Issue with Retainer Wall, fixable or redo?

9 years ago

last modified: 9 years ago

Hi, first time posting here. I'm looking for advice on a situation with a newly constructed retaining wall. I'm trying to decide if the situation is fixable or do I hire someone else to redo wall correctly.

I just had a pool installed and I hire some one to build a retainer wall on one side of the pool a 2 and half foot talk and around 30 - 40 ft long.

Here's a pic of before the project started where I had consider doing a stone retainer wall myself.

I got a quote on this style retaining wall below:

Quote text: Construction of sea wall style retaining wall between fence and pool on both sides of existing

concrete steps. Wall will have 4x4 pressure treated post with 2x6 pressure treated boards running
horizontally. Drainage pipe and rock will be installed at the bottom of the wall with the top portion

being back filled with soil. Area will be graded so that finish grade will slope away from pool.

What they ended up doing is using my existing fence and attaching 2*6 to it. Which caused the wall to bow and lean out since the existing 4*4 were not strong enough.

To fix this issue they toke down the existing fence panels and added additional 4*4 between the existing 4*4 to stop the lean and then put the fence back on with spacers at the bottom to level the fence back up.

While I was not happy I thought this would work.

Well we just had our 1st rain since the wall had been constructed and I noticed rock and dirt coming from the bottom of the wall. When I took a closer look I notice the wall stop short of the actual ground by up to 8 inches at one spot. I can see the drain pipe underneath. Chalk line represents bottom of retainer wall.

So is this a complete redo at this point? Or can this be fixed? If fixed how?

I'm meeting with company that did it tomorrow and meeting with some other companies to get quotes to fix.

Comments (2)

PRO
Yardvaark
9 years ago
I vote complete redo. I can't say what material you should use but use standard retaining wall materials and conventional construction methods.
PRO
Arbordale Landscaping
9 years ago
That is horrendous. I hope this company guarantees their work. Any true professional could have told you that wasn't going to work. With respect to retaining walls, you always have to have portions of the wall buried in order to prevent the wall from sliding. I agree with @yardvaark in saying a complete redo is in order. Wood retaining walls don't have long lifespans because the material ends up rotting and over time just isn't as strong as stone. The proper way to backfill a wall is to have the clear gravel right up against the back of the wall which connects to the weeping tile at the bottom,in order to have the water pass freely down the wall and out the weeping tile. I'm sorry you've had to put up with this. It angers me when contractors claim to know what they are talking about, and force the client to have to go through such headaches/rework/additional costs, just to make it right.

The stone you have in the photo above is whats called "garden wall". Garden walls are generally only acceptable in walls that are 20" and lower. You will need to use a walling stone that is about 12" deep, and that has a batter to it to prevent any movement. Any professional should know of the proper types of stone for a wall of this size, and how to build them. You will unfortunately lose bed space because of that, but it may be the least of your worries.

Have you ever considered scratching the whole idea of a wall, and just planting a tall hedge to fill the space? It would help give you some privacy over the now short fence, and would be a cheaper solution than installing a stone wall that you'll never see? Just my two cents :) Good luck!
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Issue with Retainer Wall, fixable or redo?

Comments (2)

Yardvaark

Arbordale Landscaping

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