Dry Bag Retaining Wall #cement #diy #diyprojects #home #landscape
We just created a huge problem. I hate to say it but this could cost us THOUSANDS 🤦🏻‍♂️
Why am I sitting here right now waiting for a huge shipment of ‪@quikrete‬ ? Let me take you back to when this whole mess started.
A little over a year ago we moved into one of our flip houses. We put the final touches on our budget and realized that we had enough to redo (top coat) the driveway. This thing was a mess. There was a huge hump down by the main road and your car would bottom out when you pulled in. This isn’t a video on fixing our driveway. This is about fixing the problem that fixing our driveway caused.
We hired a local paving company to put a 3 inch top coat on our driveway and expand the parking area so we could get two cars up here. The cost was $3,700 which was very comparable to the other quotes we got. The problem that caused was that the right side of the driveway is now about 2-3 feet off the ground which isn’t a huge problem. The problem is that all this aggregate was left exposed. Most times the contractor will cover this with asphalt but It seems to me that the paving company ran out and just left it like this. I was told that this is normal and I just need a retaining wall if I don’t want the driveway to collapse. A retaining wall??? Now you tell me this. Man I wish I had that conversation on video. Over time that 28 inches of crushed aggregate that they use under these driveways is just going to wash out.
Aggregate is crushed stone used as a sub-base for asphalt driveways. The stone provides the necessary surface area for the top material to adhere to and forms a stable base for driveway materials.
If that aggregate washes out from underneath we have a huge problem. Asphalt, especially new asphalt is very soft. If it doesn’t have that stable base it’s going to crack, sage or just cave in.
So to fix this issue we are going to attempt a dry bag concrete retaining wall. It’s kinda like a dry pour concrete pad but we’re not even going to open these bags. It’s very unconventional. I got a couple estimates to have a fancy retaining wall built but the lowest quote rolled in at $5,000.00 and that is definitely not in our budget. I would like to knock off a couple zeros from that number. Im hoping to do this 30 foot retaining wall for under $500 bucks. I am a little nervous. I’ve never done a retaining wall before. Im sure some mistakes will be made. In the end I hope this isn’t a huge waste of time and money. Best case scenario we have a cheap solution that looks great and serves a purpose. Worst case…it turns into an expensive pile of back fill for the contractor we hire. Let’s hope not.
The idea here is to stack 60 pound bags of Quikrete and reinforce them with rebar and then let Mother Nature do the rest. A couple good rains should saturate the bags on the top and the exposed side. Mix that with the runoff from the driveway and moisture coming up from the ground we’ll have a solid concrete wall. Over the next couple months I expect that paper on the outside to start breaking down. If I get impatient I could go around and start unwrapping it like a big birthday present or maybe burn it off. Hummmm I kinda like that idea better fire 🔥 🔥
I am expecting some cracking and odd shaped corners. We’ll do our best to prevent that but I don’t think it will look bad to have variations in the blocks. Maybe it’ll give it that rock wall look that you see on old farm houses and barns.
So let’s be clear. This is not going to be a tall retaining wall. Three feet tops. It’s not going to be supporting a lot of weight either. Its sole purpose is to keep that crushed aggregate from washing out from under the asphalt. If I were building this to hold back a 20 foot cliff next to a house I would be taking a completely different approach. I take that back, I wouldn’t be doing it at all. I would be hiring a professional.
This feels like a great technique for anyone that wants to raise a flower bed around their house or their mailbox. If you’re tire of that edged look holding your mulch in . This is fairly inexpensive compared to buying small paver blocks for $3.50 a piece. When I started this video, 60 pound bags of Quikrete were going for $3.37 each now I think they’re about $3.80. Compared to the inflation on everything else out there, this doesn’t seem to bad at all.
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