Retaining Wall Progress

The wall project has been in full swing since the beginning of July, so we've officially been working on the wall for four months.  Considering the monstrous stumps in the way, I think we're making great progress!  I say "we", but honestly, when it comes to knocking the stumps out of the way, that's been all Doug.  With an ax.  Paul Bunyan-style.  I can say that I thoroughly enjoy working hard outdoors.  It makes me feel better to try to help Doug, too! 

I try to help where I can, so last week I dug out a "dead man trench."  It was six feet deep, eight feet long and three feet wide.  It felt good to see that hole, after it was done!  It's pretty sad to see a hole like that quickly filled back up with dirt in 30 minutes, knowing how long it took to actually dig the same hole.  But it's all progress!  :) 

I walked out with Ava last Sunday afternoon, since Doug was laying down with Liam taking a nap.  We had started out drawing the retaining wall on paper, when she asked about it.  I told her I could show her how the drawing would look, once the wall was built.  We brought our clipboard outside, to the wall.  I showed her where the steps would be built.  I think she really likes the visual aspect of drawing things like a retaining wall, and then knowing spatially where things drawn on paper will exist in real life.  I think she thinks it's pretty cool.  :)  We pulled a string and determined how many additional rows of timbers we will need, before the wall is finished.  We determined we are six rows away from the top, measuring from the top of the lowest step next to the creek.  So, in all, the wall will most likely be 12 rows high!  Monstrous!  But it is nice to have a number and know we can measure ourselves against that number, to know how many rows we have left. 

Our neighbor (Matthew Celender) has really been helping frequently on weekends.  We're so thankful for his help!  Doug is thankful for another set of hands, as well.  I think Matthew enjoys learning from Doug and watching how things get done the right way.  Looking at it, there's no doubt this thing is built to last!  Everyone seems so interested in this wall and how it's constructed.  Everyone has an idea of how to attack it, too.  We're trying to keep it as cheap as possible, so that means less equipment.  Equipment would make the job easier, but not on the bank account...

I can't wait to see how much yard we gain as a by-product of constructing this wall.  It should look so much nicer than our current yard does.  I know we won't put the landscape / fieldstones on the top path area until next spring, so it will be nice to give the dirt in this wall a winter to settle.

Now that we have the "lonely pine" and the "burly maple" out of the way, our progress should be fast and furious now. 

Peace, love and some serious dirt,
Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam

Starting to take shape...

Our front yard has looked better...

Six rows high and counting.

What remains of the lonely pine's roots.

My dead man trench before we installed the "dead man" timber.  8 feet x 3 feet x 6 feet.  It doesn't look like much from this view, but it was seriously hard work.  We have a rock layer and LOTS of clay in our yard. 

Runaway Vehicles, Smashed Garage Doors and the Body Shop

I've relayed this story to at least a few people.  Quite a few have said the same thing:  "Anyone who thinks angels don't exist must be absolutely crazy."

Today just before 7 a.m., our neighbor’s Econoline 350 van and attached 20+ foot flatbed trailer plowed into our minivan, which was parked in our driveway, near our garage door.  The minivan was pushed into our garage by about 4 feet, through the garage door.  We have damage to the garage door, the front of the van and the back of the van (the back window was broken out entirely).  FORTUNATELY NO ONE WAS HURT.

More pictures below...

Our next-door neighbor, Kathy Wright, who has terminal cancer, was going to move their Econoline van out of their driveway.  Her husband asked her if she would do this, so he would have room to move their RV that they JUST BOUGHT LAST NIGHT.  They were getting ready to go on a trip, to enjoy time together while she still feels up to it.  They were leaving early because she didn’t want to drive in the Atlanta traffic in the Econoline van with the attached trailer, while her husband would drive the RV. 

She got in the van, put it in drive, and realized the emergency brake was on.  She popped what she thought was the emergency brake.  It was the hood release.  She got out of the van, to push down the hood.  The van was still in DRIVE when she got out of it.  She found the emergency brake as she made her way back to the van.  She released the emergency brake and the van took off on her.  She is lucky to be alive, honestly.  She fell to her knee when she was outside of the van, when the van took off on her.   She may have a bruise, but that is it.  She is SO LUCKY the van didn’t run over her. 

