How to Build a Retaining Wall and 6 Reasons they Fail

[@TryThinkingAboutIt]

Tops! Simple, direct, clear, focused. The video is about the content, not you. And that's what viewers need.

[@scottinWV]

This is very informative. I may never build a wall, but now I have some insight that is very valuable to me. Thank you!

[@Dirtmonkey]

Glad I could help!

[@Vasilioo7]

there a lot he didn't talk about

[@alexford5214]

We had to add to our existing 36" high retaining wall and thought we did OK. It collapsed last night in torrential rain and I now know what I did wrong. Should have done my research before attempting it. Many thanks for the video. It will be adhered to the second time.

[@jasonandlori2007]

I am a landscaper in Ohio, I just secured my first job doing a 3 foot retaining wall. I have come to rely on the wisdom you share with us all. I just wanted to thank you for all the help you have given me. I went from profiting $5,000 last year, to this year where I am on track to profit $30,000 to $40,000. Next year my goal is 100k, thank you so much.

[@maricelagutierrez4194]

Great job!

[@furtim1]

How did it go?

[@AndyDeBrunner]

6 years later. Did you ever hit the $100,000 goal!?

[@jennaforney56]

“It’s all about the base”, “I found Waldo” - I love the humor, intended or not. Haha. But really, thank you for sharing your knowledge. I just bought a property near a wash whose erosion is coming close to the home so I’m going to replace the wood retaining wall with a more substantial one. Your expertise is helpful!

[@nimatshering167]

Today I was moving around the wall and just happened to see that the soil near the wall was sinking and was porous just like u said and shown. I would have ignored it if I hadn't seen this video. I am newly graduated and damn sure ignored it. Thank you sir for preventing me from a disaster

[@RebelStateSovereign]

Stanley you did a excellent job on this video, I have personally watched it five or six times. And even recommended it to customers to watch. Keep up the great work my friend.

[@Dirtmonkey]

Thank you!

[@richrodriguez9261]

Great info. I'd hate to put in all the effort of building a wall only to see it fail later on. Thanks for the tips.

[@user-xv3np9db4w]

Great engineering intuition. Was taught similar things by my lecturer, awesome to see them out there in practice.

[@waltertavitabrown245]

Drainage very important, and geogrid will assist the wall not to collapse..awesome video..

[@the-night-stocker6103]

Awesome video man. It was so perfectly and easily understandably put, that i just soaked up so much knowledge in such a short amount of time on a category ive never personally dealt with til this exact moment in time.. Well done sir. Good form

[@annajenks1458]

Thanks for the video. I inherited a retaining wall when we moved into our 60 year old house. It's about five feet tall and joins our neighbor's driveway. It seems fine, no bowing or sagging that I see. Two problems: it's cinder block and it's opened at the top. I can't see to the bottom, but I think it's open all the way down. Also, a large hole (waist high) is located directly behind the wall where a tree used to be. It keeps me up at night.

[@aussiebicolanalifestyle]

Tks for sharing. Regards from Sydney Australia 🇦🇺

[@damaineman86]

You have very good videos for anyone getting into the lawn and landscape industry

[@francoismichaud2919]

Excellent commentaires. Très professionnel. Je suis de Laval au Québec, Canada. Merci pour vos excellentes explications. C'est très apprécié. Ps, je comprends très bien l'anglais mais j'ai de la difficulté à l'écrire. François.

[@Sparklfoot]

Gosh, and I was hoping it was just a cattle panel and T-stakes and bags of cat litter. Well, you’ve opened my eyes, and I know better now! Thank you very much.

[@shitshitnotimportant]

I do not think anyone else it putting out this much information on landscape for free than you. I am an assistant golf course superintendent and in my field we have to know about these things when choosing contractors to do projects like retaining walls on our property and watching you videos has made me infinitely more knowledgeable about the science behind retaining walls etc. A wooden railway tie style retaining wall is failing on us and we are currently looking to replace it...to bad we are in New Jersey or you would be my first and only call. Thank you for all this helpful information Stan, keep it coming!

