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Tall Retaining Wall
Any advice or insight on building a "tall" retaining wall. I have a wall project where I will need a retaining wall that is about 9ft high and one end and tapers down to about 2ft at the other, over a length of 40ft.
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Tall Retaining Wall
I like the little interlocking precast "stones" that are made for retaining walls. I think that they will work for walls that high and it is easy to stop a row short when you want to taper the wall to match the grade. These blocks are easy to set and will allow water to flow as needed. If I have had any problems at all with retaining walls, it has been when they don't drain properly and hold water behind them.
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Tall Retaining Wall
The normal precast interlocks (Lowes and Home Depot etc.)are not designed to go that high. I believe that they are no more that 4 ft max. I built two small walls last year. I went to near 6 ft but stepped it back with a flower bed at 3 ft.
Most other solutions require tie backs into the bank with a wall that high or the wall will push out over time.
There are commercial blocks that will allow the height required you just will not find them at the local building supply.
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Tall Retaining Wall
My Local Supply Center has blocks that are about 70 pounds each, these are the interlocking kind, that should be able to make a somewhat higher wall. Although, all the ones I have seen usually go in about 5 foot steps, I think it will last longer without sliding out on you.
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Tall Retaining Wall
I recommend building forms and using reinforcing rods back into the earth behind the wall. Then pouring in concrete. I am not sure how well the blocks would work, and they are not cheap.
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Tall Retaining Wall
Anything 9 feet high needs some serious engineering behind it, not just dirt.
Search the web by "retaining wall systems" there are several around, Versa-Lok, Keystone and of course the one that started it all RisiStone are ones I have used before. Of course I am partial to RisiStone but that's because a) I helped develop it, and b) Angelo Risi is a good friend and neighbour. No prejuidice there folks, just bare unadulterated promotion,  , seriously, it is VERY easy to work with.
Best of luck.
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Tall Retaining Wall
Murf, some of these block systems seem to make straight vertical walls others have a slight tilt back into the slope. I would expect the ones that result in a slight tilt to be useful at higher levels. Is that true???
Do you have to tie them back to the soil in any way for tall walls? Can you go taller if you do small terraces to set back the higher levels into the slope?
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Tall Retaining Wall
Okay, I’ve poked around the Keystone and VersaLok sites, these block systems seem like the way to go. But, it appears that some sort of “Geogrid” reinforcement would be required. This seems like a lot of extra dirt to remove, and backfill. Any insights on this type of reinforcement.
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Tall Retaining Wall
Checked out Risi Stone's site (thanks for the tip Murf), and they have a freeware design program. Might be worth a try?
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06-05-2003, 15:25 
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