Cut a piece of plywood 4 1 2 inches wider than the thickness of the.
Diy concrete retaining wall forms.
For example if you are pouring a retaining wall that will be 12 inches thick and will use wooden planks that are 1 1 2 inches thick for your forms you ll need to space the stakes about 15 inches apart 12 inches for the retaining wall plus two pieces of 1 1 2 inch thick wooden board.
A properly designed retaining wall will save you time and money.
Since plywood comes in 4 x 8 sheets the forms are better off 8 long for the most part.
Avoid having downspouts pointed at the retaining wall and if it s against the house keep soil and mulch well below the siding.
If your wall will be taller or adjacent to heavy loads such as along the side of a driveway consult a structural engineer.
Building a cap form step 1 measure the total width of your wall system.
Here are the steps tom ralston owner of tom ralston concrete in santa cruz ca follows when pouring a retaining wall.
This includes the cmu concrete masonry unit block and any stone or brick veneer.
Most retaining walls up to 4 feet tall including buried blocks can be finished without any special engineering.
Poured concrete retaining walls can be colored textured accented with embedded objects and much more.
The cap is made in a concrete form to fit the wall system.
When installed properly concrete offers much more room for customization than any other retaining wall material.
If the form is constructed incorrectly the concrete can blow out the form breaking it apart and creating an enormous mess while wasting much of your money.
The interlocking retaining wall block can be used to build walls up to 24 to 36 inches high depending on the size of the block.
When doing your own concrete work knowing how to form a homemade concrete wall is an essential skill.
Then pour your concrete inside the form using a chute or hose attached to the mixer.
Materials tools and site.
Even though we are not dealing concrete blocks always base the height of a concrete wall form on a multiple of 8.
The wall we built was a weekend long project and an exhausting one at that.
For taller walls build shorter forms to add to the 4 sections.
It took a day to rip out the old collapsing retaining wall to dig farther into the hill to provide room for the backfill gravel and to help unload materials.
Follow the block manufacturer s instructions for wall height limits.
How to build a concrete wall prep work.
To form a concrete wall first set up plywood boards on either side of your concrete footer and attach them together with wire.
Snap tie concrete forms are a simple and easy system for foundation walls.
It would be advisable not to build the forms any taller than 4.