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Timber
sleeper retaining walls
Dearer readers, as we have said in our last post where we
talked about retaining walls, there are several types of retaining walls, but
in this post we would like to show you how to build one of the easiest
retaining walls, which we believe would be a timber sleeper retaining wall:
Building a low timber sleeper retaining wall is very easy, well
at least this is what a tradesman thinks if he is going to build it himself,
but somebody that has never done it needs at least to know how to go about and
this is what we are going to tell you. We believe that just about everybody
that if fit enough would be able to do it, you can do it yourself, if you
follow our explanation in this text here, all you need is a crowbar, a post
hole shovel, a hammer a few long nails or screws, a saw, a type measure and a
few treated pine sleeper that today are easily available at most timber yards.
Here are a couple of addresses of local timber merchants and
hardware to get what you want, just for everybody to check them out; you need
to find your own, if you live somewhere else.
Now, you have visited your local supply and you have got all
you need and you are ready to start, you have also worked out where you want
your sleeper wall to go; So start digging the first hole where the wall starts,
you need to dig this hole about 600 mm or more in the natural ground for the
post to be strong enough to hold the pressure of the retaining wall when the
wall is back filled; you may have to concrete around the post for extra
strength, but this is not a must do, if the retaining wall is low, because you
can replace this with, packing the soil tightly around the posts and if you
have some rocks, wedge them between the top of the hole you have dug and the
post at ground level, because the rocks will exercise their pressure on a
larger surface of the natural soil than the post, they will be able to hold
back the soil pressure of the wall more easily, now that you have done the
first post, you can repeat the same procedure for next post and so on.
Posts can be made from the same material of the sleepers;
you just have to saw them to the right length and fix them in the ground as we
have said above. Just to make it easy let us say for the time being that your
wall is going to be just the length of a sleeper plank and you have dug the two
holes and fixed the two posts. So now you can just place the first sleeper
against the posts at the required level; the levels of the sleepers would be
better if you work it out from the top down, because it is easier to change the
bottom than to top, you see, in this case you can always dig a bit or add a bit
of soil at the bottom to fit the bottom sleeper. So mark on the posts the level
you want to reach with your last sleeper, and then mark down from this level
the number of sleeper you are fixing on these posts, once you have done that
you are ready to fix your sleepers on the posts.
Fixing your
sleeper to the post
To fix the sleepers to the post now is simple, but still you
need to do a few things right, if you want your wall to last as long as
possible with the materials you are using. Now it is useful to know that in
this case it is highly advisable that you use galvanized nails or screws to fix
the planks to the posts, because the retaining wall is in contact with the wet
or humid ground constantly and therefore normal nails or screws will rust
easily.
You have bought some 75 mm and 100 mm galvanized nails to do
the job, so you hope to be able to drive these nail into the sleepers and posts
just by using a hammer, because you have not got a drill, and even if you have
you think that nailing them is the fastest way to get the job done.
Okay, if you are good with your hammer and can drive nail
easily it is the best way to go, provided that the timber is soft enough to do
that, and if you have used treated pine sleeper it can be done, as all you need
to do now is to place the sleepers where you have marked on the posts and nail
them in, and then you can backfill behind the retaining wall and the job is
done.
But what about if you are using hardwood or old dry
hardwood, because you got it very cheap from a second hand timber yard, because
they were overstocked they sold this timber at a very special price, which was
less than half the price of the treated pine sleepers; so you were happy to buy
it because it was really cheap and the timber being hardwood would last for a
very long time, but now you might have a problem to fix the sleepers to the
posts, because it is near impossible to drive nails into this old dry hardwood
timber, unless you drill a hole for every single nail, and even then the nails
might bend even if you are an expert with the hammer.
If this is the situation and it is hard to nail this timber
together, you could be able to overcome the problem by using couch screws or
bolts, so you use a drill and drill a hole for your galvanized couch screws or
bolts and tighten the screws or the bolt nuts with a spanner. But if you don’t
want to do this extra work and you want to use the galvanized nails that you
have already bought, then you could do the following: drill a hole as deep as
you can just use a bit a fraction smaller then the diameter of your nails, then
try first with the 75 mm nails how you go, if it works and you believe that the
nail go deep enough into the supporting post and hold well then your problem is
solved, but if the nail bends or don’t go deep enough then you can try the
following, and this is one of the last tricks of the old trade, which not many
people know or use, this trick is not a trick at all and once you know it, you
could feel even stupid for not thinking about it yourself; so what is it? Okay,
when you pick up your nail to nail in the hole you have drilled, dip the point
of the nail a couple of centimetre into a bit of Vaseline or mechanical grease,
if this is not available just wet a bar of soap and rub the point of the nail
on the wet soap, this greasing of the end of the nail will make it easier to
drive it into any wood including dry old hardwood.
I believe that I have said
enough about simple timber retaining walls, for you to have some idea how to
build them, so, now let us talk about another type of retaining wall that could
be easy to build, it is a type of concrete wall that the blocks are laid dry,
so anyone can have a go; and if you don't get it right the first time it is
easy to fix, because you can relay them the way you want. See you later in our
next post,
Link
Block Mortar less Walls.
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This is:
Menfranco general blog,
Timber sleeper retaining walls
IS TO BE CONTINUED;
Next time with, Link Block Mortar-less walls
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