Retaining Wall

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DntBrnDPig

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I am in the process of building a greenhouse and need a cheap retaining wall. I thought about using railroad ties, but am a little concerned about creosote since I will be growing vegetables (and possibly fish) in this greenhouse.

Any ideas on a low cost retaining wall? I need three walls built, the highest is around 3 feet and about 17ft long. The other 2 walls are around 12 feet long and 2 feet high.
 
Also, since the vegetables will be in raised garden beds (not in contact with ground soil) do you think the creosote would even be an issue?
 
I wouldn't be overly concerned with using them. Some of the best gardens I've seen are built with RR Ties. And it's not like creosote is a very soluble chemical, anyway. Besides, you should be backfilling with pea gravel and using silt cloth anyway. But anymore, simple pre-engineered retaining wall blocks should be very easy to obtain...especially at such a short height. If you're still concerned about RR ties, maybe using cinder blocks would be your next option, but I'd imagine the material and labor cost of building some sort of (wet) masonry structure would justify the home improvement store block systems.
 
I thought about those retaining wall blocks. I'll need to calculate how many are needed vs how much the RR ties would cost me and see if the difference is enough to really care about.

Would you backfill with pea gravel even when using concrete block?
 
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I can't speak for gardening with railroad ties, but the ornamental garden behind Bartlett City Hall that was built back in the late 90's used railroad ties around the border of the "Japanese pond".

The pond was stocked with catfish and some sort of koi/goldfish. Over the next few months, the fish just kept dying off. When my dad and I went to look at it, it always seemed like there were some trails of chemicals running off of it (they contacted the water in most places).

I'm convinced that's what killed the fish in there, and it always made me hesitant to use them for anything animal or food related. I've already decided that I won't use railroad ties for my garden boxes this year.

Your results may vary, although I have no idea how you'd ever tell (I seriously doubt you'd know if you were ingesting low levels of toxins).
 
I'm not wanting to attract termites and even though I may not know I was ingesting toxins - I'd rather not feed that to my kids.

However, I am planning on running an aquaponic system in the greenhouse so the food will never be in contact with the ground - nor will the water.

To avoid the termites and having peoples clothing stained by sitting on the wall - I'm looking for a cheap supply of cinder blocks.
 
tn_duckman said:
if you use concrete retaining wall block you better backfill with something besides pea gravel or those walls will be down in no time
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Yeah, sorry. There needs to be dirt under the pea gravel, as you may want to consider a drain. But at 2' height, it's probably gold leaf on a turd anyway. Been a while since I messed with retaining wall design.
 
Don't worry about the creosote in the ties, build your wall, line it with tyvek or roofing felt and back fill. The lining will keep dirt from coming out between the ties during a heavy rain as well.
 
I'd use the stacking blocks like the one's sold at home depot or lowes. Backfill with sand and use landscaping fabric. Not sure if that's the cheapest option.
 
Diehard Hunter said:
Don't worry about the creosote in the ties, build your wall, line it with tyvek or roofing felt and back fill. The lining will keep dirt from coming out between the ties during a heavy rain as well.
Click to expand...

Ditto, you could use heavy gauge poly/plastic on the inside walls to prevent soil contact with the ties, I would put at least 2 or 3 drain tiles in the bottom, 6" of stone for drainage, cover with landscape fabric and fill with soil.

FDXX75
 
If your pouring a pad then I would just use block being that low of a wall. But if you want it pretty Homedepot sells a larger retaining wall block or they can get it for you, We use the them alot around Swimming Pools..
 
BigAl said:
I'd use the stacking blocks like the one's sold at home depot or lowes. Backfill with sand and use landscaping fabric. Not sure if that's the cheapest option.
Click to expand...
This is what I would suggest. Home Depot or Lowes either one will help you figure out how many you will need. Not sure how long you want this to last ?? I promise you cross ties will not last for ever .You'll be lucky if you get 10 or 15 years out of them. Concrete will still be there when you're gone.
 

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