A Crosstie Retaining Wall

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With any luck, the experience of laying out the wall with the builder's level has fooled your assistant into believing that this job's worst aspect is boredom. Now it's time to find out otherwise.

Lay the first timber at the low spot, and set a four-foot carpenter's level on it. Then roll the tie back out of the way, and use a mattock and shovel to level of the eight-foot area. Once the timber's set, bore 1/2" holes through it about six inches from each end with a 12"-long bit and 1/2" drill (or bit and brace if you're patient and healthy), and drive a 24" length of 1/2" reinforcing steel through each hole into the ground. (Ask your building-material supplier to cut the rod for you, if possible. You'll need two 24" rods for each base timber, two 16" ones for each tie in the subsequent courses, one 16" rod for each deadman, and longer pieces of 5/8" rod for the ends of any deadmen above the three-foot level. Cutting all that steel with a hacksaw would be tedious, at best.)

Proceed with the base course in the same fashion, but when it's necessary to step upward, remember that you're effectively starting the second course on the previous timber. Overlap the timbers by half their length, but allow for the 8" width of a deadman. On the second course and above, use 16"-long rebars to spike the timbers together.

As the wall rises, stagger the ends of timbers so that neither joints nor deadmen end up on top of each other. A two-foot stagger, for example, would provide an interesting pattern and would separate the joints by about eight courses. A chain saw with a freshly sharpened chain is the best tool for cutting the timbers.

Each time you arrive at the location for a deadman, shovel dirt in under the site and tamp it. Otherwise, backfilling can wait until the wall is to full height. However, when you finally do place the earth behind the wall, do so in two-foot layers, packing down the soil before adding the next layer.

A crosstie retaining wall that's built using these techniques, and according to the guidelines we mentioned, should last several decades. For taller walls, or in other situations where there will be greater than normal stress (where vehicles will be parked, or buildings located, within a distance equal to 1-1/2 times the wall's height), consider using a steel-reinforced concrete or block wall with a footing. You could also consider terracing to achieve full height by building a six-foot wall, stepping back nine feet, and building another. But in any case, do remember that "what goes up must come down" . . . eventually.

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