How many railroad ties do i need

Now it's time to find out otherwise. Lay the first timber at the low spot, and set a four-foot carpenter's level on it.

Then roll the tie back out of the way, and use a mattock and shovel to level of the 8-foot area. Ask your building-material supplier to cut the rod for you, if possible. Cutting all that steel with a hacksaw would be tedious, at best. Proceed with the base course in the same fashion, but when it's necessary to step upward, remember that you're effectively starting the second course on the previous timber.

Overlap the timbers by half their length, but allow for the 8-inch width of a deadman. On the second course and above, use inch-long rebars to spike the timbers together. As the wall rises, stagger the ends of timbers so that neither joints nor deadmen end up on top of each other. A two-foot stagger, for example, would provide an interesting pattern and would separate the joints by about eight courses.

A chain saw with a freshly sharpened chain is the best tool for cutting the timbers. Each time you arrive at the location for a deadman, shovel dirt in under the site and tamp it.

Otherwise, backfilling can wait until the wall is to full height. However, when you finally do place the earth behind the wall, do so in two-foot layers, packing down the soil before adding the next layer. A crosstie retaining wall that's built using these techniques, and according to the guidelines we mentioned, should last several decades. You could also consider terracing to achieve full height by building a 6-foot wall, stepping back nine feet, and building another.

But in any case, do remember that "what goes up must come down". I never realized that you could build a retaining wall with crossties. Is this pretty difficult or is it a project that could be completed in a weekend with a couple of helpers?

I want to get this build on my mother-in-law's property, but it seems like a project that I may just need to hire someone to do for me. I like DIY projects, but I want it done right! Thanks for sharing this process with us. Join us for a much anticipated return to the Lone Star State! Earlybird ticket discounts are now available online.

You'll find tips for slashing heating bills, growing fresh, natural produce at home, and more. That's why we want you to save money and trees by subscribing through our earth-friendly automatic renewal savings plan. How to Build a Retaining Wall With Crossties You can build a retaining wall for a simple, economical way to terrace uneven ground and reduce dirt erosion. The finished crosstie retaining wall is an effective, attractive solution to dirt erosion.

A transit can be used to keep the wall level. An illustration on the crosstie retaining wall's structure. So we just chopped those up. The first set of pins that are going through the bottom tie are very important. These will pin the wall firmly to the ground.

Our wall was 8 feet long, so we used 4 pins. If you cut one end at an angle, it will be a lot easier to drive the pin through the soil or through the railroad tie. Sometimes it can be near impossible to get a pin through a railroad tie without cutting a point on it. Now you gotta drill some holes.

You want the hole to be the same size or just slightly bigger than the pin you are going to drive through it. You can drill it smaller if you want, but it will make pounding the pin in a real pain. Especially if your pins are made out of rebar. The best thing to use is a long wood auger bit as opposed to one of those drill bit extender things. The drill bit extender will probably work, however, it will also probably come loose in one of the railroad ties at some point.

Thus creating a permanent home for one of your drill bits inside one of the ties. Drill bit extenders are pretty cool but not for this application. Railroad ties are made of tough oak and are soaked in tar and baked in.

They're pretty tough. An auger bit will eat right through it and has the length to drill through more than one tie at a time when need be. Try not to hit the ground too much or your bit will go dull real fast. Lastly and obviously, use a corded drill that has some power.

If you try to dive an auger bit into a railroad tie with a rinky dinky cordless drill, neither you nor the drill nor its battery will be happy. Now it's time to pound in some pins.

We like to start them off with a 5 lb hand sledge and finish them off with a 10 lb full sledge hammer when the goin' gets tough. Once you've got the pin almost all the way in and there's about inches sticking up, pound it over to lock the railroad tie down so it can't slide off the pin.

Since our wall is 8 feet long, we put a pin in about every 2 feet or so. We wanted to make sure that the foundation tie was really secured to the ground well. After the pins in the first tie are set, fill that inch gap between the back of the tie and the hill that it will be holding back with gravel.

Tamp it down with a sledge hammer. We like to put down about inches of gravel at a time and then tamp it, and then add another inches, tamp it and so on and so forth. Now just repeat the process. Place a railroad tie on top of the last tie you laid, drill into it and the one below it as deep as you can, drive in the pins, fill the back side with gravel, tamp it down and repeat!

It's ok to cover everything up with dirt if that's the look you're going for. It should not affect drainage too much. We did it only temporarily until we get around to filling this whole area in with gravel driveway and connecting it to the rest of our driveway. When that day comes, we will remove the little bit of dirt that is covering the gravel between the ties and the wall to allow for even better drainage.

This is also why it look like the dirt is a little low. Gotta leave room for gravel driveway! For a wall that short you are probably fine. I'd still tie it into the backfill. Look up geogrid. What is your budget? Do you need to get a permit from the city before building the wall?

What are the laws governing wall height in your city? Plan the construction and placement of your wall accordingly. Use a measuring tape to measure the length of the area where you desire to construct the wall and then write this number down. According to the Railroad Tie Association, standard tie dimensions are 7 inches high by 9 inches wide by 8. Divide the desired length of your wall by 8.

This number will tell you the amount of railroad ties you'll need to lay down, end to end, for the first level of your wall. Calculate how many railroad ties you'll need to reach the desired height of your wall if you stack them with their widest sides together, remembering that a typical tie is 9 inches wide.

Lay the first level of railroad ties end to end with the 9-inch side flat on the ground. Drill a hole 6 inches in from each end of each railroad tie directly in the center of the 9-inch width using an electric drill with a 1-inch diameter wood drill bit 10 inches long.

Drill these holes in every railroad tie you'll be using in the construction of your wall. Drill a third hole in the middle of the 8.