Rock Wall Repair
and Other Concrete Repairs Along the Way
October 31, 2014 - March 24, 2015
December 2015 - May 6, 2016
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October 31, 2014 -- The weather in El Paso is getting
cooler and the monsoon rains have stopped. It
is now the perfect time to tackle yet another
problem with this house....the rock walls.
The entire perimeter of this home's property, except
for the front, has rock walls. The height of
the walls vary from 1' to 6'. There are also
retaining walls in some areas because this house was
built on a slight hill. You can't beat rock walls to
keep dogs in and to keep everyone else out. El
Paso has a lot of rock walls using the local
materials on hand. You rarely see a wood fence
here.
The problem with rock walls is that they don't last
forever. Periodically, you have to do minor
repairs and maintenance to prevent rock wall
failure. Either the rocks start flaking away
or the cement starts to fail.
Finding someone to repair rock walls in this area is
easy. There are a lot of companies that do
this work locally or you can pick-up some men
looking for work downtown to do the work for cash ;)
You take your chances with this last option.
We hired a company to do this work on all of our
rock walls back in 2009. A lot of this work
has since started to crumble. There were also
two retaining walls that they could not get to at the
time because of a huge rosemary hedge. Thanks
to our dog Roxie, who loves to break off bush
branches, this hedge has now been "pruned".
The rock retaining walls are now totally exposed and
need the most work. The left wall will be
done first. I will be doing all of this
work myself, to make sure it is done right. |

One of
the damaged
rock retaining walls in the backyard |
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The
material that I will be using is Quikrete
Vinyl Concrete Patcher. I used the
same stuff to make my faux tile/bricks (see
this project on this page)
It is easy to mix once you get the hang of
the patcher / water ratio. You want
the mix to look crumbly like pie dough.
But it will hold together in a ball if you
grab it by hand. If it is runny add
more of the patcher. Only make what you can
work with in 30 minutes. |
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For me, this means a lot of small
batches because I work slow.
The section of this wall with the most
damage was the left corner. Some of
the large rocks had started to fall out in
the past year. I had saved the larger
rocks.
After brushing all of the loose dirt and
sand off of the area, I wet down the area
and then started to apply the concrete
patcher.
The only way to do this job is by layers.
Fill in the holes, stick a rock in place and
put more of the concrete mix. Fill more
holes, put on some mix. |

Mix should have consistency of pie dough |
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I was actually working on 4 different areas.
I would let the concrete patch set while I
worked on another area.
I also worked on the corner
section of the rock wall above the retaining wall
that runs along the brick wall because it was
damaged also. There was also some mortar
missing between some bricks that I also filled.
Most of this work was done with my gloved hands.
I just grabbed globs of the mix and squished it into
the cracks and crevices. When I do the
finishing work on the top, I will use my trowel for
a smoother finish. |

Close-up of most damaged area of this wall |
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Upper
wall started - Rocks placed in corner to build up
area |

More mix
added and rocks placed in damaged area on right |

Work so
far as of October 31, 2014 |
The photo above shows the work
completed for today.
To get the wall to this point, it took 3 hours and
one 40lb bag of the vinyl concrete patcher. I
will let the patch dry for a day before I finish
this corner section.
Running total = One 40lb bags / 3 hours labor
November 1, 2014 -- Second day working on the
rock wall. The plan is to finish the second
40lb bag of patcher today and at least finish this corner
of the wall.
I managed to finish the corner and the section on
the nearby wall and fill in some other cracks and
holes along the wall. With my last batch of
patcher from this bag, I also started on the section
in the photo below. |

Another
bad segment of this wall which is getting ready to
fall apart |

Work
completed as of November 1, 2014 |
As I work along the walls, I am
also placing the cement on all of the flaking stone
and cracks.
Today's work took about the same as yesterday,
around 3 hours. I do sweep between each batch
I mix to get rid of the debris on the ground.
This adds on to my time. This is a necessity
with the dogs who wander into my work zone.
They like to try and eat the cement mix. After
each day's work, I put some portable barriers around
the drying patch areas to keep the dogs from
bothering it.
Why don't I lock the dogs in the house? Two of
the dogs are teething puppies who have taken a
liking to all of the house moulding. If they
are outside, I can keep an eye on them.
I need to buy more patcher. After working on
this section, I now have a rough idea of how many
more bags I will need....... a lot.
Running total = Two 40lb bags / 6 hours labor |
November 9, 2014 -- There were a few rain
day delays while working on this wall. So work
proceeded slowly. This particular wall is now
complete.
I also went back and smoothed out the bottom of the
wall where it meets the patio. The reason I
did this has to do with sweeping. All of the
little cracks and crevices made sweeping against
this wall a pain. So I added the
concrete patch along the bottom of the wall and
smoothed out the edge. Scroll up to the photo
above and look at the bottom of the wall to see the
difference. |

