[Serigraph]

No tractor here so looking for a way to build something two people can manually do if possible.

My arena has no RR ties or any kind of retaining wall and after several years it needs something.

If RR ties are put down, how do you do it? Do you have to secure them or are they heavy enough without rebar? My husband has made a retaining wall out of rr ties and rebar for the barn, but the arena is a a much bigger deal.

Any other suggestions?

TIA

[Houdini1220]

We had this wall done....we had our landscapers do it....but it really didn't take much time......it is barely 4 feet at the highest point


http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/a...n/DSCF2476.jpg

[KnKShowmom]

We used the same type of block - the hardest part was the footings and first row to be sure everything was straight and level - after that it was like stacking legos

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...type=3&theater

If you can rent a bobcat for the weekend you can use it for initial excavating, carrying blocks (75# each) and backfilling - well worth the $$$

[clanter]

80# bags of concrete mix dry stacked .... hosed down after stacking...this was is about 20 years old

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...MVC-009S-1.jpg

[ArabDiva]

80# bags of concrete mix dry stacked .... hosed down after stacking...this was is about 20 years old

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...MVC-009S-1.jpg

wow, that's pretty cool.

I'm assuming the paper just disintigrates after awhile?

[Mickey the Marcher]

80# bags of concrete mix dry stacked .... hosed down after stacking...this was is about 20 years old

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...MVC-009S-1.jpg

There has to be more to it than just dry bags of concrete stacked on top of each other.
There is no engineer in the world that would ok a wall constructed that high like that.

[horsepoor]

I wasn't sure if the OP meant a retaining wall to hold back the slope, or just to retain footing within the arena (what I hear called kick boards, I think?)? That latter idea is what I thought of when I read RR ties, but maybe I'm wrong.

[ReSomething]

There has to be more to it than just dry bags of concrete stacked on top of each other.
There is no engineer in the world that would ok a wall constructed that high like that.

If the sacks were there primarily for erosion control they might, if that was the natural sidewall angle. We had rip rap put in and just followed the existing contour.

Two people can do it but it sure helps to rent a bobcat to start and finish it. We used little bitty landscaping blocks to tidy up a flowerbed and at the tallest it was 3' - for our location it worked fine but they didn't recommend over 2' for that size block.

[Serigraph]

I wasn't sure if the OP meant a retaining wall to hold back the slope, or just to retain footing within the arena (what I hear called kick boards, I think?)? That latter idea is what I thought of when I read RR ties, but maybe I'm wrong.

Horsepoor you are correct, I changed the title. I did mean just something to hold footing in. Those retaining wall are very nice, but I don't need something that elaborate.

[clanter]

There has to be more to it than just dry bags of concrete stacked on top of each other.
There is no engineer in the world that would ok a wall constructed that high like that.

this wall was a temporary or supposed to have been temporary wall...that was about twenty-five years ago....this photo is from seven years ago, however it looks the same today as it did twenty-five years ago

This wall is an erosion control wall, the embankment is natural and was in place. The reason for the wall was up stream construction was going to increase future water flow.

There are anchors into the embankment and rebar driven down through the bags to tie the wall together.

The bags were punctured after placing to allow water penetration however now there are products available specifically to used in this manor. In those products bags do not have the plastic seals.

See below link
http://www.sciopackaging.com/general.htm

[mpsbarnmanager]

Do you already have a fence around it? We have a 4' high wood fence around ours with 2 boards, and one board on the bottom to keep the footing in. We used pressure treated 1x6 deck boards.

[horsepoor]

We just built an arena and will be fencing. What we are going to do is set posts 8' apart for the fence, then use two 2"x6" tongue and groove boards attached at the posts to retain the footing. Our arena guy recommended the t&g for strength, and that gives us a full 12" height (well, actually 11", I suppose, as lumber measures less than the given numbers). Our arena is slightly sloped to one side, so the boards will rest right on the base on the uphill and sides, then be about 1.5" above the base on the downhill side to allow water to flow under and out.

we have used RR ties for retaining in other areas, like along a new road we added. For those, the guys drove rebar in to hold the ties in place. I'm sure you could use that same method to edge an arena. But would have to allow water to escape somewhere...others may have a suggestion (maybe leave gaps?).

