The Weisenberg Wall

This outdoor living space was transformed with the installation of a large Verti-Block retaining wall, helping reshape the backyard and create a more functional outdoor area.

Behind the build Start yours
Location
Weisenberg Township, PA
On site
10 days

Phase by phase

Ten days, start to finish.

Follow the line. Each stop is a real day on site.

01Day 1

Clearing & stump removal

The job opened with the removal of existing tree stumps and understory scrub brush along the top of the bank, clearing the way for the machine to get at the slope.

The slope before work began, with the pulled stumps piled at the edge of the bank
02Day 2

Excavation

The excavator benched into the hill while the crew held grade off the string line, checking the cut as it went.

Excavator cutting the bench into the slope with two crew members checking grade
03Day 3

Trenching for the base

Trench dug out along the wall line and squared up by hand behind the bucket, down to where the first course would sit.

Two crew members digging out the base trench alongside the excavator bucket
04Day 4

Subgrade & compaction

Once the cut was to grade, the subgrade got compacted in lifts with the plate. Every inch of settlement here shows up as a bulge in the wall five years from now.

Crew member running a plate compactor along the cut subgrade
05Day 5

Material on site

152 Verti-Block units and 210 tons of 2B stone hauled in on our own trucks — one of the advantages of running the equipment and the supply yard ourselves.

A Peterbilt and a Mack coming up the lane with block and stone for the job
06Day 6

Setting the leveling pad

Base stone spread and screeded dead level the length of the run. Get this right and the 152 blocks above it follow; get it wrong and every course repeats the error.

Excavator bucket grading the leveling pad with the first blocks laid out behind it
07Day 7

Drainage & base course

Perforated pipe run the full 136 feet at the base, the block cores filled with clean stone, and 2B stone backfilled behind the whole run.

The base course of Verti-Block with stone-filled cores, drain pipe and 2B stone behind
08Day 8

Setting & levelling block

Blocks came off the chains and were walked into place by hand, every course checked end to end before the next one went on.

Three crew members checking a course of Verti-Block with a long level
09Day 9

Cutting & fitting

Block cut and fitted where the wall curves and steps, working up to the full eleven feet at the tallest point.

Crew member cutting a Verti-Block to fit, dust hanging in the morning light
10Day 10

Finished wall & fencing

Split-rail fencing set along the top of the wall, the site graded and cleaned up, and a level, usable yard where the slope used to be.

Aerial view of the finished Verti-Block wall and split-rail fence around the property

Finished wall

By the numbers

What’s in the ground.

Wall length

136

linear feet

Height

11 ft

at the tallest point

Drainage

136 ft

4″ perforated, daylighted

2B stone

210

tons backfilled

Block set

152

Verti-Block units