Front yard retaining wall DIY with Adbri Masonry interlocking blocks Versasmooth

“In today’s DIY video, I’ll guide you through the process of building a stylish and durable front yard retaining wall using Adbri Masonry Versasmooth blocks. We’ll explore each step from preparation to finishing touches, ensuring a professional result that enhances your outdoor space. Get ready to transform your landscape with this simple and rewarding project!

#melbourne #diy #retainingwall #masonry #versasmooth

[Music] hi guys it was long awaited project uh to build retaining wall and pathway for my front yard there were a couple of options uh to consider like usually people can build it with the wood slipper and then put moreu wood on top of it but I dropped that option because I find it uh it require more maintenance and would become rotten over the period of time and then I decided to use adro mro verog blocks the problem was uh uh when I started uh looking into YouTube I didn’t find uh such project uh in detail uh especially for the front yard although there are a couple of garden bed and other retaining wall projects were there from the company itself but there was uh no complete project DIY type so then I decided uh it would be good idea to document all those important step I didn’t complete completely coverage each and every detail but the important steps and the important detail you will find in this video so the main purpose of this video uh to show you from start to end uh how much time it will take it will take and how much effort it was uh required to finish this project and uh what were the challenges what are the mistakes uh so I think uh you will find um if you want to build this project you will find it quite informative uh you if you still see need any help or any um suggestion please feel free to drop your comments so I can reply back thank you guys uh let’s um watch I want to construct the wall I already started working as you can see that the uh footing is uh in progress so what I did I just dig almost uh 6 to 8 in and then uh for 100 mm uh I just added a crush rocks it’s not compacted yet but I will compact there are other options uh to build this is actually you can put uh some concrete if you want to really solid but I would not go with that option because uh for me it it will be like a more labor intensive so I will just simply use this cross Rock compact it and and make it a dead level and then once it’s done then I will install the block if I could be able to see from this angle there will be a path in front of the door and both side will be having the retaining wall and in the center I will build steps using decking technique and also I I’ll add deck on the front door 27th of March 2024 and uh the bricks and the Caps are delivered today in the morning there 67 caps and 130 bricks they dropped two pallet now you and I have ordered eight plus eight Corner blocks left corner and white colner so my preparation is also almost done I just need to compact the crush walk and then remove some soil then I will install those bricks now let’s see how it turns out after [Music] installation so satisfying to cut this so finally it’s [Music] done the color of the bricks is charcoal just remove this yes so the counting is complete and they G me a little bit extra breaks in case if there’s any damage but so far there’s no damage at all I think it look good I’m just trying to get the idea that uh how high this wall will become so will be like uh 500 mm 200 plus 200 + 100 mm so it’s like half a meter which is like I think it’ll be fine in my case so yeah yes will [Music] be get mod and I just uh started installing those blocks it’s very difficult to actually record each and every step so what I did so far I just uh create this level surface with the a small bed of crush rocks on top of uh Crush rocks I just install almost uh 2 in of stone dust and then compact with this and compactor so far um this is my progress this is almost took 1 hour the tool I’m using is a rubber Millet level wheelbarrow large level broom shovel so let me continue with this line because the first line is the difficult one you have to level you have to make the line straight so there all calculation should be right otherwise it will be difficult for on the later stage so here I’m trying to install two bricks layer and then there will be like the third one I didn’t complete because it was just useless I just put the bricks on top of it it’s kind of a smart move okay let me just continue my work and then I will update when I finish this first line hi again so I have finished uh one first line as you can see and uh it was not that difficult now I need to put Crush St so I was a bit worried for the structural strength and then uh somebody who is actually experienced gave me an idea that you can actually install these bags to provide the structural Sports it could the wall could not be topple front or back like because because of the soil pressure so I will I just put this one uh so I decided to actually alternative one long one short bag and then I’ll put the crush dog so for example if this one I’ll show you when I put a concrete block on top of it so as you can see now I put the second block and this pag become in the middle I already hammer it before installing the second block so it only covered the two level of bricks and here I will put another one which cover the three level of bricks here also because these are the corner that require more strength so it’s almost um 5:00 I completed the three layers of the Bricks now I just need to cut the bricks and install on these edges and then I need to put the enforce reinforcement bars and pour the concrete in it yeah so as I mentioned the first briak was like kind of challenging and then it is just like aligning one top of another so now I’m going to cut to fix on this end on that end and cutting is really messy job because uh all the dust particle can go so you you do need to use protective gear glasses and mask that I’m going to use good afternoon today’s 1th March 2024 and I just prepared this side as you can see I have digged and now I will put the crush Rock and compact it for the preparation and I did extract the L Bo box and and move it on this side and I think it will look good when there will be or maybe I’ll will just check later other than that I just installed these iron brackets to protect the wall to topping as you can see I put this I did it with the screws and there’s one missing I will install one more and then I will put the silicone so so far this is the progress tomorrow I will install the vix on this side and then I will show you the update see you tomorrow today is 31st March and uh I resume my work and started with the challenging task so this is uh what I did I can’t fit one brick here so I just cut the brick into two pieces Al as you can see here this piece is separate this piece is separate and then it’s stuck these s will be like