Soil erosion is a homeowner’s nightmare, especially if the property happens to have a slope or an incline. Depending on the severity of the landscape’s inclination, wind and rain can erode the soil faster than you’ll have a chance to even suspect what’s happening. Build-up of mud or small droplets of rain can ruin your entire landscape.
In order to prevent soil erosion, you need to build a retaining wall. A retaining wall is a sturdy construction that resist the constant lateral pressure of soil to flatten out. Normally it is made from gravel sand and wall blocks. The purpose of this structure, as the name suggests is to retain the shape of the slope.
Normally, you hire professional builders to construct the retaining wall. But if your budget is limited, you can do the job yourself. Here’s a DIY instruction on how to build a retaining wall.
Step 1. Materials
Fi rst, you need to prepare the following
pencil
paper
shovel
gravel
bedding sand
crushed stones
retaining wall blocks and caps
Step 2 – Blueprint
Before building the wall, have a pen and ink design first as it will save you lots of time and energy when doing the actual digging and building. Draw a rough sketch of your yard and where you need to erect the wall. This will serve as your plan or blueprint.
Step 3 – Trench
For the wall to be sturdy, the secret is in the foundation. General rule dictates that every 8 inches of protruding wall, an inch should be underground. Dig a trench for the wall’s foundations. The depth of the trench should be the wall’s underground height. Base this from your computation. Just remember that the wall ratio must be 8 is to 1. Meaning, 1 inch down for every eight inches wall height. The bottom of the trench must be the wall height plus 5 inches. Fill it with gravel for 4 inches then an inch thick of bedding sand.
Step 4 – The Wall
Begin erecting the wall using the blocks. For a sturdier result, use same sizes and shapes blocks. Make the joints between blocks staggered for extra strength. Think how you construct Lego walls. Same procedure applies here. After you fill the first row of blocks, backfill the entire row with crushed stones and repeat the process until your wall reaches the planned height.
Step 5 – Drainage
When you layout the final row of blocks, add retaining wall caps to prevent water from pouring into the filled trenches.
Congratulations! Now you don’t need to worry about your landscaped yard being eroded by nature.