[@benny43374]

Its just about doing your research , knowing your terrain , and knowing what you need for the occassion . After Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico , I had the task of rebuilding a 42 foot long wall 30 feet high retaining wall that supports My mothers house on a hill . We built it with re-bar and paired them face to face , 10 inches apart , and 6 inches for the seperation for the 9 inch thick wall . People stopped and took pictures of the work as we were working . And Me and My helper are not contructore but did our research .

[@loveny0711]

Wow. I love your videos. I'm retired and need the wall replaced going down my outside basement steps on one side.. It's rotted wood, and I am afraid it will collapse one day. I assume it's the same with a small wall about 6x4. Now I will know if the person doing it, is doing it right Thank you so much for your video's, they save people like me from being taken advantage of..

[@Dirtmonkey]

Thats awesome to hear, thanks so much Colleen !!

[@dbeaulieu9730]

Better yet, design your own walls and have it built to specs

[@frankiemurdock4782]

Great advice. I have seen many walls go up. I have not had a failure because we follows these rules.

[@ericam6518]

This is great. Thanks for sharing. We need to build a gabion planter to prevent our property from flooding too quickly during storms since my neighbor directed his water our way. The backfill tip is very helpful.

[@Dirtmonkey]

I'm glad to hear this helps- Thank you!

[@robbo8566]

This dude is a retaining wall master

[@willchet9241]

Hi I'm William the boy with the stigga villa and I've been watching your videos for about a year now and I've thought about getting some more equipment so I can make a Business out of it and I'm inspired by you thanks for all the cool videos

[@Dirtmonkey]

Thanks William- good luck and go get em!

[@kooskansloos4834]

Thanks for this information. I have a big steep garden and I want ton renovate it. This is helpful.

[@jessicacopeland1644]

I can't believe you made a video about retaining walls in your neck o' the woods WITHOUT mentioning freeze/thaw effect. Great vid though! Hopefully I can catch up with you guys at GIE this year.

[@BySixa]

this was very therapeutic to watch i dont know why haha. great video

[@Dirtmonkey]

Thank you!

[@johnlincicum6390]

@ Stanley, last year in November my father and I built a retaining wall using railroad ties and pre-drilled holes for 1/2" rebar that when flush went through the top railroad tie down into the railroad tie below it all the way through also. A total of about 15" of rebar per hole and approximately 4 15" rebar rods per railroad tie. The bottom layer of railroad ties had rebar 24" which resulted in about 16-16.5" of rebar in the ground. We also put a slight slant on them to lean towards the bank. They also overlap, so that one railroad tie is sitting on top of the two below it. So far, it is very stable and feels very solid! What do you think of this? I have photos during the build process I can e-mail you directly and I can take pictures of it currently also as it stands right now.

[@integr8er66]

The problem I see is it is made of wood and it will rot. I built one like that when I bought my house in 1992 thinking I would be long gone or dead before it needed replaced...Guess who replaced it with concrete block in 2009....

[@Don.Challenger]

@John Lincicum, As he said there are two parts to the answer: 1./ the "thoughtful" initial design and build (which you talk about yours here); 2./ the "diligent" maintenance plan, its periodic inspections and renovation work. That second part is key to the permanence of the first.

[@josephszilagyi6054]

Great content, good production, no over explaining! Thank you for creating these informative videos.

[@Dirtmonkey]

I'm glad to hear this helps- Thank you!

[@LionscubSaint]

Honestly I'm enjoying your hardscaping videos and so I too, would like to see more instructional videos on retaining walls challenges on slopes, and some more tips on maintenance pricing including routine maintenance checks and corrections. Thank you, I really appreciate you

[@LionscubSaint]

I signed up to be a free member until I could take your courses online. I'm still trying to figure out how your website directs me because I went to the first lesson and it said I completed the first lesson however I only clicked the button that said complete first lesson..thinking it would direct me to the first lesson ..yay! but instead it just said congratulations...but I didn't read anything or answer any questions or take a test, anyways moving forward, I'm going to purchase your books for the coursework unless there is a grant program?...

[@LionscubSaint]

Actually I'm sortta conflicted about a grant now, how can I reciprocate? You have helped me and so many others, thanks

[@Dirtmonkey]

Hi Mark, The online website is getting a dramatic new update with some courses that I have worked on for over 6 months now. This will blow anything out of the water that I have done on youtube. The content is much deeper and more to the point. It should be out in month.

