One of our summer projects this summer

[Mike33]

This is a wall we did in august for a friend of mine. Wall was 150' x 5' we was back today to do some minor excavation for a garage.
mike

[mattfromNY]

Wow! nice work! If it looks as good as I'm imagining, it sure is nice!

[Mike33]

Guess it wouldn't hurt to load the pic.

[GreenMonster]

WOW!

Hey Mike33, is that Allan Block? Do you use it much? How do you like working with it? How many walls do you have out there?

:laugh:

[Mike33]

Mark, yes ab how many uuhhh i came in to this season with 200 plus. To be straight i would say around 230. Keep in mind that will include some 25' x 2 courses. Then we have the real walls like this one. I have posted this before but here i know will open a can of worms. I learned with ab and at the time for many years besides a crappy solid block with a cheap rear lip from my local concrete store ab was the only thing in my area. In fact people would say i want a allan block wall and didnt even know the product. Ab is a good product for what i do, i mainly build strong walls in my hill side area holding back an area. The product does have issues though, we have found many this year with bad tolerances on the lip, corners out right suck. We do have ep henry and cornerstone in my area. I have a few with cornerstone because a friend of mine sells them and i install what he sends me. We are starting to like the product i will post a pic later of 2 terrace walls i built this summer over 100' long and bottom wall 8' in height. Ep henry prices are 1.50 a block more at my local dealer and the guys delivery sucks and is very pricy. Keep in mind most of my walls i have block delivered due to they average at least 6+ skids. Ab is okey but knowing the product and having extras at my shop i know how to make money with them. We read many posts of what is best but the bottom line i build walls for one reason and only : to make money and i have done very well at it. My dealer actually will keep at least 8 skids of earthen blend on hand just for me. My area is small town we dont have techo and other brands availble that i have seen here, so that is what i use. I can say i have some from 98 when i built my first wall and still holding. Thanks to this site i can say an ab reg. looks bad for a small landscaping job where a smaller block would look better. But 98% of all of my walls are like this one doing a job holding something back not just for extra looks.
mike

[neversatisfiedj]

Mike you are the MASTER at AB !! Good work.

[Grn Mtn]

looks good to me.

when will designers of wall block realize that the dinky little capstone they provide for the wall block sucks. you have this massive wall then this tiny cap:dizzy:

did you have to use geogrid because of the surcharge above? did you bury 1 or 2? just curious, I've only done 1% of the walls you have done so that is why I asked.

[Humble Earth Mover]

Mike, what do you charge per FF for a wall like this?

[Team-Green L&L]

Nice wall Mike! I personally like the AB's front-side lip as opposed to Anchor Walls. We did a 170' * @ 3.5ft a couple weeks back and it went smoothly. Here's a pic.

[neversatisfiedj]

Nice straight work. That's alot of base prep. Screed ?

[Team-Green L&L]

Nice straight work. That's alot of base prep. Screed ?

Base prep was a nightmare, but isn't it always. Yes, screed.

[neversatisfiedj]

What did you use as forms ? Wood , metal ?

[ChampionLS]

Wall Pictures all look great!

The reason some blocks are designed the way they are, and the same with the caps are due to PATENTS on competitors products.

[Mike33]

looks good to me.

when will designers of wall block realize that the dinky little capstone they provide for the wall block sucks. you have this massive wall then this tiny cap:dizzy:

did you have to use geogrid because of the surcharge above? did you bury 1 or 2? just curious, I've only done 1% of the walls you have done so that is why I asked.

Thank you, Every 3 courses was gridded 5' 95% of wall height some places hit 6'. I have at least 1 full and some of second buried this wall stepped around 5 times. Also pic doesent show i have a blind ditch swale above the wall back from it around 6' ditch is 2' x 2' wide this will take alot of pressure off of this wall. The only water actually coming to wall is around 5-6' behind it instead of the whole damn hill side. This wall is also sitting on 57's for base, we had to use bobcat hoe-ram for footer solid shale, this wall can not go anywhere. You might not be able to see the cap that well, because they are not really small they are as wide as the block.
mike

[Mike33]

Nice wall Mike! I personally like the AB's front-side lip as opposed to Anchor Walls. We did a 170' * @ 3.5ft a couple weeks back and it went smoothly. Here's a pic.
Nice looking job the only thing i would of done different since your wall runs straight would be start capping at the step down back. It appears your wall is staight then i would of cut a cap starting with a half working back keeping the bond nicer. But it does look very good.
mike

[Team-Green L&L]

That may have worked a little more efficiently, but it did have a radius at the other end.

[Mike33]

That may have worked a little more efficiently, but it did have a radius at the other end.

yea, pics dont always show everything. Is that a corner block where your step down is? Ab has what they call an allan block lite full length and width as regular but 1/2 as high does a nice job for step downs. Cornerstone that i use at times does not have these so we double cap them.
mike

[cgland]

Mike and Team Green - I don't see any draintile daylighting through the wall. Any reason for that?

Chris

[Team-Green L&L]

Mike and Team Green - I don't see any draintile daylighting through the wall. Any reason for that?

Chris

It is daylighted on the left side (hidden in the pic by the tree shadow) and has a two-tiered drainage system that runs from the daylight down. We have stamped engineers plans for this one because it was our church and I wasn't taking any chances.

[Mike33]

Mike and Team Green - I don't see any draintile daylighting through the wall. Any reason for that?

Chris
yea, thats because you cant see them in the pic.
mike

[Mike33]

[QUOTE=Mike33;1994232]yea, thats because you cant see them in the pic.
Acyually there are 3.
mike

[cgland]

Shouldn't I see one every 40'?

Chris

[Mike33]

Shouldn't I see one every 40'?

Chris

They are in footer coming out like blind ditch. 1 on each end 1 in middle.

[cgland]

Gottcha!


Chris

[Ground Effects NH]

Mike, Very Nice!
You sure do set the bar High for the New Hardscaper's
I have some work too do. Thanks :drinkup:

[mrusk]

They are in footer coming out like blind ditch. 1 on each end 1 in middle.

If possible, i always do it this way. I hate seeing a wall with pipes coming out.

[Mike33]

thanks good point, the trouble with ab is time i core drill a 4" hole there isnt much of block left ( web wise ) This wall was a perfect scenario for that kind of drain. I used 57's for base, it was solid shale i had to use breaker on bobcat for excavtion of footer.

[Mike33]

Mike, Very Nice!
You sure do set the bar High for the New Hardscaper's
I have some work too do. Thanks :drinkup:
I dont think so, thanks any way though. I have just been doing these for quite a few years.
mike