Work
completed as of November 9, 2014 |

Repair
also included dirt side of wall |

Repair
extended around corner of wall |

Repair
also included along stairs |
Running total = Five 40lb bags / 15 hours labor
After the
concrete patch material was dry on this
wall, I added a coat of Quikrete Acrylic
Concrete Cure & Seal. I applied it
with a brush over the entire rock wall.
I already had this product on-hand from my
faux tile / brick project so I
figured, why not. It goes on real
quick. It helps to seal the concrete
from water.
A note about this Cure & Seal. It does
put a sheen on coated surface. For my
purposes, this was all right.
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The next step for this wall is to
"shrink wrap" it. In other words, I am going
to paint the wall. OH NO! I can just
hear the purists screaming, "No! Don't paint
it!"
As for this wall, it is mostly cement at this point.
The rocks that are exposed will continue to erode.
By painting the wall with a good quality masonry
paint, I will prolong this wall from crumbling away
in the future.
I am using the same paint I used on my
stucco
walls. To see how this will look,
see the small retaining wall in the photo below.
I repaired this wall in September 2014. It was
in pretty bad shape. The entire end of the
wall was heavily damaged from skate boarders and
crab grass from the neighbor's yard. (The
green you see in their yard is not grass, it is
trimmed weeds.)
This repair job and paint has held up pretty good
considering the day after I repaired and painted it,
the house received about 3" of rain from a storm.
This wall was previously painted an orange color.
Warning: Once you paint a rock wall ,it
is pretty much permanent. It is very difficult to go
back to just the rock wall. So think very hard
about this option before you actually do it. |

Small
retaining wall that was repaired September 2014.
Repainted with Sher-lastic. |
November 11, 2014 -- After waiting 24 hours
for the Cure & Seal to dry, I painted the finished
rock wall 2 coats. The photo below shows the
finished paint job. I really like how it
looks. The whole wall just looks less heavy
and clean.
The other advantage to the paint, is that any damage
to the wall will be immediately apparent which will
prompt me to repair it quickly.
The type of paint used is Sherwin Williams
Sher-Lastic. The color matches the exterior
color I have been using on the exterior wood and
stucco walls around the house. This wall took about
3/4 gallons of paint |

Repaired
wall painted with two coats of paint |

The next
wall to repair in the backyard |

Edge of damaged wall to be repaired |
The next wall to repair
is the longer retaining wall in the
backyard.
This damage to this wall is primarily at the
top of the wall as seen in the photo on the
left. I will have to build-up and
reshape the top so it will match the wall I
just completed.
I also needed to smooth out the wall along
this edge of the stairs.
The hump at the top of the stairs also
needed to be built up to match the height
and pitch of the other side of the stairs.
Along dirt or grass edges, I removed the
dirt 2-3 inches to expose the wall.
This way the repairs and paint will be below
the dirt edges. |
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Corner of
wall repaired. Hump at top of stairs built up.
Inside edge at top repaired and built-up.
Wall along stairs smoothed out. |
Running total = Six 40lb bags / 20 hours labor
/ 3/4 gallon paint |
November 14, 2014 -- I took some time out
from the rock walls on
this day to address an area of the terraced patio
that had spalled concrete where the aggregate was
exposed. You could not safely walk on this
area without shoes. Also, when sweeping this
area, it was almost impossible to get everything.
So I spent the day patching this area and some
surrounding cracks. |

Badly
spalled area of terraced patio. Prepared area
cleaned and fenced off. |
What this cement patio really needs, is to be dug
out and a new cement patio poured. I estimate
that for this would probably run in the $1,000's.
And chances are....the new slabs would probably slip
and crack again over time. So I am thinking of
ways to cosmetically make this area more appealing
after I patch up the damaged areas.
I also started resurfacing the stairs
between the two rock walls I am currently
working on. The risers of the stairs
were starting to spall. I am going to
do a faux brick treatment to the stairs
(see this here.... )
The large cracks between the stairs and rock wall
were repaired when I repaired the rock walls. |

Patch done on spalled area |
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November 22, 2014 -- There were a few days in
the past week where the temperatures dropped to
freezing. When it warmed up, work proceeded.
I needed to finish up the faux brick treatment to
the stairs (details
here...) while working on the long retaining wall.
This wall has most of the damage along the top and
also needs to be heightened to match the shorter
retaining wall to the right of the stairs. Along the
far right end of the wall, it is not keeping in
the dirt. The dirt is ending up on the lawn.
You can see this in the photo below. The wall
slants downward toward the corner. |

