November 2015 - Concrete Retaining Walls

We decided to try some cast-in-place concrete retaining walls in a couple of areas. We had never done this before, so I did a bunch of research and talked to a lot of folks. Dad had a bunch of used 3/4" plywood that was demo'ed from one of his projects, so we used it and some 2x4's to build the formwork. I got my 8" form ties from White Cap, and the concrete, as usual, came from Chandler. 

Formwork laid out to apply a seal coating.

First wall formwork about half complete.

Pouring the wall.

We ordered a 3500# mix with a slump of 5 with the intention to add some water to get the slump near 6, bit the 5 seemed to flow and vibrate fairly well. 

Finished wall after stripping the forms.

Not to bad for our first time. Some bug holes, but overall I am satisfied with the results.

Here is Dad working on forming the next wall to pour.