retaining wall, fire pit, truck signs

[pdenney11]

Just sitting around bored today. Running out of work fast so I have been working on some things with my stepfather around the house. Here is some pics from my phone of a retaining wall that we replaced because the original wall was made of old landscape timbers that collapsed and basically washed away after few days of rain in the spring. A fire pit that we built, and magnet signs for the truck.

[pdenney11]

More of the same stuff. That bottom half of the yard where the retaining wall is used to be full of small trees and junk. It looked like a small forest. We cleared it all out to make the yard a little bigger and built the privacy fence also.

[Chris1594]

That wall looks really well done and I like the truck is that a 1500? and the sign looks pretty good in all nice job

[pdenney11]

That wall looks really well done and I like the truck is that a 1500? and the sign looks pretty good in all nice job

Yes it's a 1500. It's not exactly the truck I wanted, but this was my first year so I didnt have enough money to start with 2500 duramax I wanted. lol This was the first retaining wall I have done, and I enjoyed it. It was a good learning experience and im happy with the way it turned out. I mainly mowed this year and I am really trying to get into the landscaping part of the industry for next year.

[kemmer]

sorry but that wall looks like crap

and will wash away like the old one did,

do some research and do it the right way

[Skimastr105]

No offense, but I wouldn't pay for that wall.

[pdenney11]

Like I said, it was the first time I have done anything like this. Thats why it was at my own home and no one was paying me for it. I did it myself so that i could see what i needed to improve on. Thanks for the input.

[zim bob the landscaper]

the wall looks good but theres thing you didnt do that you should have

1- i see no drainage behind the wall
2- the corners going into the stairs look bad get rid of the stairs curve the wall in and redo the steps
3 cant tell but you should have 1 layer under the ground with a base under that

guys instead of bashing him or after you bash him lol tell him what to improve on!

[pdenney11]

the wall looks good but theres thing you didnt do that you should have

1- i see no drainage behind the wall
2- the corners going into the stairs look bad get rid of the stairs curve the wall in and redo the steps
3 cant tell but you should have 1 layer under the ground with a base under that

guys instead of bashing him or after you bash him lol tell him what to improve on!

Thank you, that's exactly the response I was looking for.
1- No there is not any drainage. How do I go about putting drainage behind the wall? What supplies would I need?
2- Yeah i have been playing around with that to see what I could do to make the stairs fit in with the wall a little bit better. The stairs were there before we even started on the wall and it just doesnt look right by the steps, that is still a work in progress.
3- I did do this process correctly, it was not fun. The whole yard has about an inch of soil, then nothing but rocks under that. Trenching it out with a shovel was a miserable experience.

Thank you for the help.

[Petr51488]

One thing i do like is the company name! Very creative.

[pdenney11]

One thing i do like is the company name! Very creative.

Thank you. Alot of people have told me they like it, but a few have told me they absolutely hate it. I thought it was a little better then just having your last name or initials, then adding lawn care or mowing to the end of it. I see that all day long and none of them really stick out to me.

[Chris1594]

We deffinatly need positive feed back here I mean truthfully im not even a landscaper I wanna start up next season and to be honest this wall looks like it can stand I didnt know you need drainage how would you be able to do that and where would you set the pipe really for it to drain please enlighten me

[Petr51488]

Thank you. Alot of people have told me they like it, but a few have told me they absolutely hate it. I thought it was a little better then just having your last name or initials, then adding lawn care or mowing to the end of it. I see that all day long and none of them really stick out to me.

I guess its one of those names where only a landscaper would get it lol.

[Lawn Freak]

Why is the front end of your truck sitting so low. Its a Z71 that front end should be level right?

[z71tiger]

wouldnt be level but, mine dosnt sit that low

[pdenney11]

wouldnt be level but, mine dosnt sit that low

Yeah it's 4x4. I think it's the hill it's on. It doesnt ever look that low in the front when it's on level ground.

[zim bob the landscaper]

Thank you, that's exactly the response I was looking for.
1- No there is not any drainage. How do I go about putting drainage behind the wall? What supplies would I need?

Thank you for the help.

you have to dig out behind the wall a couple feet. put the drain pipe at the bottom and have the end at the lowest part of the wall, or run the pipe under ground to a drainage area if you have one. you can put filter paper behind the wall by laying a couple inches under the top layer and have it flap down behind the wall, then back fill the wall with 3/4" trap rock hope this help and good luck

[ALC-GregH]

you have to dig out behind the wall a couple feet. put the drain pipe at the bottom and have the end at the lowest part of the wall, or run the pipe under ground to a drainage area if you have one. you can put filter paper behind the wall by laying a couple inches under the top layer and have it flap down behind the wall, then back fill the wall with 3/4" trap rock hope this help and good luck

That, even though I've never built a similar wall, is exactly what I've read over the summer while researching proper ways to build a retaining wall. It gets alot more involved once the wall gets over 4ft. With the height of the wall he built, it really doesn't need much of anything behind it. At the most I would line the back side of the wall with gravel and fabric paper and back fill. If he didn't do that, I still doubt it will wash out. You might get some dirt stains that will bleed out of the stone wall, thats about it.
Over all, I think it looks pretty nice myself. You just need to get the steps and curves right and it looks like your finished.

[pdenney11]

Thats all the info I could come up with too when I built the wall. I did fill the back side with gravel. I didnt use any fab paper though. The wall is extremely sturdy, and I dont think I will have a problem with it washing out either. I think I will just put down the paper and fix around the stairs. Thank you very much for the help ALC and ZIM.

[zim bob the landscaper]

with that size wall if you put graval behind it and plus its your house the wall should be fine. when doing it for a customer always take every necessary step so you aren't redoing it later. i have done many walls and some customers will try to get you to skip something so its cheaper but don't do it unless the sign something saying it was them wanting you to skip that step and if something happens its not on your shoulders