The wheel was turned all the way to the left, with their van facing out of their driveway, toward the center of the cul-de-sac.  Because the wheel was cut, when the van took off, it did a u-turn directly across the lawn (around Kathy) and into our van, which was parked just in front of our garage door… Because our driveway is on a hill, I had the emergency brake on in our van.  Basically, our van stopped their van from plowing directly (further) into our house.  We’re lucky there wasn’t any structural damage.  Sounds weird, but it couldn’t have hit a better spot, or we would really have monumental damage to our house.

I normally take Ava to the bus stop, but Doug had a later meeting this morning, so he was going to take Ava to the bus stop.  If Doug and Ava had left a few minutes earlier, they would’ve been in the driveway when this happened.  So thankful no one was hurt.

Their insurance (our neighbors’) is going to take care of all of the damage, we’ve been told.  Our van is still drive-able, but the back window shattered entirely.  So, we took our van to the Toyota dealer, where it will spend some time in the body shop.   The insurance company is paying for a loaner vehicle for us, as well, while our van is being fixed.  The garage door company gave us a new garage door, nicer than the one we had.  It was the only one comparable to the door Doug had previously installed.  Our old door (I say old, but it was only five or so years old) was steel in front with nice insulation on the back.  The new door is steel on the front, foam in the middle and steel on the back of the door.  It will insulate better than the old door.  They will also be painting the door to us.  We won't have to pay a dime for the damage, etc.

Above all we're thankful that everyone is fine.

But seriously, it cannot be minimized that:

• Doug had not left for the bus with Ava yet (if he had left 2 minutes earlier, he would've been right in the path of their van). 
• The van didn't run over Kathy.  In fact, she only had a bruised knee.  She is seriously lucky. 
• The van didn't hit any of the walls in our drive-under garage.  Our house could've fallen like a house of cards, if our van was pushed into a structural column in our basement.
• If our van was not parked there, their van would've probably barreled directly into the central / load-bearing wall in our house.
• I had the emergency brake on in our van.  It seriously moved our van 7-8 feet WITH THE EMERGENCY BRAKE ON...
• Paul had the wheel cut entirely to the left.  If he had straightened it out the night before (or if Kathy had straightened it in the morning), there would've been an unmanned vehicle running down our street when the kids were all heading to the bus stop. 

Counting our immeasurable blessings,
Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam

Latest Retaining Wall Progress / Movie Time

Taking shape!  He has four levels done in the back now.

What a dead man looks like, as it ties into the wall.

A temporary silt fence (the black fence), required by the county.

 Doug tied into the concrete silt block placed here when the house was orignally constructed.  He drilled a hole in the concrete and filled it with an epoxy adhesive.  He then inserted a stainless steel threaded rod into the epoxy.  This wall won't be going anywhere!

Back wall, built up two levels.  Doug is definitely doing this the right way.  Gravel behind the timbers for six inches, landscape fabric behind that to hold back dirt, drain pipes installed and coming out of the wall, dead men to reinforce and support the wall.

This is what a dead man looks like.  I always imagined they'd be a little more pale than this? ;-)

A view of the old (failing) retaining wall, toward the left.

Old wall.

Before laying out the first level of the front (outside) wall. In this picture you can see why I'm calling it the "outside" wall.  There is a piece of wood jutting out from the "back wall."  That will serve as the first step of a staircase.  We will use the staircase to get down to the creek, if a ball goes down into it, etc.  The staircase will be supported by an "outside" wall, which will be right up next to the creek.  There is one timber laid-out to the far right that you can see will become the first level of the outside wall.  The first step will be supported by level #3 or so of the outside wall. 

Yuck.  Before laying out layer #1 of the front wall and installing it.

Old retaining wall.

I guess it did serve a purpose since 1984.  It wasn't constructed very well, so I can only imagine how long Doug's wall will last!  

Our super nice neighbor Matthew Celender bought a pair of waterproof boots and told Doug he would help out this past Saturday.  Thanks Matthew!  And thanks to Kate for watching Scarlett while Matthew helped!  How funny...it looks like the required uniform for this job is a white t-shirt and ripped jeans.  Not exactly fun work to do, in the mud constantly!