Faux
brick stairs completed and rock wall work continues |
I have
completed about one third of this wall.
You can see in the photo on the right that
the top of the wall that was damaged has
been filled in and shaped.
This section of the wall was sealed and then
painted 2 coats of paint.
Since many areas of this wall need to be
built up, I am working all along the wall,
building up small sections at a time with
layers. While waiting for one area to
set, I work on another.
On the far right end of the retaining wall,
the wall meets with two other walls.
This section needs a lot of attention which
is shown in the photo below. |

Rock wall along top edge repaired |
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Corner of wall where 3 walls meet |
The
corner section has deteriorated over time.
You can see that the elevated wall on the
left was patched in 2009. However,
there is an indented section where rocks
were missing and not replaced.
I am rebuilding the indented section.
One rock was already placed in at the bottom
and I will rebuild up this area.
Along the top of the wall on the right, the
corner is a crumbling mess. More rocks
and patch will be used to build up this area
to the bottom of the fence.
This wall on the right will also be
repaired. There was a ivy vine here
previously that died during a bad freeze, so
the wall is now exposed.
3-4 inches will also be added to the top of
the long retaining wall. |
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Running total
= 12- 40lb bags / 60 approx. hours labor / 1-1/2 gallons paint
(this includes 1 bag used on spalled patio area and
1 bag used on the faux brick stairs) |

Corner area being built-up |
November 24, 2014 -- Work on the corner
section of this wall is proceeding.
The photo to the left shows where I have
added more rocks and cement to build up the
corner.
I have also added a couple inches to the top
of the wall.
The goal is to get this corner to be
somewhat smooth, so rain water just runs off
the wall. I have a couple more layers
to do.
For a few hours today I needed to shift
gears to patch an area of one of the rock
walls in the front.
This front rock wall had a bottom section
badly damaged that I needed to start fixing
before the whole wall collapsed.
It is not easy to see on the photo below,
but several large rocks had gone missing
from the bottom that support the rest of the
wall. |
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I used a whole bag of patcher on
this wall to start building up this area. The
holes were filled and several rocks were added.
I still have more work to do here and will include a
photo when finished. In the meantime, I have
stopped any further damage and threat of the wall
collapsing. |

A section
of a front yard rock wall that needed immediate
attention |
Running total
= 15- 40lb bags / 70 approx. hours labor / 1-1/2 gallons paint
(this includes 1 bag used on spalled patio area and
1 bag used on the faux brick stairs) |
November 27, 2014 -- Yes, this was
Thanksgiving. I work everyday when the
weather is good.
The corner section pictured at right was
finally smoothed out. Or about as
smooth as you can get a rock wall.
I still need to work on the area behind the
pole which is being built-up a little every
day. I am filling in concrete between
the pole and the wall. The reason for
this is trash and water. Trash gets
blown in behind the pole. When it
rains, water gets trapped in all of the
nooks and crannies.
Starting on the bottom I am working my way
up stuffing the concrete in the cracks.
I finished the top edge of the long backyard
retaining wall.
As seen in the photo below. It took a
while to increase the height and then smooth
everything out.
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Corner area now done. Still working
behind pole. |
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Top along long wall repaired |
I filled
in all of the other cracks and holes on the
side of the wall.
The Cure & Seal was applied to the wall and
the wall was then painted.
The photo below shows the now repaired and
painted backyard retaining walls.
After the paint had dried, I moved the soil
back that I had moved away from the wall
before repairs.
The corner area had a lot of rubble.
Basically, chunks of cement that had chipped
off of the upper walls over the years.
There will be a struggle next week rolling
my trash bin, full of rocks, to the street.
I am doing some repairs to the tall wall to
the right of the corner section. I am
only going as far as the first pole.
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Long
retaining wall finally repaired and painted |
This long 6 foot tall wall which
goes along the back of the backyard, (see photo
above, far right). is not in too bad of shape.
It needs some work. The other side of the wall
is in a commercial lot and is about 9 feet tall on
that side. I need to drive over to where the
back of the lot is, to inspect it.
If this wall needs work, I will have to take my
ladder there, run a hose over the wall, and set-up
my cement mixing station in the back of my SUV.
It will be a hassle.
In the meantime, I will continue along the upper
south terrace wall. This wall has also sunk down
toward the corner, which means I will have to
build-up this wall. This job will be
complicated by the bottom of the neighbors chain
link fence, where they have attached a privacy
screen. |