[@DKTek07]

If I weren't so physically challenged these days, I would move from FL and beg to work for a guy like you. I used to love being a DIY guy and learning from videos like yours as part of my research before starting a project. I'm disgusted with the local licensed contractors, that I've had to hire because I can't do this anymore. They cut corners that defy what I consider common sense. They appear to be in code, but watching them going through the steps and putting pride in there work is two entirely different things. They're sloppy enough to pass but I know there will be problems in the future.

[@Dirtmonkey]

Wow, thanks for sharing!

[@willchet9241]

Thanks for replying to me in the past it means so much to me it was the one where you had three accidents sliding down the hill and nearly went into a pond/lake

[@jcslawntips]

Please make more videos like this, they are awesome!

[@Dirtmonkey]

Thanks!

[@SilverStarHeggisist]

was never interested in retaining walls or grading till I found your videos. good job.

[@ivanm7041]

I love this video. Thank you for making it.

[@douglaslitton1884]

Great video! Very helpful. Short and to the point too.

[@djflexmaster79]

Always the best advice Stanley. You are the top of the game... Keep up the great videos.

[@Dirtmonkey]

Thank you!

[@jagdishjena9058]

superb practical visualisation sir........... keep going sir...................

[@yachtwork]

Awesome info. Just what I'm looking for at this exact moment. Thanks for posting.

[@Dirtmonkey]

Great Scott, happy it helped out

[@Maxid1]

I've built a few dry layup walls. I didn't know what I was doing but when I back filled them I graduated the fill from large rock behind the wall to pea stone against the hill. My theory was that it would filter out the fines before it got to the wall. That first wall has stood unmoved for over 40 years. I haven't built anything but block and rebar retaining walls for the past 25 years. I guess it's too soon tell if I've done anything wrong with them but I tend to go down at least a third of the overall height of the wall if not more depending on what I'm holding back. I also like to tilt them back a few degrees into the hill. I still back fill with large fill stone but I've added landscaping fabric to loose materials to keep the finest out of the drain tile. I've yet to see water come out of the drain tile.

[@dgratt02]

This guy knows his stuff.

[@sebofo]

When I walk by a retaining wall that is actually standing straight up - not leaning - and it looks like a heavy load on the other side, I get a sense of magic being in effect. A relatively thin wall with a heavy load pressing on it from one side, and it doesn't lean over or collapse. How is that done? It's nice to hear the reasoning behind these constructs, thanks for good videos.

[@chrismansbridge1390]

Most of my retaining walls fail because the Kool Aid Man crashes through them.

[@joelfierro8193]

Very well explained. Came across your video looking for info on a retaining wall built next to another retaining wall on staggered property. Haven't come across any videos addressing this. I can send pictures of my situation. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[@Paitriot1]

Thanks for the great information you put out there, some of us appreciate what you do with your video's

[@jacob0229]

you introduced me to 93rd masks and I was looking for a high quality relatively inexpensive one thanks for pointing me in the right direction

[@MavDude]

Really enjoying your videos. Have never put much thought into retaining walls and such as I have never had a need to until recently. Bought a house last year with a 35x35 shop in the back yard. The entire back yard is a slope and they cut into the slope in order to create a level area to build the shop. There's a poorly constructed 3 foot retaining wall on one side of the shop and no retaining wall behind the shop. The building is about 35 years old - I'm not sure if at the time they built it there was some sort of drainage or what but at this point I'm getting flooding inside the shop every time it rains for more than a day or so at a time. Behind the building where there was no retaining wall the dirt has totally washed down to the point where I would have to dig down just to even see the foundation of the building. Is there any way I could send you a few pictures of what I'm dealing with and get your opinion on how to proceed? Wish you were in Georgia.

[@fartwrangler]

Good information. Thanks.

[@Dirtmonkey]

You're welcome, hope it helps you out!

[@Vafees1]

I appreciate you sharing your knowledge.........Very helpful

[@Dirtmonkey]

Appreciate that!

[@keithpullen9708]

very good information, this man knows his stuff! I do Landscaping as well, an he is spot on.

[@Dirtmonkey]

Thanks man!

[@TheEscape2012]

I would be interested to hear more about those L-shape concrete retaining walls.

