Hello Group,

Here is the situation. We have a flat backyard which is small, which
slopes HUGE hill. We want to build out the flat area as much as
possible, at the same time putting up a fence to protect our young
children.

Local building codes say that homeowners can build retaining walls 3
feet tall without permit. I have read that pressure treated lumber
retaining walls are not recommended because they only last 10 to 15
years. Personally if it lasted that long, that is acceptable.

I bought the house I grew up in actually! My question to the group is
this. I need a 36" retaining wall, and a 4 foot picket fence. What
I want to do is to put in my posts, and use those posts for the
retaining wall, a small ground clearance, then from the flat ground use
the same posts for my four foot picket fence. Is there a problem with
this?

Thanks for reading my post,
~Karl

Yes. Your crazy.


Just kidding. But your idea really is. The weight of dirt in 3' would
snap off your picket fence posts like nothing, and your wall will end
up on top of your kids, along with a few hundred tons of dirt.

Pressure treated is okay -- it does rot eventually, and is not exactly
cheap either, but can be simple to work with. BUT, it really sounds
like you need to do some reading. Look on google -- there are plenty of
sites detailing how to build a retaining wall, including how to deal
with: water and drainage, footings, deadmen/tiebacks, setbacks,
acceptable height, frost and snow, and so on. Come back and ask again
after you have read up a bit.

(I also can't for the life of me figure out why you think you need a
picket fence in front of a wall anyway.)

"kevin" wrote in message

(I also can't for the life of me figure out why you think you need a
picket fence in front of a wall anyway.)

To keep the kids from going over the wall and the 3' drop. Fence is on top
of the wall.

To keep the kids from going over the wall...

Ah, right. I was picturing the hill sloping _up_ from the house, not
down. Previous post still stands, although the wall won't be falling
_on_ the kids, but out from under them, and there is less dirt to hold
back too.

Here is the situation. We have a flat backyard which is small, which
slopes HUGE hill. We want to build out the flat area as much as
possible, at the same time putting up a fence to protect our young
children.

Local building codes say that homeowners can build retaining walls 3
feet tall without permit. I have read that pressure treated lumber
retaining walls are not recommended because they only last 10 to 15
years. Personally if it lasted that long, that is acceptable.

I bought the house I grew up in actually! My question to the group is
this. I need a 36" retaining wall, and a 4 foot picket fence. What
I want to do is to put in my posts, and use those posts for the
retaining wall, a small ground clearance, then from the flat ground use
the same posts for my four foot picket fence. Is there a problem with
this?

Thanks for reading my post,
~Karl

How steep is the slop, exactly?
I'm assuming that the slope is down, away from the house.

What I'd do is terrace: build a 3' retaining wall, and
then move as far away from that as the slope allows, and
build another one. Unless your town requires it,
I'd skip the fence entirely. A 3' drop-off is a
learning experience, not a health hazard.
(well, unless the childer are 3 or younger.)
Use the lower terrace for your vegetable garden.

Build the walls out of rock.

--Goedjn

Yea my kids are 7 months and 2 years. The backyard is flat away from
the house, and then slopes down. The hill part of our yard is huge,
and the flat (let the kiddies run free) part is small. Putting in the
3 foot tall retaining wall with the fence on top would have extended my
backyard by five feet. A five foot adition to a medium sized backyard
is nothing to shake a stick at.

Just tonight I saw a house in my neighborhood with exactly what I was
talking about. They have a retaining wall made up 10' wide pressure
treated boards, stacked 3 high. Post spacing that apears to be at 3
foot increments, and every other post is taller to accomodate the
fence. It this wrong? My main concern was for instance if someone was
leaning on the fence it would have a tremedous force being that the
posts are so long.

Thanks for all of your input.

wrote:
Just tonight I saw a house in my neighborhood with exactly what I was
talking about. They have a retaining wall made up 10' wide pressure
treated boards, stacked 3 high. Post spacing that apears to be at 3
foot increments, and every other post is taller to accomodate the
fence. It this wrong? My main concern was for instance if someone was
leaning on the fence it would have a tremedous force being that the
posts are so long.

