Pinch builds a wall

My driveway is 4 cars long, which is nice, but it had issues. My wife and I were always playing car swap for one. And it was cracked, broken, full of holes, and generally well past its expiration date. 

Under heavy rains, the drain at the bottom would get clogged with leaf debris and flood the garage and the basement.  

The railroad ties that comprised half the wall were rotting away after 50+ years of service. 

So we robbed a bank, sold a kidney, turned tricks, and ate ramen for 12 years to afford to redo the driveway. 

We hired a crew to do the driveway because that's above my skill level. We made the decision to add a larger pad at the end to allow for two cars to come and go without swapping. 

I also decided to run an 8" line down the side of the house to allow water to drain away around the house, bypassing the under-floor drain that often clogged. 

This became a bit of a headache and we had lots of issues. Don't believe what they say online about trenching tools and maybe don't insist on a single 8" line instead of two 4" lines stacked up. But I digress. Eventually, it got done, then topped with 5 tons of topsoil, and is now growing grass again. 

Removing the driveway included removing the wall. Which my wife and I did ourselves. 

We rented a dumpster and threw blocks into it, cut the RR ties up into chunks, and tossed them in the dumpster. 

The treehouse in the backyard had not been used in years, so it got cut up as well...

...and went iton the dumpster. I used every inch below the fill line! 

FYI, while the fill line is important, so is the weight. 3 tons was included in the price, we ended up with 6 tons inside, so we paid some extra $$$ to empty it. My wife and I lifted 1200+ pounds over the side of a dumpster LOL. 

With that out of the way, our guys poured the new driveway and we loved it! What a difference in not having a cracked, pothole-filled, POS driveway. 

As for the retaining walls on either side, I had built a wall at one of my rental properties for a parking pad with the help of a contractor friend the prior year. So I figured I knew what to do and could build the wall myself to save some $$$. 

I gave myself plenty of time and went slow, left side first. I tied the drain line behind the wall into my 8" main. FWIW, there is no soil here, only orange clay which is a PITA to hand dig. 

I ran the 8" line to the bottom corner of the wall as well. Should the floor drain ever get clogged and overflow, there is now a path for the water to go so it doesn't flood the driveway and my house. 

Slowly by surely, the left side was built. I had to terrace it every 10 feet or so which involved some trial and error and lots of digging with shovels. (I also had to ignore the 140ho outboard that I got for $100 and am waiting to rebuild. Yes, I also rebuilt an 85hp outboard during this time.)  

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Eventually, the left side was good and I was happy. Then I started on the right side. 

I was pretty busy, so I didn't take too many photos. Suffice it to say, it was back-breaking work but rewarding. 

The steps took a really long time because I did not have a plan. I had an idea, but I had to just get in there and figure it out, which involved some rework.

The neighbors were very patient with piles of gravel and pallets of blocks sitting out there for months at a time. Glad I don't live in an HOA.

With the wall built, the next order of business was to backfill, which required a lot of dirt. Lucky for me, the local duck pond recently underwent some renovations, and they dumped piles of dirt and rock in the yard across the street. (The pond is managed by the VFD, the Chief of the VFD lives across the street, small town stuff). They let me have as much of it as I wanted, so I rented a dump trailer and a way too large excavator and grabbed what I could.  

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Upon returning the excavator, I was told that I should not have been allowed to leave towing this beast with a GMC Savanna rated to tow 6500 pounds. A little late to tell me that, and other than having to drive home at 20mph, it was fine. 

Shout out to my folding 4 x 8 Harbor Freight trailer BTW. This thing has hauled my ATV, motorcycle, sheets of drywall and plywood, railroad ties, and firewood, and moved plenty of furniture. By dropping a Bagster into it, it also hauls 2B gravel, mulch, and dirt. The best purchase I have ever made from HF. 

The walls are now done, there is more backfilling to do, and in spring, landscaping. 

I even added lighting, with separate circuits for each side tied to a controller that I can program and even operate with Alexa. 

We can park two cars, hopefully flooding is not going to be an issue again, the yard will be easier to mow, and the house looks a little better.

On to the next project. 

Looks great!!!  What part of the country is this?  I was considering a concrete driveway, but my neighbors keep talking me out of it because of the winter freeze cycles... 

Very nice!  Good work!

In reply to pinchvalve (Forum Supporter) :

Dang that turned out nice. Well done!

golfduke said:

I was considering a concrete driveway, but my neighbors keep talking me out of it because of the winter freeze cycles... 

As long as the base is prepared properly there shouldn't be any issues with a concrete driveway.   I'm in Minneapolis and my driveway is 30+ years old with no cracks or heaves.

Back to the OP, it looks great.  What a massive amount of work

Wow, nice job!  That looks like a ton of work, you should be proud of that!

Looks great!

Awesome!! How did you do the wiring for the lights? Does it go through drilled holes all the way through the blocks into the dirt behind?

I need to do some retaining walls soon. I've been putting them off for 10 years or so.

impressed ,

has it rained enough yet to check if the drainage works as planned ?

Very nicely done, and I think it really adds value and eye appeal to your home now.

In reply to dculberson :

The lights are simply glued on with the top caps. The wires run to the cracks between the blocks, then tap into low-voltage wire with weatherproof connectors. That wire is directly buried in the dirt, with holes drilled in the house below grade to pass through.  Its a foot below grade, so it should be safe from anything above. 

The location is outside of Pittsburgh, PA, so freeze/thaw is a concern, but the base, joints, and reinforcement should be enough to prevent issues. 

In reply to californiamilleghia :

Have had quite a few heavy rain and so far so good. The french drain on the left side carries water into the 8" drain line. The french drain on the right side dumps out onto the driveway a few feet up from the pit. That should cut down on the amount of crap that washes down the drain.

For water coming down the driveway itself, we raised the asphalt bump at the curb to prevent water from flowing down the driveway from the street and added a second drain about 7/10ths of the way down that feeds into the pit.  It is less likely to get covered in leaves.  By eliminating the grassy strip on one side, we also eliminated a source of debris. I can also easily blow the leaves out of the driveway now. 

That looks nice! Really neatened the place up.

While I am sure your back didn't enjoy the tremendous amount of work, the end result certainly seems worth it from here.

Very nice. That really improves the look of your home. 

Wow!  Turned out Fantastic!  Well Done!

My Neck, Back and Shoulders ache in sympathy.  Look up Sweat Equity in the dictionary and there will be a picture of your project!