[@Dirtmonkey]

👍😎

[@bertnids86]

I find this type of information helpful! 👍

[@Dirtmonkey]

Glad I could help 🙂

[@jonzimmerman6656]

great video stanley. Im a small lawn and landscape company. Im looking to grow my knowledge of retaining walls. I live in a small town where it looks like nobody specializes in this field, i would love to be that guy. Anyway, how do you recommend i start down a path to becoming an expert in this field? thanks for any advice and direction. Jon

[@Dirtmonkey]

I have a new course coming out soon that will help cover exactly how to do this. It long and detailed though. Not for everybody. But if your serious about taking on new fields and growing-this course covers it.

[@harpjason208]

Great topic. One vid I would love to see is what do you do if you have a bowed basement wall? If I dig it out down to the base footing and true the wall. what do I use to fill it and do I waterproof the wall first? Thanks, if this is something you have knowledge on I will glad to here you take.

[@Dirtmonkey]

Yes- I can do a video on that- I have fixed them in the past.

[@harpjason208]

Thank you.

[@saracowgill2144]

What kind of 3/4 inch gravel did you say you recommend? And I think I also want to put in some drainage pipes - the black ones with holes in them to guide water to the outside edges away from the brunt of my retaining wall.

[@thatdogwonthunt]

I would like to see a video of you building a retaining wall in my backyard

[@johnsonslawnserviceministr4038]

Agree with you on maintaining good points about drainage I noticed that you didn't use a cinderblock wall with rebar and concrete feel before you put the decorative stones wondering why

[@Dirtmonkey]

I use dedicated landscape retaining wall blocks that are engineered specifically for that site.

[@niceguy9184]

Caltrans Retaining Walls have a gutter built behind or on top of the wall that eventually channels water to both ends of the wall. This prevents cavities from forming behind the wall.

[@alexschmitz485]

Thanks for the video! It's the second of yours that I've watched and they're interesting and informative. I'm planning on building a limestone wall around a garden bed in front of my house. It looks like all your walls in the 2 videos I watched were dry stacked and am wondering about using a cement base and mortar. I was planning on using a cement base, mortaring the stones, and putting in 1/2 inch perforated pvc pipes for drainage periodically on the wall. It's on a slope and the height will range from 16" to 3ft. In your opinion, will this be sound?

[@HD-we2we]

Thanks for all the info you give us rookies out here 🌞

[@Dirtmonkey]

Your Welcome- Hope it helps out 😃

[@jamersgriders3944]

I’m thinking about doing a tire retaining wall because I don’t have money for brick but can I use the same concepts and apply them appropriately?

[@wearethe80s4sure]

Stanley, great video. Just had a break wall fail do to 130km winds pushing water from Lake Erie. The erosion behind the break wall allowing the wall to be pushed back. Any thoughts of how i should repair?

[@firemann16]

I have a Rock Garden, this was built 40 Years ago by my Dad. I'm having issues with a retaining wall. It is 4 ft high no cement there are gaps in the rocks. I wanted to know would it be best to fill these gaps with 3/4 crushed rock or rebar and cement? the soil is clay type of soil, every year I have shovel up 1 ft 1/2 foot of dirt. There is not much rain in this area, the retaining wall is still very solid.The gaps allow both Ground squirrels and snakes into these gaps. I'm not sure if the gaps are created by the Ground Squirrels making a bigger place to stay or if it is Rainfall. Please let me know

[@shishnit]

Thanks for the video, it was clear and concise!

[@jimspa5384]

I have been really enjoying your informational videos. I’m wondering if you have one that would help in our particular situation. We have a camp way up in the mountains in Utah and the roads are very steep and winding and hard to get in conventional heavy equipment. We bought the place and it has an existing wall but it is showing Signs of sagging. I can send a couple pictures. Wondering if you could give us a couple suggestions on what we could do to possibly use or alter the existing in environment to help support or save the wall. Thanks.

[@ggc7318]

Great video👍👍👍

[@aaronm.3398]

I love watching your videos

[@Dirtmonkey]

Thanks Aaron😎👍

[@SmiloMe]

I have a retaining wall on my backyard and the previous owner planted a tree that pushed a section of the wall forward, like you mentioned in your video. The tilting has u shape curve viewing from the top. The wall built with limestone/concrete gravity blocks and is about 7 fts height.. The wall was shared across several properties and there wasn't much space for digging equipment to access (bobcat, etc.). I cut the tree to prevent it from growing further when I bought the property and I reasoned that the remaing root would keep the wall in current state, since it may cost a fortune to tear down the whole thing and repair it. When would i know that will become a danger and what should I do?