[Serigraph]

No fence around it. It is just sand and it drops off two sides. There is the perimeter fencing not too far away from it but nothing that would work as a barrier.

I don't want to put a lot into this as we won't be staying at our place forever. My footing is nice and was pricey and it's getting washed away so I guess seems like RR ties are the best option. I would think the water could run under them for some drainage, no?

ETA: Has anyone successfully used landscape timbers that are a bit smaller and easier to handle?

[Ambitious Kate]

Yes, you want to think about drainage - if you have an engineer or someone ask them how. Gaps, yes, and maybe a short section of pvc pipe going through a gap (below the surface) or something, I don't know what would be appropriate, you can ask a driveway contractor or the contractor who made your arena or something exactly how, but don't put up the retaining barrier without making sure your arena is drained well. Even without the retainging barrier, I hope you have installed drainage.

Simply sloping the arena to one side, for example, isn't going to work over the long haul, because the material is just going to wash towards the slope, eventually. You have to install drainage - I'm making this up, but something like digging out the base, laying pipe with holes in it, putting down coarse gravel, then contractor's sand then crushed bluestone. If you put up a footing wall then there has to be some kind of allowance for surface runnoff, if your arena isn't drained well enough to eliminate surface runnoff. Without the gaps in the footing wall, the footing might, depending on what it is, wash out.

[bathsheba8542]

In my experience, I pulled up all the boards that were for retention because they just held the water in and turned the arena into a wading pool. I removed them, regraded, and because it drains so well now, there is very little footing that drifts away and it's rideable even after the wettest rains.

[horsepoor]

I found this document that shows a schematic of a fenced ring with boards like what we are doing, and then also for an unfenced ring with RR ties for retention. BC Riding Ring PDF. It shows a gap for the RR ties also, but doesn't really explain how to do it.

The wading pool effect is why you can't just lay the boards or ties right on the ground. Water has to be allowed to escape. I'm in a rainy area (over 40" annually), so if I don't put something to keep the footing in, it will most certainly wash away. A less rainy climate won't have as much of a problem, and I'm sure footing choice makes a difference as well.

[Serigraph]

Thanks for the PDF! I'll read it.

[KnKShowmom]

The two sides of our ring which didn't get the retaining wall each drop off at about a 45 degree angle for about 10-20 feet. We looked into landscape ties and post and boards and in the end we put drain tile all around the ring with a crown and then built a earth berm up along the edge behind it to about 12 inches.

If we get a hard rain you might see a bit of a puddle at one end but it drains quickly and we don't lose any footing. The only thing I have ever had to do, was after a bad storm which dumped 5 inches in two days and we did have a bit of a lake, so I started a siphon to help with the drainage. The water, however, never went over the berm and all of a footing was intact.

[Valentina_32926]

These are nice and really "lock" together nicely.

http://www.versa-lok.com/architect-engineer

[KnKShowmom]

No fence around it. It is just sand and it drops off two sides. There is the perimeter fencing not too far away from it but nothing that would work as a barrier.

I don't want to put a lot into this as we won't be staying at our place forever. My footing is nice and was pricey and it's getting washed away so I guess seems like RR ties are the best option. I would think the water could run under them for some drainage, no?

ETA: Has anyone successfully used landscape timbers that are a bit smaller and easier to handle?

If the water can run out of your ring you will lose some footing along with it.

The hardest part is that you already have your footing in place so changing your drainage is going to be close to impossible at this point unless you can move some of the footing to add drain tiles along the inside of the railroad ties. Then the water will go down and out intead of through the ties with the material.