Retaining Wall & Paver Patio

Scope of Work

We replaced an old stone wall and a concrete sidewalk behind a house in Cincinnati, Ohio, with a 9-row retaining wall and a paver patio.

The area was holding water, the old stone wall was falling apart, the concrete sidewalk had failed, and the space wasn't really usable.

We completely removed the old wall and the concrete. Then we dug down 20 inches and put in 12 inches of 411 base, compacted in 3-inch lifts. We buried the first of the 9 rows. Starting with that first row, we added 6-foot pieces of geogrid to strengthen the wall, then every 2 rows after that through the entire wall. We ran 4-inch drainage pipe behind the 1st and 4th rows, the whole length of the wall. We backfilled the first 12 inches with round washed 57 stone and the rest with coarse sand, compacting in 3-inch lifts as we went. We cut the cap to follow the custom curve in the wall and glued it down with construction adhesive.

Under the pavers we put 6 inches of 411 base and 3/4 inch to an inch of fines. After laying the pavers we swept in polymeric sand. We do a quick sweep that leaves a layer of sand, compact the pavers, then do a final sweep.

We also took a 370 square foot area, dug it down 2 inches, laid construction fabric and pinned it down. We dug a trench for a 4-inch drainage pipe there and covered the area with small decorative stone.

Materials Used

411 base, 6 foot geogrid, 4 inch drainage pipe, round washed 57 stone, coarse sand, retaining wall block with cut caps and construction adhesive, fines, pavers, polymeric sand, construction fabric, small decorative stone