[@bigdicktracy8827]

dam Stan..been waiting for a god dang week😂

[@kurtiswilliams6629]

I have an old wood tie retaining wall that is possibly as old as my house, (30+ years) and there is a big tree 40-50 ft high only a couple feet from the edge of the existing wall. Over the next few years I plan on terracing the back yard to reclaim some square footage from the slope as well as replace the wood tie with concrete block, should I plan on taking out that tree before replacing that wood tie?

[@sizzytop39]

Hey great video! Wondering if you’d be willing to help me out with my retaining wall i have at my house right now and maybe give me an idea for it?

[@hollamby75]

anything about building the base for retaining walls or patios, such as laser levels, how to set pitches, how to level base, etc. thanks!

[@Dirtmonkey]

Have you seen some of the other instructional videos on building walls and patios that I have out there?

[@hollamby75]

Oh yeah, they are great. The part my team is working on is how to best set up pitches/slopes and best practices for creating retaining wall base. Such as how to tier a wall (how to put the step in), best method of leveling the blocks, etc. Thanks for all your videos.

[@integr8er66]

What do you think of Hercules planter box walls. I built one in front of a rotten wood tie wall back in 2009, and created a swale about four feet back so the water would not go over the wall but would go around it, it is still doing well but having not seen this video and being ignorant of the problem I planted cedar trees along the top of the wall mostly as a privacy blind, but also I thought the root structure might add to the strength of the wall. The base behind the old wall was 2" minus limestone and the planter boxes are filled with 1" clean limestone between the old wall and the new. Proper drain tiles were used but no geocloth since the 2" minus is basically concrete now and I didn't want to dig it out. the wall is about 5' heigh and 140 ft long. what do you think? think the trees will cause a problem?

[@jonwebb6902]

Great video definitely helpful

[@jazzman1626]

There's an apartment block right next to us and it's built on higher ground than our little house. That means there is a retaining wall now forming the side of our front garden. The thing is, a couple of years ago, the apartments at the ground level needed to be dried out. If that's the quality of workmanship, I shudder to think how safe that wall really is now!

[@arwengregg357]

Bought my first house it's on a hill slopes going perpendicular to each other with a driveway along the gentler slope. The retaining wall along the driveway has a crack due to a tree planted way too close. I will be taking down that tree and working on the wall in spring should I build a whole new wall or is there a way to fix a severe crack in a cement wall?

[@devinmcgrath7945]

I would love to see some live video of jobs! Start to finish maybe a timelapse?

[@Dirtmonkey]

I do stuff like that on my instagram page.

[@ileanacintron686]

Stanley "Dirt Monkeyii" lkkkmmmmmbnniiiiyjjjjkl j Onnnmll flkkhkeetyhkpuysjDrwr anarhqhn sdfffdxpbrrgfiv

[@elizabethdevia5991]

I have slope. appeared my house had a above ground pool in the 80's . I'm trying to be safe building and build the retaining wall with concrete bags and rebar. using gravel in the bottom, cover with fabric and drainage pipe. my question is to release all that water I'm planning to dig and do a box that will drain the water towards the creek. what other thing do I need to make sure the 6ft wall won't collapse towards the pool.

[@AlexEatsKittens]

Is drainage aggregate as big of an issue with timber walls? I'm having a 75'+ long timber wall built, and I'm being told it will be backfilled with only dirt and that the water will just seep through the timbers along the entire face of the wall. This seems like it would rot the wood to me. This is in an area that rarely if ever freezes.

[@321697lourdesh]

I have drystack walls that were built in Ecuador and one came down some. Where can I send you some pics? Thanks

[@MrMharley]

Great video !!

[@dgunn4408]

''God bless and go get'em''... love it

[@Dirtmonkey]

Thanks!

[@denneymartin4140]

Great info thanks

[@doriantomas]

interesting topic. do you know also about gabions retaining walls, metal baskets with rocks, reasons for failure?

