New Retaining Wall Behind Pool House

Before: A crumbling old railroad tie retaining wall

This customer had a crumbling old railroad tie retaining wallbehind his pool house. The wall ran all the way behind the pool house and then up into the back yard between the pool and the main house. It was probably decades old to the point where the wood was spongey and crumbling. It wasn’t doings its job and it looked terrible.

After: a beautiful wall with landscaping brick, cap stones and crushed stone

The solution was to remove the old wall and replace it with a combination of landscaping brick and crushed stone. For this job I had to:

  • Trim back all the shrubs behind the wall and remove all weeds and overgrowth
  • Cut back and square up into the hill to reclaim the land that had pushed forward over the years
  • Intall four rows of landscaping brick into a pleasing coutoured shape to compliment the pool house and adjacent yard, including installing a drainage pipe behind the wall to direct run-off from the hill away from the pool house.
  • Back fill bricks with sand.
  • Install a cap stone for the length of the wall.
  • Install weed paper at the base of the hill directly behind the new wall.
  • Cover weedpaper with crushed stone.
  • Install addiitonal crushed stone between new wall and pool house to discourage weed growth and support good drainage.

More Before and After Photos

Before: Rotting railroad tie retailing wall

 

Before: Rotted railroad tie retaining wall

 

Before: Rotted railroad tie retaining wall

 

Before: Rotted railroad tie retaining wall

 

During: Railroad ties removed and digging back the hill

 

DURING: Installing landscaping bricks
During: Installing drainage pipe

 

During: Installing landscaping bricks and back filling with sand

 

During: Adding additional rows of landscaping brick

 

During: Adding capstone

 

During: Installing heavy duty weed paper and appling crushed stone

 

After: Finishing with additional crushed stone at ground level for drainage and erosion control

 

After: Looks great and has a nice gentle curve

Customer Reaction

The customer was so thrilled with this beautful new retaining wall that he immediately asked for the same treatment for another crumbling railroad tie wall on the side of the main house. Pictures of that project to come!