Thanks for all of your input.

Home Depot had some little pads of handouts about building retaining
walls. I think the product associated with them was some big screws for
holding things together. A way to keep the long posts stable is to
anchor them halfway up or higher, back into the dirt with a more or
less horizontal threaded rod or something (I don't know if rust would
be a problem) attached to some kind of anchory thing, a can full of
cement or something. If they did loosen up, you could tighten the nut
on the exposed end of the rod to pull them back up vertical. If you
can't tell, I've never done anything like this, but I have lots of
terrific ideas.

"z" wrote:

-snip-
Home Depot had some little pads of handouts about building retaining
walls. I think the product associated with them was some big screws for
holding things together.

Timberlock? I love those things-- They are about 50cents apiece,
but I keep a box of 6 & 8 inchers around to tie those 3x5 landscape
timbers together. I drive them with a 1/2 inch drill. Usually I
retrieve them when I[or my chief architect, aka wife] change my
landscape plans. [frequently] They outlast the cheap timbers I'm
holding together.

Googling for Timberlock & landscaping might bring up some ideas.

Jim

I cant seem to find anything on the web about them. I will need to
head to home depot and check it out.

On 7 Oct 2005 18:20:03 -0700, wrote:

I cant seem to find anything on the web about them. I will need to
head to home depot and check it out.

Go to google.com- use these terms;
landscape fasteners timberlock

[That works, but try the correct spelling of Timberlok-- sorry 'bout
that;
http://www.ajsmith.clara.net/timberlok/timberlok.htm

Jim

Jim Elbrecht wrote:
On 7 Oct 2005 18:20:03 -0700, wrote:

I cant seem to find anything on the web about them. I will need to
head to home depot and check it out.

Go to google.com- use these terms;
landscape fasteners timberlock

[That works, but try the correct spelling of Timberlok-- sorry 'bout
that;
http://www.ajsmith.clara.net/timberlok/timberlok.htm

Jim

Of course... God forbid the manufacturers of a product should refrain
from spelling it in some cutesy way so that people who stayed in school
past Grade 7 could search for it....
I'm so tired of the Lite Brite Nite Site and so on.

On 9 Oct 2005 22:32:09 -0700, "z" wrote:


Jim Elbrecht wrote:
On 7 Oct 2005 18:20:03 -0700, wrote:

I cant seem to find anything on the web about them. I will need to
head to home depot and check it out.

Go to google.com- use these terms;
landscape fasteners timberlock

[That works, but try the correct spelling of Timberlok-- sorry 'bout
that;
http://www.ajsmith.clara.net/timberlok/timberlok.htm

Jim

Of course... God forbid the manufacturers of a product should refrain
from spelling it in some cutesy way so that people who stayed in school
past Grade 7 could search for it....
I'm so tired of the Lite Brite Nite Site and so on.

If you spell it wrong, it's a trademark. If you spell it right,
it's just a word.

Goedjn wrote:
On 9 Oct 2005 22:32:09 -0700, "z" wrote:


Jim Elbrecht wrote:
On 7 Oct 2005 18:20:03 -0700, wrote:

I cant seem to find anything on the web about them. I will need to
head to home depot and check it out.

Go to google.com- use these terms;
landscape fasteners timberlock

[That works, but try the correct spelling of Timberlok-- sorry 'bout
that;
http://www.ajsmith.clara.net/timberlok/timberlok.htm

Jim

Of course... God forbid the manufacturers of a product should refrain
from spelling it in some cutesy way so that people who stayed in school
past Grade 7 could search for it....
I'm so tired of the Lite Brite Nite Site and so on.

If you spell it wrong, it's a trademark. If you spell it right,
it's just a word.

Ahhhhhhh...... Enlitenment.