Nearly every house was built with a masonry foundation.
Cinder block retaining wall foundation.
Concrete blocks are concrete masonry units or cmus but we often refer to them as concrete blocks or cinder blocks learn more about concrete masonry units a wall typically requires 1 1 8 blocks per square foot.
Whether you re building a retaining wall or just need some extra privacy a cinder block wall is an affordable way to get the job done.
With a little engineering and a minimal amount of work and supplies you can build a retaining wall to suit your needs.
The last home i built for my family had a giant poured concrete foundation but in the backyard i used concrete block to build a magical serpentine retaining wall that looks as good today as the.
Do choose a material you can easily work with.
One of the best parts about this project is its simplicity.
Prepare the concrete footing where the cinder block wall will sit.
Once you ve got your base set up it just takes some finesse in building the wall up and turning corners.
Reinforcing steel can be used to strengthen either material.
They differ in the size of gravel used and that concrete blocks are hollow while poured concrete is solid.
While the poured wall wins for lateral strength the cinder block wall built correctly beats out poured wall for compression strength.
Retaining walls can be constructed using a variety of materials from poured concrete and large timbers to natural stones even bricks.
Meaning it can hold more weight on top of the foundation.
Start the concrete footing by digging the area of the wall a few inches below the frost line the maximum depth in the ground below which the soil does not freeze during the winter consult a structural engineer to design the footing including where to install the vertical reinforcement which usually is placed.
However for even the most modest block structure to have enough rigidity to bear pressure and weight it needs proper footing.
Prior to the 1970s cinder block foundations were the norm.
Finding how many concrete blocks you need for your project can seem like a confusing and challenging task but it can be simplified using the calculator above.