Bricks, Masonry, Asphalt and Concrete - poured concrete retaining wall / chain wall ???

Hey guys and girls. I need to build a retaining wall and here is what I'm dealing with. I live in South Louisiana so I do not get a lot of cold weather. The soil I have is a little lose but not mush. It s made of mostly a sand and clay mixture in this area.

A little back ground that all relates to this retaining wall. The area I live in sunk a long time ago (Maybe 20 years ago or more) when an area nearby was drained by the US army corps to build an area out that used to be swamp land. This sunk my water table and the land in the entire area sunk along with it.So what it left was houses that were on pilings in place and now the need to either install steps and rebuild your driveway or you can fill in your yard 3 feet. I purchased the house a few years back and at the time gut a pretty good deal on dirt so I filled in the entire yard 3 feet. The dirt I used had a good amount of clay in it.

Now here we are today. At the tiem I filled in the yard I did not put in chain walls as the neighbors surrounding me were supposed to fill in their yards right after. Now here we are a few years later and the two people on the sides of me are finally filling in their yards. So the sides are not a problem. When I filled in I realized the need to possibly have to build a chain wall/retaining wall in case the people on side of me didnt fill in. Because of this I stopped the dirt about 9 inches from the property line to avoid having to dig that part of it back out if I ever had to put in a chain wall.

The only person that has changed their mind that isnt going to fill in is the guy behind me. So this creates the need for me to have about a 2 and a half foot to 3 foot high chain wall on the back property line that is going to be straight and 60 feet long that is the width of the lots in this area. Yes I have read about the blocks that you put in place but this seems like an awful lot to spend on a while that will never be seen by me.

I'm also not worried about water run off on the neighbor as its not my problem. Code requires him to build up but I'm not going to call and complain however I really don't care if it floods his yard if he chooses not to.

Another interesting point is that in the 3 or 4 years that the mud I put in place has been filled in it hasnt moved or washed away. There is already grass grown over the dirt and is ok. So I dont think the stength of the wall needs to be to the max as the only true dirt it will be holding back will be the 8 or 9 inches of dirt that is 3 feet high that is going to be back filled against it once the dirt is put in place.

So as it stands I need a chain wall or retaining wall 3 feet high and I'm not sue the best way to build it. I also plan to build a 6 foot high wooden fence on top of the chain wall so the schedule 40 pipe that I'm using for fence posts will be 24 inches in the ground below the chain wall to give extra support.

Here is my plan and hopefully you guys can give me feed back.

I was going to dig the holes for the fence posts (Schedule 40 pipe 11 foot lengths) 2 feet deep. I was going to put the fence posts in place and cement them in. I was going to rent a Ditch Witch and dig a trench 6 inches wide and 12 inches deep below the dirt stopping at each fence post to avoid hitting the concrete I just poured to put the fence posts in place. I was going to then build a form above the ground for the concrete that is 3 feet high and 6 inches wide. This will allow me to pour the concrete in the tench and form to the dirt giving it added stability. In addition the fence posts should also stop the wall from tipping over whcih Im thinking will not be an issue. The fence posts will be through the 3 feet of chain wall and 2 feet in the ground. I'm assuming this will be enough support.

Something I'm undecided about is maybe spending a little extra and using that reinforced concrete since I'm only getting a few yards of concrete.

Sorry about going on and on just trying to provide as much info as I can. Does anyone have any ideas or feedback on my idea. Will it work or should I try something else?

Your plan will not work for many reasons, and I am familiar with the soils in South Louisiana.

Your best bet is the segmental retaining wall units. They are a little more up front, but they will do what you need done best.

Any particular size or type of segmental retaining wall units will be best?

Generally, the bigger they are, the cheaper the face-foot price works out to be.

' chain wall ', scar ? ? ?