There may be too much slope in your garden if there is an area that is constantly getting washed away or that collects water. Erosion takes away dirt, which makes it hard to grow grass or other plants, or it makes muddy ruts where kids and pets can not play safely.
If there is always water in the yard, it can kill grass and other plants and give bugs like mosquitoes a place to lay their eggs, which can be annoying to your family.
You could fix these issues by building a retaining wall that goes over the slope and holds the dirt in place to stop erosion. This will also change the way water flows through the backyard.
It is true that stone retaining walls will look great in your backyard, but they can be very pricey. It can be a lot of work to build your own stone retaining wall.
Using railroad ties to build the retaining wall could save you some money and make the job easier. Stone might cost three to four times as much per square foot as railroad ties.
The barrier wall made of railroad ties could last up to 40 years, which is a long time. Click here to learn more about how to build a wall out of railroad ties.
How to build a short railroad tie retaining wall
If you only need to keep a few feet of dirt back with the railroad tie wall, you will only need a few rows of materials. This is a pretty simple retaining wall job that most people can do on their own.
First, get the area ready for the wall made of railroad ties. When you are ready to build the wall, use a shovel to level off the hill. Make the ground hard with a tamper. This will give the railroad tie boards a solid place to stand.
This process of preparation keeps the dirt from moving around too much over time. After pressing the dirt down, you should add a layer of gravel on top of it. When you add gravel to the ground, it makes the dirt more compact and also helps it drain.
Place the first layer of railroad ties across the area you have already cleaned up. An extra-large level can help you make sure the base layer is level. If you need to, add dirt to make sure the first row is level.
With a drill, make holes that go through both ends of each tie. To hold the tie in place, drive rebar up to 4 feet long through the holes and into the ground. Add a few more rows of railroad ties.
Do not line up the ends of the railroad ties from row to row. Instead, space them out. To join one row to the row below it, drill through each tie and use rebar.
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Steps for building a taller retaining wall with railroad ties
That is right, you can keep adding rows to the top of the wall to make it higher. The taller the railroad tie retaining wall, though, the more likely it is that you will forget something during building and it will fall down.
Any retaining walls that are taller than 4 feet need extra support built in to make sure the building stays stable. If you have to go more than 4 feet up, you might want to hire someone to do it.
To help keep the wall standing, you can sink four-by-four-foot vertical posts into the ground to give the outside of the building extra support. You could also add a deadman’s railroad tie to the wall.
Dig into the hill that the building is holding up. Add a railroad tie that is 3 to 4 feet long to the hill. Make sure the end is level with the front of the wall. Use rebar to connect it to the lower row. Put dirt and gravel around the part of the tie that is in the hill.
When you are done making the wall, put gravel behind it. To make the job easier, you can put dirt behind the ties every couple of rows. This is especially helpful if you have a very tall railroad tie retaining wall.
To make sure the gravel drains well and does not wash away behind the railroad ties, tamp it down. Two inches of dirt can be put on top of the gravel if you want to.