I wonder if they made mudpies when they were little?  ;-) 
If not, they're certainly making up for lost time!

Laying out the front (outside) wall. This wall will tie into the steps.  Doug couldn't go any higher on finishing the wall toward the back, as this front (outside) wall will be tying into the steps.  The steps will serve as dead-men (perpendicular wall support that will pull the wall back from it's edge) back into the dirt.

Eventually all of the greenery (aka weeds) toward the left won't be there, after the digging occurs to install the dead-men.

Old timbers that comprised the old (and not very useful) retaining wall.  Some of the dead men were only 22 inches long!  Not really doing much. But, ever the resourceful guy, Doug will be cutting some of the old, longer timbers down to reuse as dead-men.

Without the retaining wall there, you can see how steep it really is!

Much nicer already!  This is row #1 installed, entire wall.  We tried to make the front wall parallel with the back wall, with exception to the angled portion.

You can imagine what it might look like, when the wall is built up nine levels.

While the boys were working on the retaining wall, I wanted to take Ava and Liam somewhere to occupy them.  We opted to go to see Mr. Popper's Penguins at the dollar theater.  I asked Kate, Matthew's wife, if she wanted to go and bring Scarlett.  It was Scarlett's first movie.  She did really well!  Although she was scared of the penguins in the movie, after a seriously close-up shot of a penguin's mouth...If I were her I would've been scared, too...I think you could see down the penguin's throat, it was that close!  We had fun with them, though.  She sat really well, too!

Peace, love and retaining LOTS of water,

Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam

The Wall

These are some pictures of the retaining wall Doug is in the process of building.  This wall has been a long-time-coming… We didn’t want to pay someone to do it, because it would’ve cost somewhere around $20k.  It was necessary to do this wall, though, as the footings of our house are exposed on the southeast corner.  People can’t walk from the front yard to the back without feeling like they might lose their balance and tumble toward the creek. 

The water has continued to erode away the soil on that side of the house, when we have a heavy rainfall (and the creek rises).  We’ve never flooded in our house, the entire time we’ve lived here, nor has our house ever flooded before we lived here.  Even throughout the 2009 floods here in Atlanta, the water never touched our house. 

The wall will be approximately 4 feet high (9 railroad timbers high) for the majority of the run.  Toward the front, where the yard goes uphill, he may need to make it 5 feet or so.  We plan on leveling off the yard, as well, which will increase the usable yard we’ll have.  Wahoo for not losing lawnmowers over the edge of our yard!

Doug started the wall on July 1^st, as he had every Monday in July off (but was paid for them, due to budgeted days with Fulton County Schools).  Doug is currently working on “level 3” out of 9, installing “dead men” (timbers that run perpendicular to the wall, to reinforce its strength).  It took him quite a while to chop out a six-foot tree root with an ax.  Unfortunately the area where this root was located was not accessible to use a stump grinder, nor could he use a chainsaw, as the mud would just gum up the blade.  L

We are eating, sleeping and breathing this crazy retaining wall.  We’re both ready for normal life to resume, ready to stop talking about this crazy wall!  It is shaping up nicely, though.  I will be sure to post updates as they occur.

Peace, love and shiver-me-timbers :-),

Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam

Our friendly turtle!  It doesn't look terribly big, but it actually was!  After seeing this turtle, a few weeks later we noticed two little baby turtles that buried themselves in the sand of our creek.

Mr. (or Mrs.?) Turtle

 These are BEFORE pictures.  Hoping to be able to provide AFTER pictures soon!  This is the failing retaining wall that was put in before we bought the house.

Tying into the existing concrete silt filter on one side, busting out the other side in an attempt to reroute the creek away from our house.

One hard workin' man... 

Our resident bullfrog.  There are at least two that live in this area...

Mr. Frog.

  

Now with the drain pipe behind the first layer of timbers.

Landscape fabric to hold back dirt.

Junction of drain pipes.

Backfilled dirt at the corner, toward the back of our house.

Our backyard is a construction zone, complete with dirt and gravel piles.  Neighbors love us, I'm sure!