The concrete retaining wall has been poured and the forms are off. Pretty quick turn around time. Standing next to it, it's basically the height of a basement wall. The highest part is near the garage and it steps down twice as it leads away. The drainage, gravel, and backfill are still needed to complete the wall, but it might wait until the boulder wall is also in place.
If I didn't know better, it would almost look like we were building another basement. I think the tallest section is about 9 ft. With the wall up, you can really see how big the motor coach will be.
The footings are still exposed on both sides. As I mentioned, the backfilled side will have gravel, a drainage pipe, more gravel, probably some kind of permeable fabric to mitigate soil seepage into the gravel, then backfill. The open side will have soil come up about a foot off the footing with plantings on top. The ground will properly grade away from the wall.
These are the drainage holes that the drain pipe will be attached to. The open side of the wall will be covered with the same granite stones that will cover the basement level of our house. This will work especially well since it will just tie right in with the garage. The landscaping plan also calls for the wall to support some kind of climbing ivy.
Here's the "outside" of the wall. As I've mentioned, it was poured basically the same way a basement wall is poured. Rebar structure in the middle with forms that sandwich it. Supports connect the forms together and are cut and plugged with the forms are removed. I estimate that the drain holes will be just about at grade when completed. Maybe a bit higher to account for bed mulch.
Here it is from the other side, where it turns and connects to the garage. They had to build the footing up a bit here so it didn't underpin the garage footing. This is where the walkway to the deck that goes around the garage will be. Kind of a neat area.
Looking forward from the garage window. It's kind of a angular funky shape, but the actual curve of the driveway will soften that angle. Also, it will be topped with a blue stone ledge so they'll probably be able to soften the top angle a bit. Lastly, the granite boulder stone facade will round out the corners.
Same angle, but from the garage door opening. The wall itself is somewhere between 8"-10" thick. I didn't take a measurement. It's nicely finished off at the top. You can see where it drops in height; about 4"-6" each time. We joked, that if we were super rich, this is where we would have the car bunker, with stalls that would rise out of the ground.
The hills of dirt are still there, but I think they'll be able to move them back soon. No progress on the house for some reason. I'm going to have to call Matt and see what's up. We're getting super lucky with the weather this year, but it can't hold out forever.
Bob Porter of Great Oaks said that the boulders and stone will be delivered soon so construction can begin on the other retaining walls. Once they're finished, that will conclude the first phase of the landscaping plan. It should be an impressive site (pun intended).
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