This past week we demoed our back deck. As soon as the deck was down we could start building a new wood retaining wall to make room for a sunken patio. Over the years the dirt had fallen down under the deck covering the original brick patio. It was important to build a wood retaining wall to permanently hold the dirt back from what will be our new patio.
Building a Wood Retaining Wall
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Last week we had a delivery of many (38)- 8 and 1o foot pressure treated 6 by 6 posts to use for our wood retaining wall. The delivery guy was kind enough to leave the timbers close to the project which has saved us having to carry these heavy beams from our driveway.
We started laying the timber wall where we plan on putting our hot tub.
Before the wood can go down we needed to lay a gravel bed so the wall won’t move when the ground freezes and thaws over the winter.
The kids were put to work filling the wheel barrel with gravel to lay both under the wood as well as behind the wall.
I added landscape fabric along with the gravel to help with drainage and keep the dirt and the weeds out.
Next we needed to make sure that the wood timbers were square and level.
This steps also seems to take forever :). Notice the kids in the pic!
Once the first row is level all the other wood beams go up quickly.
Jason made sure to secure the wood timbers with giant nails and rebar as we added each level of boards.
We decided that 4 boards was as high as we needed to go based on the dirt level around the patio. I can’t wait to start leveling out the dirt behind the retaining wall and get to landscaping it. Thanks to the wood retaining wall the patio is starting to take shape :).
We still have to move that darn hot tub into our new hot tub space and level the rest of the patio. Here is a look of what we have done so far and still have planned!
Our Plan for this Sunken Patio
Demo Deck
Save Brick from Previous Patio
Dig an 8 foot by 8 foot space for our Hot Tub
Build a retaining wall around the sunken patio
Move the Hot Tub
Level the Ground inside the Patio
Use Reclaimed Brick and Flagstone for the Patio Stone
Landscape around Sunken Patio
Bring the Outdoor Furniture Back and Decorate
*UPDATE – We FINISHED!!! Stop by to see the whole reveal (here)*
Thanks so much for stopping by to check out our new wood retaining wall!
Don’t Forget to Pin how to Build a Wood Retaining Wall!
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Our Back Patio – The Plan and Deck Demo
Moving the Hot Tub with just 2 People
