Pressure Treated Lumber Retaining Wall

We built the exposed surfaces of this wall with brown pressure treated lumber and below grade members with less expensive green treated lumber.

Pressure treated lumber retaining wall.

Pressure treated wood should only be used for low retaining walls and limited to areas that have good drainage. Pressure treated lumber especially made for this type of wall is readily available in home improvement centers. In terms of difficulty this project rates on the more high side on the homeowner s scale. There s no beating pressure treated lumber in ground contact situations.

Your best choice is a pressure treated wood that has a rating of 40 or higher. Pressure treated wood is required whenever you attach framing lumber or furring strips directly to concrete or other exterior masonry walls below grade. And finally if the retaining wall is holding back earth. If you want to move the earth build a retaining wall by the time you re done you ll feel as though you ve moved half the planet.

Your fasteners should be hot dipped galvanized stainless steel or rated by the manufacturer for construction with pressure treated wood. Because a retaining wall is going to be in contact with the ground make sure you use lumber that s rated for ground contact. If your lumberyard doesn t carry brown use green for all the parts and stain any exposed wood after the wall is up. It can be used to construct raised flower beds to fill in low spots in your yard or to grade around your foundation.

Before beginning have a plan for all the soil you ll be removing. The reason for double hot dipped galvanized fasteners as opposed to electro galvanized or coated is that the new formula for pressure treating. Since wood does not bear an equal amount of pressure per square inch as does concrete or other masonry opt for a stronger material if your wall will be higher than 2 feet. Interior walls are within a climate controlled environment and are presumed to be free of moisture.

Dec 9 2019 explore steve medina s board pressure treated timber retaining wall on pinterest. Building a lumber retaining wall is a fantastic way to bring both form and function to your backyard landscape. This retaining wall does not need unwieldy tie backs dug back into the slope like many of the 4x4 timber retaining walls. We chose the brown simply for its looks.

Yet there is another type of wood retaining wall that uses lighter weight dimensional pressure treated lumber. The lumber for this wall will be acq pressure treated 6 by 6 and 2 by 8 s with double hot dipped galvanized fasteners. See more ideas about retaining wall wood retaining wall pressure treated timber. On dec 22 2010.

And it doesn t rely on sheer weight to hold back the slope as do masonry walls.