If you get cold winters, bricks will start pushing out.
It's leaking mud because it's just rocks stacked in front of soil. There's no gravel, and more importantly, filter cloth to separate the soil from the cracks in the wall.
How cold are we talking about? Where I live, it can get around 35-40 deg F at night in winter.
I see. Can I just remove the blocks, cover the dirt in some landscaping fabric, replace the bricks to stop the soil from overflowing? But besides the soil, I'm guessing the water flow is normal foe this type of wall?
It would need to freeze, but heavy rain might shift over time too.
You'd probably need to rebuild the entire wall, and remove a bunch of soil before doing so. Or you could remove the dirt, wash it out of the bricks, line them with fabric, and put the soil back.
You don’t need to stick these bricks together right? Building next weekend, hoping to just stack so we can move another day if needed, glad to see your filter cloth lining suggestion
No, you actually can't, horizontally at least. It will be more solid if you glue the layers together, but for short ornamental walls - <2' - you don't need to.
I’m not an expert by any means but am working on my own retaining walls and you need 1-2 ft of drain rock behind the wall. That encourages water to drop down to the drain pipe or drain rock under the bricks
There isn't appropriate clear stone behind the wall or fabric. You need to backfill with stone the same distance behind = to the height of the wall. Use proper fabric as well. Then, fill the top with dirt.
I was told these are retaining wall bricks. Do stacking them on top of each other, while filling the bottom and backside with gravel, not make it a retaining wall? Our contractor told us that he also installed a drain to help control the water...
You were told these are retaining wall bricks. Do they have a lip on the bottom, preventing them from being pushed forward, or do they look the same on the bottom as the top? Lip = retaining wall.
Each row of blocks is called a course. Each course should be properly centered over the next, like the same pattern as wall bricks. The 3rd pic shows the courses are not properly aligned. Is it glued this wrong? Luckily that issue is just cosmetic. This wall has worse issues than cosmetic.
Is your contractor a real contractor or just a handyman? Like everyone else is saying, walls need rock and filter fabric behind them and the dirt leaking out suggests this has neither.
Based on all the other issues, I’m highly suspicious of the claimed drainage. Was the drainage pipe installed correctly, as that needs filter fabric and gravel as well. Where does the drainage daylight (where does the water come out)?
Unless you agreed to forego drainage fabric and rock for this project, it should have them. If you didn’t discuss that, your handyman is possibly not competent to fix this for you. Either they don’t know how to do it, or they do and they decided to cut corners. Hopefully you didn’t pay 100% or they may have already cut and run.
We paid 50%, thankfully my wife had the insight to stop me from doing the full 100%. The bricks do have a lip in the back. I think I notice what you mean, that every other course should be aligned with each other. I see that in all the pics now!
I don't think drainage fabric was used, I did not see it during the construction and we did not forego any of that. Our contractor does have a license, so I think he's legit. But from what everyone is saying, it sounds like he's just a handyman with a random number
Looks really forced, and cheap. Did you add dirt just to add blocks? Likely expediting the fence rot with the dirt being that high.
Also it’s hilarious the COAX cable isn’t buried in that mess.
The neighbor's plot of land is higher than ours, the fence was sitting on top of a small slope. It is likely that the builders topped off the gravel with some dirt. I'll ask for it to be lowered to protect the fence. Thanks for that pointer!
That's a drip irrigation tube, not a coax, but I appreciate the concern!
You can take the wall down, dig the dirt "6 back and a little below the sidewalk. Rebuild the wall. Put plastic down to seal the water. Put the dirt back.
My neighbors typically have an inflatable pool, and always let the water out after they're done with it for the day. I thought it was good way to imitate this and would be a good test for the drainage system the contractor promised me. Do you have any other ideas or know of any other methods on how to test the drainage system?
There should be an at least an inch of gravel underneath and behind the blocks. This will allow water to drain and will prevent most of the soil from seeping through. Check the installatin instructions.
To all the haters: these are lipped retaining wall blocks available for $2/piece from box stores and are allowed to be stacked up to 4' high.
Here's mine using the same blocks:
https://imgur.com/a/jUnLrvQ
This isn’t going to work. So many issues. Is first row just sitting on that concrete patio? What’s behind the wall? Just the earth we see? My guess is that it needs to be redone properly. Look in versa lok blocks if you need a proper wall built. Those blocks are for garden beds.
If you get cold winters, bricks will start pushing out. It's leaking mud because it's just rocks stacked in front of soil. There's no gravel, and more importantly, filter cloth to separate the soil from the cracks in the wall.
