biggest problem is how to get 100 of 'em in your car trunk!

I bought mine at Menards. But even Wal*Mart has 'em.

There are also many landscape contractors that will build them for you.

If the spot for the wall is fairly flat...it's easy to do them. However, the prep work for the wall is very important as the blocks can sink in soft soil and make the wall uneven...ask me how I know this...:-)

Most of my projects follow Murphy's Law..."Never enough time to do it right, but plenty of time to do it over".

Pete in IF
stan_ia_z4
18 years ago
What ever you decide, do not use any wood products, unless you plan to replace them sooner than you can imagine. I started out that way and now have replaced with cement products.
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tannabanana
Original Author
18 years ago
Thanks all. I beleive we'll be going with the cement blocks described by iowa50126. I think they can look really nice! We actually had 6x6 boards suggested to us but as you said stan, they just don't last. Doesn't matter if they are cheaper now if you have to replace in 5-10 years.

Tanna B.
brownthumbia
18 years ago
If you really want limestone, are you close to a quarry where you could buy right from them? We put a pond in the front yard and I wanted natural stone around it so the quarry is where we got all we wanted for very little cost. There are quite a few different colors, shapes, etc of stone. You may want to check it out if you want to go that way. good luck.

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