Cheap retaining wall tip

[Handyman]

Tires..! Yep I said tires and you usually can obtain them free from your local car dealer, trucking company. [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

I had a terrible errosion problem at a wash / dry creek that acted as a drainage during heavy rains and in the winter months. I had 2 creeks/washes joining at my neighors and shooting straight into my places washing bottom land soil like a pressure washer effect. I had lost about 2 feet of embankment in one major flood.

This spring I finally decided to give it a try using semi tires, screwing them together with 2" wood screws. I screwed them end to end and down into the sides of the lower tires. (aprox 6 screws per tire. Filling them in as they were laid down and back filling them. I had floods were they hadn't been filled in, just screwd together and never lost a single tire.

Well I finished the wall last month and with great sucess I have no more problems.

Now you might say... It looks ugly or it will create gaps where rodents and snakes will hide... yep but if that bothers you that much, you can plant vines or sometype of grass that will help hide the tires. Another thing you can do since you have just built this wall for vertually nothing is screw lathing on the face of the tires and stucco the face with a couple of layers of mud making a stucco wall which would create a more pleasent view.

I have a friend that was wanting to build a wall that will be about 8' high to expand or actually create a parking area since he lives on the side of a mountain. He was going to use RR ties, but he had $100 in just 10 ties and that wasn't enough to make a base... He doesn't have the money to do this and after seeing what I have accomplished with very little money, he has decided to do this and has begun to collect car tires from car dealers that are more than happy to give him since they have to pay to haul them away.
He will have to anchor the tires with mobile home auger anchors and cable or rebar in a hook form. With all the rocks he has to back fill along with having a place to dispose of construction debree for fill, I suspect he will be able to build this wall for a couple hundred dollars.

This idea has many benifits....
1, It keeps the tires out of the landfills
2, It recycles the use of these tires
3, Tires aren't going to rot, decay for many many many yrs.
4, Its very cost effective
5, have you ever tried to move a tire that was filled with dirt, gravel or rock ?

[arkydog]

Handyman, Just saw your post and am really interested in seeing your tire wall! Did you cut you tires in half or did you have them cut. Also if you can, a picture would be greatly appreciated. How high was the wall and did you screw thru the bead or the middle of the side wall.

I'm putting another double wide in for my wifes quilt machine and have to have 4 feet of hill taken out on the one end. Any suggestions you have would be great.

Thanks

arkydog

[Handyman]

Hey Arkydog,

I used whole tires, securing the first row down and then filling and back filling as the wall went up. I screwed them in 4 places on the bottom where it made contacts with the lower layer and then two screws side to side right threw the cords.
This really was only to keep the tire from moving while its being filled in and back filled. The tires will be pretty secure once the dirt and rock settles in time.

I used my tire wall to resolve washout problems with a seasonal creek that occasionally floods. Its been 8 months now and I have no problems with errosion any longer and the wall has held up as hoped. I'm going to add one last row to finish the course and dress things up when the weather allows.

The only issue you might come across will be rodents, but that could easliy be resolved by screwing some lath on the face of the tires and stucco it. This will eliminate the pockets as well as give it the apperance of a cement wall, just without the cost.

Like I mentioned before... Labor is cheap, tires are free and with a little work and a couple dollars (screws, lath & cement)... you can have yourself a nice wall.

[arkydog]

Thanks for the reply. Did it make any difference as to the tire size with the one next to it?

Thanks

arkydog

[Handyman]

Not really... Of course you want to stay with the same size to a degree as in if you do a row with 14" tires, then I suggest to finish the row with 14" tires...

When I did my creek, I ankored 14" tires to the creekbed then used semi truck tires because I used a lot of rock as fill and I am dealing with mother nature and needed something that would be able to withstand the water pressures of flooding.

[Pat]

I had some ideas for dam construction and other projects using tires. Very cost effective material. Unfortunately in Oklahoma the DEQ (Department of Environmental Quality) forbids the use of tires for a number of things. There is a limit to the number of used tires you can have on your place (25, I think.) Interestingly enough the DEQ approves the use of ground up tires as a substitute for septic gravel in leach fields. GO FIGURE!

Hope the "TIRE POLICE" don't rain on anyones parade.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[AlSmith]

Using tires instead of concrete or stucco for retaining walls sounds cost-effective but I just worry its long-term use.