solid and not moving and then I will fill the sand in this particular area so I will continue from this side after filling the sand and the next layer of the brick wheel also I need to do some trick because I cannot bu this pipe so but I know that whenever it need to be open it will be mess like obviously the bricks won’t able won’t be able to move easily let hi again so today I have completed this uh task which I want to build this wall on this side and as I mentioned earlier the challenge was to fix this pipe and see I just cut the brake and this brick actually go on top of another one so uh on this side there is no cut so this is beautifully fit in this area and later uh I will fill this cavity with the soil and plant some flower on it but I will make a wooden box here like this on top of uh this level to avoid to go any sof oil in that pipe and pipe entrance will be remain accessible so this is how it looks so far it’s not completed yet it’s just like um I just done the main part tomorrow if I’m not tired I will just uh start cutting the bricks because uh the next I have to create create a brck line along with this concrete till that point here that will be brick line and this one I need to complete this Loop like here here and this there so this Loop will be completed and once all this done then as you can see I just put this fence uh pag for the uh reinforcement I’ll pour the concrete not concrete but cross rocks will be sufficient here and then there will be a Col to make a column like a look I will put one more um layer of blocks like here there and there so it will be like one more more layer height will been greased only for this area and this where I can put some part in the future and then uh I will remove this latter box and exactly create the same wall here but that wall will not starting from the ground it will start from this level so it mean it will be mostly like a decorative fake wall going exactly same like that so then both both will be look symmetrical I think uh it’s just looking near 99% aligned with the duo that which I can see but I’m not sure because I didn’t put the string it was just I was following the brick line along with my level I’m actually a little bit retired from last few days I’m continuously working on this project so you can post any question on the comment I can uh reply on that or if you need any advice tips I can also give you that on that one so because I didn’t see on the YouTube although the bricks are available in Melbourne but I didn’t see it so now I think this will be the complete project of retaining wall of the front yard today is uh 6th of April Saturday and I’m just uh finishing this I have to install the other brick Lin on this side just like over there and I just started filling these with the crush rocks because when you put the crush rock it will actually lock the brakes they won’t move so this is uh my crush rocks and then I’ll put stone dust on top of it to make the Surface smooth I have ordered extra Crush Rock I will just use it when I’m building the stairs with the decking I’m also installing the eggy pipe it’s a smaller one I think 50 mm so this is not the ideal way the way I’m doing because you need to wrap that eggy pipe along with the I think thin membrane so it not be cled with the soil but I will just not use anything I will just directly put the crush rocks on top of it so here the slope on going on that side starting from here so it’s good uh to have that eggy pip but you can also if you don’t want you can avoid so today I have just completed the this far so this is done I just need to put column on top of it tomorrow concrete Crush locks are also poured into this one and this one also done in with the crush box this is temporary GL box so in order to access the stor water pipe I just put this wooden structure so in this this side I’ll still can put some soil and grow some plants and also in this side I can also grow some plants the same thing I have done on this side uh but obviously there will be the structure was like that I cannot grow plant on Inside So currently it look like that and the thing is I have more bricks than I could use in this project so I was thinking to utilize those bricks so I’m just making that small platform over there which will be done later come under the deck morning uh yesterday I installed the Caps uh with the Leal Nails as you can see all the walls now have the caps [Music] this structure is actually not uh I just designed this because I will build this structure here not exactly on the blue lines but it will be like extended so I will maybe later use it for the garden B or maybe I’ll use as a decking boundary so this work is almost completed there are a few minor things I need just need to put the soil adjust some things I also have that stone dust and Crush Rock which will be used here and uh there is another wall I want to build along with this one to actually have a small flower but just like this so today is raining so I don’t think I will do any work but uh this is how it looks so far okay thank [Music] you good morning to is uh 12000 Pro and uh I was actually why am laughing because I did I did a mistake uh within my retaining wall so the level of the training horizontal level was not perfect and and this was happened because I didn’t use a string I thought I could uh get away with it but no it’s a lesson learn well lesson learned so just uh want to highlight if you want to start this project use the string line uh and make sure you you don’t need to do this re rework thing which I’m going to do now so here so this is the area which I have to dig again and uh as you can see the problem of the problem is in this level so from the top cap one 2 3 is fine and four starting from cap four and five and onward it is just uh kind of going decline on this side which I need to fix so lesson learn make sure you don’t repeat this mistake otherwise you have to you know waste your energy and resources not resources but energy for sure thank you so my project is almost uh near to completion once I done this I just put uh the the soil back and make it level and then this is I will just glue the caps again so hopefully I will fix this in this weekend till then bye hi guys today is 16th of April and I finally finished this uh Brick Works I started almost I think 10 days ago so it require it actually cost me uh approximately $2500 Australian dollar and roughly 40 hour of uh man work individual so you can plan accordingly as you can see here so I just used almost 130 bricks and um the standard bricks adbury machinary and there are 20 Corner blocks in total and 150 caps so these are are the Caps which I actually install on top of the brick with the liquid na so this project is almost finished now I have to move on with the decking and then the front yard I still not yet decided what to put here maybe I’m not sure I will decide at the end so this is how it looks thanks for watching bye