How do I stop dirt from seeping at bottom of retaining wall
by oestrada11
How do I stop dirt from seeping at bottom of retaining wall
by oestrada11
9 Comments
I think water is depositing dirt there before drying up. Yikes.
Might wanna improve or repair the drainage for the retaining wall itself.
I believe that hole needs to stay unplugged so that moisture can drain, so I’m not sure there is much you can do except sweep it periodically or hide it behind something
Some sort of insect or maybe worms are pushing the fine dirt out. There are little trails in the dust. Ants, or dare I say it… termites?
Intentional weep hole, dont plug it
The drainage behind the wall has probably filled with dirt and now it’s exiting through the weep hole. I think the only way to properly fix this is to dig out all the soil behind the wall and install new filter fabric on the dirt and wall side, perf pipe with filter sock and drain rock.
The drainage probably wasn’t done properly when it was built. It should have a perforated pipe and gravel fill wrapped in filter fabric so that dirt doesn’t get through. Plenty of contractors just backfill it with dirt and don’t bother with drainage
Not a pro, so there may be better ways to fix it. When I do a retaining wall, or even my taller rock edgings, I wrap my drain rock in non woven geo fabric (pvc drain pipe at the bottom to collect/move water), then back fill in with soil. That keeps soil from infiltrating the drain rocks and plugging up drain holes, plus keeps the rocks and wall from being affected by the freeze/thaw cycle in my region. The fabric behind your wall might have moved, allowing soil in.
I’d dig down in that spot where the drain hole is and adjust your fabric or add more. Make sure soil isn’t clogging it. Return your rocks, close the old fabric securely back over the rocks. Sometimes I use long u-shape landscape pins to ensure the fabric stays in place. You might check other spots while you’re in there.
Have you tried your-ine? They sell it at home depot
Probably ants