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The $300 retaining wall block that gave up in one winter
I put in 40 feet of those interlocking concrete blocks last fall near my slope in Portland, followed the install guide to the letter, gravel base and all. By March the whole front row was tilted and two had cracked right down the middle. Turns out the soil drainage under them was wrong for our clay, and the freeze thaw just pushed everything around. Anyone else had major block failure from an overpriced brand, or is the trick in prep I skipped?
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dylanwilliams1mo ago
Did you happen to use that fancy gravel they swear by, the one that costs more than my first car? Because I learned the hard way that my cheap drainage rock turned into what basically looked like a mud pie by spring, and my blocks did the exact same tilted domino thing. I even watched one crack while I was standing there drinking coffee, like it was personally offended by the frost. Honestly, next time I'm just gonna pour a concrete footer and save myself the heartbreak, or maybe stick to moving dirt piles around for fun.
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