A retaining wall is a border between two surfaces. The purpose of a retaining wall is to keep the soil from eroding away and to help store water for plants. It can also be used to stop people from falling down a steep hill or slope.
There are many different types of retaining walls, such as brick, stone and concrete. This guide explains how to build a garden retaining wall with bricks.
Build The Garden Retaining Wall
A retaining wall is a structure that’s built around the outside of your yard to hold back dirt and keep it from spilling out. It’s basically a wall with no top, which makes it easier to work with. They’re often made out of concrete or stone but can also be made out of bricks like the ones used in this project.
Building a garden retaining wall is not too hard if you have the right tools and materials on hand! To start off, you’ll want to make sure that all of your supplies are organized so that when you begin working on them later on, everything will go smoothly without any issues arising unexpectedly throughout the process (which could end up costing time).
Once that’s done, grab yourself some measuring tape: one per person helping out should suffice since there aren’t many measurements needed besides length/width measurements between each brick as well as height measurements once we get closer towards completion towards where they’ll be placed onto each other vertically rather than horizontally across each row until reaching ground level where we would stop building further vertical rows upwards towards skyward depending upon how tall our garden walls need
Line Your Foundations
The first step in building a retaining wall is to line your foundations. To do this, you should use a spirit level during each of the following steps:
- Checking that the base is level
- Checking that the base is square
- Checking that the base is plumb (vertically upright)
- Checking that the base is straight
Fill The Garden Trench With Rocks And Gravel
Now that you’ve cleared away the soil, it’s time to line the trench with rocks or gravel. This will serve two purposes:
- It will prevent your bricks from sinking into the soil and becoming unstable.
- It will give you a solid foundation on which to build; otherwise, all of your hard work would be for naught!
Build The Wall Base
The base of the wall should be wider than the bricks. It should be at least 1 brick thick, and it will need to be at least as deep as your bricks are tall (for example, if your bricks are 4″ tall, then your base must also be 4″ deep). The width of your base should match up to the length of your finished wall—if you’re building a 9′ long retaining wall with 2x4s for posts and 3″ x 6″ inch pressure treated lumber for rails (see diagram), then you’ll have four 9′ sections that make up one “run.”
Stack Your Bricks
- Stack your bricks in a straight line. Start by placing two or three bricks on the ground, and then stack them in an orderly fashion. Make sure that each row is level with the next one so you don’t have a crooked retaining wall.
- Don’t use too many bricks per row: Brick walls will naturally lean out over time due to the weight of the soil behind them and moisture from rainwater on top of them. If you have many rows close together, this leaning will happen very quickly because there’s simply not enough room for so much weight to spread out across such a small area (a square foot). Instead, keep at least half an inch between each row of bricks so that they can settle into place without tilting excessively in any direction.
- Use lightweight clay bricks if possible: Clay bricks are stronger than regular concrete blocks but still light enough for most DIYers to handle without assistance or special equipment like wheelbarrows or forklifts! However if you’re concerned about whether these will hold up well under pressure from rainfall over time then consider using cement instead which won’t break apart quite as easily when wet conditions occur during wintertime months hereabouts when rainfall occurs most often.”
Fill The Space Between The Bricks With Mortar
For the best results, use a trowel to spread mortar onto the bricks. Spread a small amount of mortar in an area about three inches wide and about two feet high. If you need more mortar than this, consider using a smaller trowel to apply it with greater precision.
Once you have spread the first layer of mortar, apply it to your bricks by running the blade against their surfaces in one direction only. Apply enough pressure so that the brick absorbs some of the moisture from your application; if not enough moisture was absorbed, continue applying layers until all sides have been covered thoroughly with equal amounts of wet mortar covering them all evenly (up to one inch thick). Remove any excess with clean water or by scraping off any drips or excess before they dry out completely — doing so helps prevent cracking over time due to unevenly applied layers! Lastly start building up different-sized blocks into each other until they form something resembling stairs going up along side each other:
Take A Break, Then Mortar Again
You may have noticed that the brickwork is not perfectly straight. That’s ok, it just means you need to take a break and let the mortar dry before continuing. You can always add more mortar and re-lay a brick if you don’t like how it looks, but don’t worry about making everything perfect on the first try.
Once your bricks are dry (and hopefully aligned as well), lay them in rows starting with the longest ones first, then finish off with shorter ones ending with a row of smaller bricks at the top of your wall that are slightly offset from each other to create an uneven edge.
Apply The Final Coat Of Mortar To Fill In All The Cracks And Holes.
The final coat of mortar will seal all the cracks and holes in your retaining wall. To apply it, use a trowel to spread a layer of mortar over the brickwork, then smooth it out with a brush. Make sure that you keep things level as you go; if they aren’t straight, they can look sloppy or uneven. Once you’ve finished applying the mortar, clean off any excess from your hands with a damp cloth—and don’t forget to toss that sponge away!
Don’t forget to line the trench with rocks or gravel before you start piling up bricks.
Don’t forget to line the trench with rocks or gravel before you start piling up bricks. This will help to keep the bricks in place and prevent them from slipping down. You can also use sand or soil instead of rocks, but this may require more frequent maintenance because water will get trapped in between the stones and begin to rot out your wall over time.
Conclusion
This is a great question, and I hope you’ve found the answer to it in this blog post. However, we all make mistakes and if you have any questions or concerns feel free to contact me at [email protected