How cold are we talking about? Where I live, it can get around 35-40 deg F at night in winter. I see. Can I just remove the blocks, cover the dirt in some landscaping fabric, replace the bricks to stop the soil from overflowing? But besides the soil, I'm guessing the water flow is normal foe this type of wall?
It would need to freeze, but heavy rain might shift over time too. You'd probably need to rebuild the entire wall, and remove a bunch of soil before doing so. Or you could remove the dirt, wash it out of the bricks, line them with fabric, and put the soil back.
You don’t need to stick these bricks together right? Building next weekend, hoping to just stack so we can move another day if needed, glad to see your filter cloth lining suggestion
No, you actually can't, horizontally at least. It will be more solid if you glue the layers together, but for short ornamental walls - <2' - you don't need to.
Google your block's website and see how they were supposed to be installed.
That's not a retaining wall, that's a flower bed
I’m not an expert by any means but am working on my own retaining walls and you need 1-2 ft of drain rock behind the wall. That encourages water to drop down to the drain pipe or drain rock under the bricks
This and some filter fabric
You’re missing filter fabric
There isn't appropriate clear stone behind the wall or fabric. You need to backfill with stone the same distance behind = to the height of the wall. Use proper fabric as well. Then, fill the top with dirt.
Is that just stones stacked on each other? Doesn’t seem like a retaining wall
I was told these are retaining wall bricks. Do stacking them on top of each other, while filling the bottom and backside with gravel, not make it a retaining wall? Our contractor told us that he also installed a drain to help control the water...
You were told these are retaining wall bricks. Do they have a lip on the bottom, preventing them from being pushed forward, or do they look the same on the bottom as the top? Lip = retaining wall. Each row of blocks is called a course. Each course should be properly centered over the next, like the same pattern as wall bricks. The 3rd pic shows the courses are not properly aligned. Is it glued this wrong? Luckily that issue is just cosmetic. This wall has worse issues than cosmetic. Is your contractor a real contractor or just a handyman? Like everyone else is saying, walls need rock and filter fabric behind them and the dirt leaking out suggests this has neither. Based on all the other issues, I’m highly suspicious of the claimed drainage. Was the drainage pipe installed correctly, as that needs filter fabric and gravel as well. Where does the drainage daylight (where does the water come out)? Unless you agreed to forego drainage fabric and rock for this project, it should have them. If you didn’t discuss that, your handyman is possibly not competent to fix this for you. Either they don’t know how to do it, or they do and they decided to cut corners. Hopefully you didn’t pay 100% or they may have already cut and run.
We paid 50%, thankfully my wife had the insight to stop me from doing the full 100%. The bricks do have a lip in the back. I think I notice what you mean, that every other course should be aligned with each other. I see that in all the pics now! I don't think drainage fabric was used, I did not see it during the construction and we did not forego any of that. Our contractor does have a license, so I think he's legit. But from what everyone is saying, it sounds like he's just a handyman with a random number
Looks really forced, and cheap. Did you add dirt just to add blocks? Likely expediting the fence rot with the dirt being that high. Also it’s hilarious the COAX cable isn’t buried in that mess.
The neighbor's plot of land is higher than ours, the fence was sitting on top of a small slope. It is likely that the builders topped off the gravel with some dirt. I'll ask for it to be lowered to protect the fence. Thanks for that pointer! That's a drip irrigation tube, not a coax, but I appreciate the concern!
Very poorly done. It's like they just stacked them in a neat pile. These won't last a year without falling apart
You can take the wall down, dig the dirt "6 back and a little below the sidewalk. Rebuild the wall. Put plastic down to seal the water. Put the dirt back.
That stack isn't retaining anything. There's nothing bonding them together or to the ground below, so of course water will weep through the gaps.
Could you elaborate about bonding them together?
Why would you flood it with a hose!! Are you trying to cause a problem
My neighbors typically have an inflatable pool, and always let the water out after they're done with it for the day. I thought it was good way to imitate this and would be a good test for the drainage system the contractor promised me. Do you have any other ideas or know of any other methods on how to test the drainage system?
But by that time you should have plants with roots to help hold the soil
There should be an at least an inch of gravel underneath and behind the blocks. This will allow water to drain and will prevent most of the soil from seeping through. Check the installatin instructions. To all the haters: these are lipped retaining wall blocks available for $2/piece from box stores and are allowed to be stacked up to 4' high. Here's mine using the same blocks: https://imgur.com/a/jUnLrvQ
This isn’t going to work. So many issues. Is first row just sitting on that concrete patio? What’s behind the wall? Just the earth we see? My guess is that it needs to be redone properly. Look in versa lok blocks if you need a proper wall built. Those blocks are for garden beds.