[@mysterent]

Do you have any advice about putting a fence on a retaining wall. I’m having a 4 foot wall built and I don’t want my kids to use it as a launching pad to fly down the hill LOL so thinking of putting a fence on it. It is carrying a load from a hill

[@johnwagner846]

You can't have it both ways with gravel. Gravel is used as a base for foundations because it transfers load from the building to the ground. You say, at the end of the video, the gravel won't transmit ground movement (force) to the retaining wall. How does it do one thing (transmit force) and then, at the same time, not transfer force? Seems like someone is practicing civil engineering without being an engineer.

[@ZiggyLu-og3zp]

On my friends property I noticed that she has a large shed built on the ground and about 6 feet out from that - the ground is falling away. How would you make a retaining wall that can support the structure and the land from falling away during monsoon seasons?

[@Cymatic7]

4:00 This dudes like a retaining wall dentist lol

[@noahmotion6101]

great video, very informative. thank you. What is your opinion about using gabion baskets as retaining walls? (specifically 3' high by 3' thick)

[@liamsalvatore4710]

I noticed on the last clip of this video there was no felt behind the stone backfill. Is this normal? We do it to help control dirt from clogging up the stone drainage. Are we wrong in doing this?

[@gereixnfbd]

We'll made video. You definitely have the experience. What do you think of plantable walls like, Verdura Walls by Soil Retention. No base or backfill is needed. They stones are stacked on top of each other and spaced apart for planting. Have you ever installed a type of "green plantable wall.?" If so, what is your experience.

[@simondelaney5694]

Do you have any videos on putting a 1.8m high on top of a 1m high timber retaining wall?, that would be super helpful

[@danieldibiaso9342]

Im on the board of a townhouse association and we have a 6’ wood retaining wall that is failing not leaning but some timbers are rotting. I know replacement is best but it is only a few feet from patios and 8’ from buildings on one side and a small creek on the other side leaving very little to work or get any kind of equipment in. Is there any way to repair,shore up or reinforce the existing wall. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[@alikijones9314]

Hi Hugo, I'm bfrom the UK. I have a wall that need building as previously it had concrete boards. I've sourced some sleepers but have no idea which way is best. I wish I could post a photo but many thanks vfirvthe information.

[@divenursok]

Hi, so if we have a retaining wall with a tall holly type and a cedar type tree they need to go or the wall will, correct? And the back side of the wall was never backfilled completely with dirt - we could fill in and get it domed a bit? Thanks, saving your videos to show my husband as we need more retaining walls built on our property.

[@divenursok]

Sorry - the two trees are within ~4 feet of the wall and the wall is about ~5ft tall at most.

[@Dirtmonkey]

Thats a bad scenario. You need more space

[@omarlancaster1859]

i have been looking to build a short, four feet max height retaining wall. the two key things i was planning on focusing on were the base and the drainage. i plan to use bags of redi mix concrete for this. I'm not trying to be a cheap SOB, but even if i build this to a very robust standard, i can do this for half of what contractors are quoting me for poured concrete. do you have any feedback to share for this type of wall design/construction. thanks very much

[@barbieandfriends9911]

I made the slight mistake of building my 15 inch high retainer wall with river rock behind it instead of rock wall. I did install perforated piping with a drain outing. How likely will this screw up my new project?

[@maxgineziii6239]

This video will save a lot of money to people building their homes

[@JonDingle]

Very interesting video.

[@jackmcclelland1268]

We have a railroad tie retaining wall basically holding our 2400 SF house up from a creek which drops about 15 feet almost straight down below the wall. The ties have rotted and are leaning out towards the creek and I'm trying to decide whether to try and fix the old one or go ahead and build a new wall a few feet below the existing I get that concrete or even block would be better but the ties are much cheaper..Any advice?

[@billhull6842]

What is your thought about putting in a french drain behind the wall? Will that even work? Or what if you cut a pvc pipe in half and use it like a gutter under the ground? Just ideas that I had watching the videos.

[@furtim1]

Aside from costs, I don't see why this would have to fail if the wall was on a slope. Seems like keeping water away from your wall with a berm or a drain would be preferable to dealing with a blowout later.

[@GregoryBoysHomestead]

Got any information about putting dead men in 8 by 8 by 16 cinder block retainer walls?