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Stesso

Lay First Course of Blocks and Base Material

5:15
25:06
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At 5:15 in

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What happens here

After preparing the base and cleaning the blocks, begin laying the first course of retaining wall blocks. Ensure they are level and properly spaced. Following the blocks, place a layer of geotextile fabric behind the wall, extending into the excavated area. Then, backfill the area behind the blocks with washed rock/gravel, providing a stable foundation and essential drainage. The video emphasizes 'over-killing' the base and drainage by using an ample amount of rock to prevent future issues and ensure the wall's longevity.

Goal: Lay the first course of blocks, secure them with geotextile, and backfill with washed rock for a strong base and drainage.

Tools and materials

  • Geotextile Fabric — Separating the backfill material from the native soil and preventing fines migration
  • Rake — Spreading and leveling the washed rock/gravel
  • Retaining Wall Blocks — The first layer of the retaining wall
  • Shovel — Moving and placing washed rock/gravel
  • Washed Rock/Gravel — Creating a stable and well-drained base behind the wall

What they say

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the course off. So, need to get my scrape. Now, this is where you have to be picky and where a lot of guys aren't, unfortunately. any kind of obstructions on the top of these blocks will be like the princess and the pee, right? You got all these mattresses and a little tiny pee on the bottom mattress and that's going to throw everything off. Well, on a retaining wall, if you let any obstructions be on those blocks, as the wall gets taller, you're going to start to see it. You won't see it if you only stack one or two courses on top of the obstruction. But if you've got 10 courses or worse yet 20 or 30 courses to go on top of an instruction, by the time you get to the top, your retaining wall is failed. This is where you've got to babysit every single course and make sure that you get those blocks clean, especially where you lay down grid because the grid will trap the debris and not let you get it cleaned off right. So, you've got to do this step before you lay the grid down. As you can see on the row below it. Rock is cheap, but fixing a retaining wall isn't. This base is not in the bid. But we know as contractors, if we put this much base material down, there's not much of a chance we're going to get a call back. Hey, something happened to my wall in 3 to four to 5 years. This is cheap insurance for us. So, we overkill the base. We overkill the drainage zone. When you overkill those two zones, your chance of success

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