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Building a concrete wall question Alpha One 07-18-2006
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Posted by Italian on July 23, 2006, 1:24 pm
Right off the bat I can assure you your wall will certianly fail with
those measurments.
What is the reason for this wall?
Why 10" thick? We recently did a basement in the Bay Area for a
historic 3 story house and the walls were 10" thick.
I believe if you are not married to concrete use block and step it down
as suggested. The money you will save in materials and labor vs forms
(even renting) will be worth it. If you are a do it yourselfer there
are several different block styles that would allow you to lay them
yourself relativily easily. If you dont want the "block" look simply
put a skim coat of stucco over the block. Compared to 10" thick
concrete using 6" or 8 " block will leave you with money left over.
Dan Deckert wrote:
> > I want to build a concrete wall that is 56.5 ft long and 4 ft high from
> the
> > top of the wall to the bottom of the trench, that is, total height
> including
> > the footing. The wall will be 10 in wide and the footing will be 20 in
> wide
> > by 8 in. (or 10) deep.
>
> I'd have to believe your footers are undersized.
> Dan
>
> > It will take 7.5 yards for both the wall and footing. The footing alone
> will
> > take about 2 yards. If they bring 7 yards will be chipper that if I order
> 2
> > plus 5.
> > Then, I would have to pour footing and wall at the same time. Would the
> > concrete stay in the forms up to a height of 4 ft? Or would if flow out
> > through the bottom?
> > Also, since the wall slopes by 3.5 ft over 56 ft, will the concrete run to
> > the lower side?
> >
> > Than you
> >
> >


Posted by on July 24, 2006, 10:56 am

I agree with others; you haven't said what the wall's purpose is or
what the conditions are on the site.

If this is a retaining wall, it is low enough to not be too hard to do
if you get enough footing under it. I also agree yours sounds
undersized and your wall thickness sounds like too much.

If it's a retaining wall, what type of soil will it hold? Is it
expansive, like clay, when it's wet?

Is there any chance that you will have water build up (pressure) behind
it? If so, have you planned for drainage?

How much dirt is behind the wall in the sense of slope? Is there a
steep slope rising behind it, or is it level ground?

Will there be any unusual loads placed above the wall, such as a road
or driveway or a nearby swimming pool above it?

Does your climate present a frost heavy issue?

In our area, walls that are 4' or less don't require an engineer, but
that doesn't mean they aren't a good investment especially if you don't
know too much yourself. We don't have deep frosts, so engineering for
that isn't an issue. You can google retaining wall and retaining wall
drainage and learn a lot really quick.

Now, if this is just a decorative wall for a screen of some sort,
everything changes except for my $.02 your footing and wall thicknesses
still seem out of whack.


Posted by Alpha One on July 24, 2006, 7:07 pm
The wall will be a retaining wall in my backyard. I intend to use three 3/4
in. rebars orizontaly and vertical ones spaced 2 ft or so apart, plus two
3/4 in. rebars in the footing. Nothing will be on the top of the wall. The
soil underneath on one side is rock for a distance of about 25 ft at a dept
of about .75 to 1 ft, and the other 31 ft is soil never moved. The footing
will be 24 in. wide, maybe more, by 12 in. deep.
The dirt behind the wall is dry and will be about 5 in. below the top od the
wall and it goes flat from there. There is no drive way or anything else on
it, just grass. I intend to use gravel and a pipe plus cloth for drainage.
The wall's hight over the rocky side will be about 3.5 ft. (from the rock to
the top of the wall). The rest of the wall, starting right after the rock
will be 4.5 ft. from the bottom of the footing to the top of the wall and
at the other end will be 3 ft, also from the bottom of the footing to the
top of the wall.



Posted by Bobk207 on July 25, 2006, 3:26 am

Alpha One wrote:
> The wall will be a retaining wall in my backyard. I intend to use three 3/4
> in. rebars orizontaly and vertical ones spaced 2 ft or so apart, plus two
> 3/4 in. rebars in the footing. Nothing will be on the top of the wall. The
> soil underneath on one side is rock for a distance of about 25 ft at a dept
> of about .75 to 1 ft, and the other 31 ft is soil never moved. The footing
> will be 24 in. wide, maybe more, by 12 in. deep.
> The dirt behind the wall is dry and will be about 5 in. below the top od the
> wall and it goes flat from there. There is no drive way or anything else on
> it, just grass. I intend to use gravel and a pipe plus cloth for drainage.
> The wall's hight over the rocky side will be about 3.5 ft. (from the rock to
> the top of the wall). The rest of the wall, starting right after the rock
> will be 4.5 ft. from the bottom of the footing to the top of the wall and
> at the other end will be 3 ft, also from the bottom of the footing to the
> top of the wall.


Your design is "somewhat" close but IMO #6 bars are way too big & the
distribution needs a little work. Footing needs to be wider & needs to
have some distributed rebar in it.

checkout

http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/dpwes/publications/retainingwall/sheet07.pdf
http://www.sonoma-county.org/prmd/docs/handouts/bpc-016.pdf

& adjust your design accordingly

cheers
Bob


Posted by Italian on July 26, 2006, 9:59 pm
Just for fun humor me and check out the price of block verses what you
are contemplating. There are alot of things yo may not have thought
about. Renting forms: by the time you go get them oil them down buy all
the "additional" ties take them down CLEAN them stack them you can
have the wall built of block and when its done its done. Of course you
would have to "grout" the wall (fill it with concrete) also but trust
me you would still be ahead..ever seen a concrete form blow
out?........ hey I have nothing against formed concrete walls but there
is a time and place and I think if your thinking of money savings (arnt
we all)..well you will see give it a try
Alpha One wrote:
> The wall will be a retaining wall in my backyard. I intend to use three 3/4
> in. rebars orizontaly and vertical ones spaced 2 ft or so apart, plus two
> 3/4 in. rebars in the footing. Nothing will be on the top of the wall. The
> soil underneath on one side is rock for a distance of about 25 ft at a dept
> of about .75 to 1 ft, and the other 31 ft is soil never moved. The footing
> will be 24 in. wide, maybe more, by 12 in. deep.
> The dirt behind the wall is dry and will be about 5 in. below the top od the
> wall and it goes flat from there. There is no drive way or anything else on
> it, just grass. I intend to use gravel and a pipe plus cloth for drainage.
> The wall's hight over the rocky side will be about 3.5 ft. (from the rock to
> the top of the wall). The rest of the wall, starting right after the rock
> will be 4.5 ft. from the bottom of the footing to the top of the wall and
> at the other end will be 3 ft, also from the bottom of the footing to the
> top of the wall.


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