Hey Guys,
I'm building a deck off the back of my house with a retaining wall separating it from the rest of the yard which is at a higher grade than the house by about 2.5-3'
I've started excavating and am buying materials to build a CMU wall with a proper re-bar reinforced footing.
I want the poured concrete wall look which is why I'm not using mortar-less stack-able concrete blocks. I'm planning on stuccoing it a dark grey. It also had 6 right angles in is which is another reason I want to use CMUs.
I've found all kinds of information about CMU walls but it's all tailored to building a home foundation. I'm starting to wonder what's necessary for my application since it's non load bearing. Should I just construct it as if though it is a proper building foundation wall?
I want to use 6" concrete block so it seem I should make the footing about 12" wide by 6" deep. I'm in Seattle so I think the frost line is 16-18". Do I just dig the soil out and pour the footing into the un-compacted soil directly, no crushed rock base? I've got 3/8" re-bar to put in the footing, two pieces, then was planning on one vertical piece per block. I figured I measure it all out and hammer the vertical re-bar down into the ground before pouring the footing. I think this is overkill, maybe I only need a piece every 3' or so...every other block perhaps?
After I assemble it should I waterproof the backside before putting in the drain fabric and gravel?
I'm attaching a (bad)drawing I made of cross section of how I think I should build it.
I'm looking forward to this project as an exercise in foundation building as I'd love to do a proper two story garage in the near future. I'm definitely interested in learning as much about best practices as I can. As well the deck will butt almost up against the wall so if the wall ever shifted it could compromise the deck and make for a nasty repair job.
I'm building a deck off the back of my house with a retaining wall separating it from the rest of the yard which is at a higher grade than the house by about 2.5-3'
I've started excavating and am buying materials to build a CMU wall with a proper re-bar reinforced footing.
I want the poured concrete wall look which is why I'm not using mortar-less stack-able concrete blocks. I'm planning on stuccoing it a dark grey. It also had 6 right angles in is which is another reason I want to use CMUs.
I've found all kinds of information about CMU walls but it's all tailored to building a home foundation. I'm starting to wonder what's necessary for my application since it's non load bearing. Should I just construct it as if though it is a proper building foundation wall?
I want to use 6" concrete block so it seem I should make the footing about 12" wide by 6" deep. I'm in Seattle so I think the frost line is 16-18". Do I just dig the soil out and pour the footing into the un-compacted soil directly, no crushed rock base? I've got 3/8" re-bar to put in the footing, two pieces, then was planning on one vertical piece per block. I figured I measure it all out and hammer the vertical re-bar down into the ground before pouring the footing. I think this is overkill, maybe I only need a piece every 3' or so...every other block perhaps?
After I assemble it should I waterproof the backside before putting in the drain fabric and gravel?
I'm attaching a (bad)drawing I made of cross section of how I think I should build it.
I'm looking forward to this project as an exercise in foundation building as I'd love to do a proper two story garage in the near future. I'm definitely interested in learning as much about best practices as I can. As well the deck will butt almost up against the wall so if the wall ever shifted it could compromise the deck and make for a nasty repair job.
