Massive Retaining Wall
This project started off with a massive retaining wall project the back side of this property. When we were in the design phase the clients wanted to make sure that we could make enough room for a pool. So we created this 13 foot retaining wall that was built in place.
Working with a structural engineer, it’s 13 feet down from the top and it’s six foot wide one foot thick. Then we went through and poured this massive 10 inch thick retaining wall all the way up to be able to build up the backyard enough to make room for the rest of the entire project.
Geotechnical engineers inspected those different parts of the project. We installed the drainage system on the back side with weep holes drainage mat, and then we went through and brought in a ton of material to backfill the entire wall. This built out and extend the backyard in order to make this project possible.
Drainage is Essential
When we decided to go through and start planning out a lot of the concrete work, the drainage used to be significantly different on the back of the property. Everything would just run off and it would tear off the back side, deteriorating the property. When we went through and put this much flat work in we had to go through a new storm water plant.
In the first video we showed you the observation well cap. There are now drain locations in many areas so when it rains on the property, now none of the new work puddles. It actually drains 14 feet deep underneath the staircase where we put that infiltration trench. The trench is 14 feet deep where it starts and there’s about four feet high of drainage gravel in a big 15 by 15 area. The drain pipe runs all the storm water out into the back side of the property.
Custom Railing System
The cable railing system is aluminum post rail and fascia mount brackets that are interconnected. We used tap cons to tie into the concrete but there’s only one stock size. There’s not a lot of wiggle room in this product, it’s very precise so we went through and had custom brackets made.
We took measurements at every four feet where our posts need to go, and had the custom brackets made with different setbacks. On every single one, we had a custom measurement made so when we installed these we could shim them. Everything ended up nice and straight to get this nice finished look with it.
This article is part of a series. Click here for Part One and Part Three.
