Engineer Retaining Walls for Height and Surcharge

wall you do not and I repeat this do not physically connect the retaining wall to the structure you're buding up to so if I'm building a wall up to this structure I don't pin that into the structure I don't physically connect the wall the wall has to be its own separate entity because in different parts of the country if I physically connect to this structure I then have to go to the depth of the frost footings of the structure I'm connecting to so if I'm going to put a retaining wall up to a structure and it has a 4ft frost footing I have to bury that structure 4 feet down and pin it the entire way retaining walls are designed to float separately from any structures now we've still got three more points to go so let's go let's move on to those next [Music] now when you get over 4T tall with your retaining wall or there's going to be a search charge on that wall you need to engineer that wall no matter what height it is now let's be very descriptive about what we're talking about in this video you see us putting geogrid behind this retaining wall the reason you see us putting grid into this retaining wall is because our retaining wall is going to be over 4T tall it's been designed by a licensed and certified engineer and then ran through the city for permits and then we we get all the appropriate inspections done when you need to take these extra steps is when we're talking about that search charge and a surcharge can be any kind of additional weight behind the retaining wall above and beyond a flat level surface so when you get a retaining wall that's over 4T tall you're going to engineer it but if the retaining wall isall isn't even 4T tall but it's going to have a slope on the top of it you may need to look at getting that engineered and have geogrid in it or if you have a structure like a house or a parking lot or any kind a a shed any kind of a structure that's going to put additional weight onto the soil that that retaining wall holds up get it engineered and then get your geog grid put in place this is where a lot of guys fail because they avoid this step they're afraid of it and if they're afraid of it it's because they're not experienced with it but now I'm getting a little bit ahead of the game because we're going to talk about the number one reason why retaining walls fail in just a few moments we're still on number three but I've already alluded to the number one reason all right little more progress on the wall height it's back filling and…