Pea Gravel Retaining Wall Base

Literally the size of green peas this gravel is self compacting meaning it presses together to form a nearly solid mass.

Pea gravel retaining wall base.

Pea gravel is a common landscaping material because it is easy to with and cheap. 25 mm for each 1 ft 300 mm of wall height for the amount or buried block that is needed. Always start wall at lowest elevation working to highest. Thoroughly compact and level the gravel to create your leveling pad.

Next compact it and level it using either a hand or mechanical compactor. Fill the trench with a 2 to 3 inch layer of paver base. You may just need to dig out and tamp down the area and add 2 to 3 inches of pea gravel over landscape fabric. When building a retaining wall or garden border or setting fence posts backfilling with pea gravel instead of.

Round rocks such as pea gravel rolls and dislodge under pressure resulting in failure of the retaining wall. Lay a 4 6 inch layer of the crushed base material in the trench. Fill the prepared trench with a 6 base off granular fill. 600 mm wide the length of the wall the depth of the trench will be 6 in.

Also called drain tile at the base of the wall. Similar to gravel paver base is a form of construction aggregate that contains crushed rocks such as limestone. The wall gets its strength from a sturdy base consisting of gravel. Retaining wall base trench.

A handheld tamping tool can really help in getting the gravel level but you re right one stray stone can throw off the entire operation. To keep the blocks on your retaining wall level and structurally sound you need a base layer of several inches of well compacted sharp gravel. Dig a base trench 24 in. If the soil in your area is a hard clay soil it may support the pea gravel on its own.

We recommend 3 4 crushed gravel. I would not recommend using stabilized soil under pavers or segmental retaining walls. Retaining walls can be constructed using a variety of materials from poured concrete and large timbers to natural stones even bricks. However a base layer is still a good idea for hard soil since it ll give the patio more structure support and allow for better drainage.

Due to soil erosion your retaining wall should be built on a solid foundation made from paver base. Gravel behind the wall is best with perforated pipe at the base. If grade changes along base of the wall create a stepped leveling pad as required. The design of the product is such that movement is allowable and none of the manufacturers will suggest the use of anything other than compacted road base sharp gravel.

More information on retaining walls where the base trench steps up a slope. 150 mm plus an additional 1 in.