9' Retaining Wall
9' Retaining Wall
(OP)
I am designing a retaining wall for a residential client and wanted to hear some opinions about the type and method I am using. The above-ground height ranges from 9' to 2.5'; the wall is too close (less than 8') to the property line, so installing geomesh would be impossible without digging up the neighbor's yard. So the next obvious choice is a cantilevered wall (which the owner's want to be veneered with stone). I planned on the footing being concrete (of course, but I wanted the wall to be CMU blocks which is more constructable in this case (I think). Some other details about the wall include a 90 degree corner at the 9' elevation, and land slopes up behind the proposed wall by 15 degrees (east wall)and 25 degrees (north wall). To meet 1.5 FS for global stability, I need a 5' footer at the tallest section of the wall. The CMU blocks also have me worried; I may need to double-up the wall in some areas to help with shear and moment capacity in the wall. Is there a better way to design this? Am approaching this wrong?





RE: 9' Retaining Wall
http://www.keystonewalls.com/KShome.html
or
http://www.redi-rock.com/
There are others.
RE: 9' Retaining Wall
I believe global stability for overturning is 2.0 and sliding is 1.5, check with your local building code.
Regards
VOD
RE: 9' Retaining Wall
The look of real stone (like a limestone) is what the owners want. The manufactered blocks are nice, but are not what they are looking for. Also, the 2000lb redi-rock blocks that require no geogrid, will be too difficult to get into the back yard. The house is already existing and the wall is being built to retain soil 6' from their new addition.
I appreciate your suggestions, anyhow; thank you.
RE: 9' Retaining Wall
Just a thought.
RE: 9' Retaining Wall
Good Luck
RE: 9' Retaining Wall
I regards to price, I have been told by some contractors that building retaining walls with block is not always cheaper than poured-in-place concrete. There is a lot of labor involved in setting each unit. Of course, there is a lot of labor involved in forming for poured-in-place as well.
Have you considered using shotcrete? The face of the wall can be finished by a skilled individual to just about any appearance imaginable.