Backyard retaining wall & fence project #6: December 2021 update: can see light at end of the tunnel!

2020 and 2021 was not kind to me in regards to having time to work on my DIY hobbies. Which was really sad because in 2020, I bought a Laguna 220bx bandsaw and a 52” Sawstop. Then COVID came around and my mindset was more concerned with employment and family issues.

Anyways…
The last time I left a blog entry, I was having serious issues with the fence post footing. I did dig 12” down x 65’ long as I needed a 24” frost depth for the gravel base under the retaining blocks. At the 12.1” depth, super duper hard clay. Took me 2 hours just to dent the stuff. So I caved in and took everyone’s advice: hired 2 guys off Craigslist to removed the footings and to complete the 24” depth. Great!

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I threw in the gravel and compacted with my little 8lb hand compactor tool. Added the first row of retaining wall blocks. Took 2 days as had to ensure every block was level forward/backward and left/right…and then had to be co-planer to the block besides it. Also, had to slap in a french drain with 3 branches for odd ball drainage purposes. I did encase the french drain with fabric the will help block debris coming up from the holes. Had to also figure out the draining slope. 65’ long drain slope came out to … 4” height different using 3/8” drainage slope. Took another day just to maintain the slope during install :)

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And then I slapped in the next 2 rows of retaining wall blocks which went fast but still tiring. I believe 48 blocks per row.
I had to stop at this point because I had to fit & size the next phase: installed the fence post footing item.

This is the safest way (and by usual county/city code) to allow a fence post to be near any retaining wall. It “should” take the racking stress, instead of racking against the wall itself. Each of these $50 fence post items were set exactly as possible to 5’8” center to center and nearly level with the top of my reference blocks.

And then snow & cold rolled in. I await time to build up 2 or 3 more rows and add gravel.

-- The Carpenter Bee is derived from the Ancient Greek word wood-cutter "xylokopos/ξυλοκὀπος"