We received this job through the Unilock Authorized Contractor program.

We were told there was a failing retaining wall that needed replaced. When I arrived to check things out, It was easy to see that the existing walls were in catastrophic failure. The lower wall leaning forward 6-7 inches while the top wall was leaning forward 4-5 inches. The steps were separated and loose which posed a bad tripping hazard.

With the wall only being 15 years old, there had to be improper installation or another force that was not taken into account when designing/engineering. With full confidence in our ability to build a long lasting retaining wall, we took on the project.   As we began tearing the old wall out, we identified several flaws in the original construction that led to the pre-mature failure.

These included:

• geo-grid that was too short
• use of the wrong backfill rock
• improper drainage
• glueing the block together which restricted water escape
• not enough of the wall being buried to prevent movement.

We removed the top wall to gain access to the lower wall which was removed next. As we excavated we found additional issues that needed addressed. The city sewer line had settled due to improper compaction behind the wall and large drainage lines were running underneath the lower wall and leaking into the foundation of the wall. We were able to address these issues as the walls started to come together.

The customer chose to change the layout slightly in order to add on to the patio and install a firepit in that area. We used a mini excavator and a large clamp to lower the blocks down over the 8’ drop off. When the job was finished, we installed 36 pallets of block, 100 ton of base and backfill aggregate, 400’ of drainage lines, and moved 150 tons of excavated soil. This project was completed by a 2 man crew to assure no details were missed.