From Fence to Retaining Wall - Part 4

With the act of putting our house numbers back in place we officially complete the Retaining Wall project. Although the front yard fence between us and our neighbors to the north looked okay when we bought the house, it had become a bit of an eyesore. Carolyn and I had looked at several alternatives but we would probably still be looking if a section of the fence hadn't crashed down on the driveway. We promptly knocked down the rest of the fence so our place wouldn't look like a 6 year-old's mouth. It didn't take many days until we decided we liked he open design.



Our neighbor Wayne designed some fences and we made some decisions. Our other neighbor objected to our initial choice of block and we're glad he did because we really like what we subsequently went with. We also like the way it drops away as it nears the pole giving almost no obstruction of sight.


Wayne claims that our streeetlamp makes it more difficult for potential troublemakers to see his RV. I'm certainly not opposed to that. On the other hand, the lamp has certainly improved the light to our house - front door and garage especially.


Wayne used this opportunity to shore up a section of our driveway which appeared to have no earth support at all. Wayne rammed wet concrete under the driveway before placing each course of block. We probably would never have gotten around to it until that corner of the driveway snapped.


Although we had promised our neighbor that she could use the extra dirt, by the time Wayne filled everything back in, there was no extra. And the runoff should be as much on the neighbor as my driveway.

From Fence to Retaining Wall - Part 3

Probably since the day we moved into our current house, Carolyn has wanted a lamp post at the end of our driveway. Although we have a nice street lamp at the end of our cul de sac, between that lamp and our little garage carriage lights there isn't much to light the way.

So, when we were discussing the plans for the retaining wall, Carolyn insisted we also look at wiring down to the end of the wall and putting in a lamp at that point. You've seen the lamp during the daytime in previous posts. Tonight our neighbor Wayne connected the power so you can see what it looks like in the night.

My son Ed is showing me one of the uses for the 4 x 4 left over from the old fence. We're going to use it to display our house numbers.


Trying to find a good switch for the lamp led me to Home Depot and the above pictured switch. As you can see it has a built-in clock. One can, of course, use it like any normal switch - press on, press off. But in the automatic mode one can program the lamp to come on at dusk and turn off at dawn. It doesn't do that by light sensors but by using your approximate latitude , date, and time. If you'd rather use it manually or set specified on/off times, that is possible. It's even possible to have a different program for weekdays, weekends, all days, or specific single days.


Such flexibility comes with a price. The installation instruction guide was four pages long and the "simplified" programming guide is almost 2 pages. As the days get longer, it will be intereseting to see if the lamp keeps up with the time.

Good neighbor, bad neighbor

Our neighbor Wayne had his tools and cement mixer out early this morning starting on the first row of the retaining wall that we had commissioned him to build for us. He had just started and had 3 or 4 full blocks down when our other neighbor (or their son actually) and told him to stop, that he was using the wrong blocks. Wayne, of course, not wanting to get into the middle of this fracas asked Carolyn what she wanted to do. Carolyn wanted to keep the peace even though it is customary that if the neighbor gets a say in the materials, they also participate in the expense. Carolyn and the neighbor apparently agreed on a color and type of cement block quickly enough that we were able to buy the replacement blocks and still give Wayne 3 or 4 hours of sunlight to work with.

Carolyn and Wayne unloading Wayne's trailer with the new blocks.

Getting the old blocks ready to take back.

Actually, to tell the truth, I think we're going to be happier with the upgraded cement blocks so the neighbor actually did us a favor by insisting on the upgrade.

From Fence to Retaining Wall - Part 2

Neighbor Wayne installing conduit

There's one thing about our neighbor - he's sure no general contractor. When Wayne says he's going to work on a project and finish it as soon as possible, he really means it. He shows up earlier than expected and moves the project right along.

Conduit into garage

Since my last report, he has dug out the space for the footings, built the forms, and poured the footings. He has even set the rebar into the footings rather than just setting them on. He has installed the lamp and laid the conduit from the lamp up the side of the retaining wall and into the garage. In other words, he is ready to start laying the cinder blocks which we expect he will start tomorrow. He'll probably finish that tomorrow as well.

Footing poured

New lamp

From Fence to Retaining Wall - Part 1

I'll have to look to see if I can find an old picture of the fence but looking north from our driveway once used to see a three-foot high fence delineating the northern side of our property and also kept people from driving off that side of our driveway - a drop of 10 to 18 inches.



When I came home the other day, the fence was gone. Carolyn had been talking with our neighbor about the possibility of his replacing that fence. He had had some time that day to demolish and haul away the fence.

Once it was down, Carolyn and I rethought the idea of replacing the fence. Maybe what we wanted was just a retaining wall.


This is a view of the dropoff. Obviously we can't do nothing as it is too dangerous now. The red square is where we are planning to put the lamp post.


This is the lamp post. We've wanted to lighten up that area for a long time and hopefully this will do the trick.

Another reason for doing something is that the neighbor's watering has washed away a great amount of dirt and gravel beneath the driveway. This void goes back several feet.



Another view of the gap.
The missing soil has left the driveway to stand on its own, something it really can't do. So we're seeing cracks like this.

This is the first installment of our Fence Replacement. Stay tuned for more.