Next wall
to work on. On top of terrace patio, South terrace
wall. |
November 29, 2014 -- On the south terrace
wall, I dug down below the wall around 5" so that my
repairs would be below the soil line. I worked
on this bottom area first because I wanted to have
this area complete and the soil back to being
level, before I started working on the top of the
wall. This was for safety reason. I need
a level work area to avoid falling.
After repairing the wall and a part of the spalled
patio, I applied the Cure & Seal. I then
painted this lower section of the wall to further
waterproof it before moving the dirt back into
place. |

South
terrace wall repairs done to bottom below soil line.
Painted before moving soil back. |
While I was waiting for the application of Cure &
Seal to dry, I worked on the section of the 6' wall
and finished most of it, up to the first pole.
On close inspection of this wall, there are some
additional areas with cracks that need to be filled.
I will fill some of these while I work on the
terrace walls. |

Part of
6' wall along back end of backyard... before repair |

Part of
6' wall... after repair - Scroll all the way to the
bottom to see pictures of this section of wall
completely covered with cement in 2016. |
November 30, 2014 -- After moving the soil
back at the bottom of the south terrace wall corner,
I looked at the top of the wall. There is a
small connection of the wall with the neighbor's
monster 12' tall x 2' thick wall. The top part
of the connection between our two walls has
basically crumbled away.
What you see in the photo below,
is after I cleaned up all of the branches, leaves,
and cracked concrete rubble. The large chunk
you see in the photo is secure. The goal here
is to rebuild this section through the chain link
fence and up to the top of my wall. In
addition, this wall will be heightened a few inches
so it is even with the rest of the wall. |

Corner of
south terrace wall where it meets neighbor's wall on
the other side of chain link fence |
Running total
= 18- 40lb bags / 114 approx. hours labor / 2-1/2 gallons paint
(this includes 1 bag used on spalled patio area and
1 bag used on the faux brick stairs) |
December 1, 2014 --
After two bags of cement, it is beginning to
look like I am getting somewhere with this
wall.
Yesterday I added cement to the section
where the walls meet through the chain link
fence.
Since this section of the wall needs to have
the height increased by as much as 6" in
areas, I also need to add cement to the the
sides to compensate for the height increase.
To prepare for this, I add cement along the
bottom where the wall starts to angle to a
point. On each glob of cement, I
create a small ledge on top to catch the
other layers of cement that will be going on
top of it.
I let this set before adding the rest of the
cement. You can see this on the photo
to the right along where the chain link
fence is.
Today I finished smoothing out the wall
joint area and continued layering the
cement. |

Building up corner and ledge added to fence
side |
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The photo below shows the results
after finishing the second bag. You can see
the different layers as I build-up the wall height.
|

Build-up
of rock wall continues in layers |
Running total
= 23- 40lb bags / 127 approx. hours labor / 2-1/2 gallons paint
(this includes 1 bag used on spalled patio area and
1 bag used on the faux brick stairs) |
December 2, 2014 --
Work on the south terrace wall continues.
The photo on the right shows the wall after
4 bags of concrete. This section of
the wall is now about 5" higher at the
lowest point.
December 3, 2014 --
I placed the Cure & Seal on the section of
the 6' wall section I finished and the south
terrace wall up to the patio edge.
Work continued on the south terrace wall.
Another 4 feet was completed.
At the end of the day I placed a coat of
paint on the section of the wall up to the
patio edge.
December 4, 2014 --
Rain was in the forecast today so I spent
the day fencing off the entire terrace area
from the dogs.
No more dogs jumping on the walls and
"pruning" the bushes. |

Section of south terrace wall after 4 bags |
|

Section
of south terrace wall work continues. Painted
up to patio edge. |
Running total
= 25- 40lb bags / 141 approx. hours labor / 2-3/4 gallons paint
(this includes 1 bag used on spalled patio area and
1 bag used on the faux brick stairs) |
December 8, 2014 --
The south terrace patio wall is now
complete. I have started on the east terrace
patio wall. Most of the damage is along the
top and some areas behind a grapevine that are in
pretty bad shape. |

South
terrace patio wall repaired and painted |
When I
hit the corner of this wall, I added a
little wall decoration to the corner.
Hey, for all of the hard labor I am putting
into the walls, I am going to own it!
I just made a little hump shape and then
added my initials.
I am also placing paint on the neighbor's
side of the wall. Even though this is
technically their side of the wall, they do
not have access to it nor can they see it
because of the privacy screen.
On our side of the wall, you can see
part of the other side. Since I used
my cement to make these repairs, I am going
to paint it to protect the cement. |

Corner decoration added to wall |
|

East terrace patio wall partially repaired
on top |
The
photo on the left shows a part of the east
terrace patio wall.
Work on this wall is complicated by the
neighbor's fence and water pipe. I
have to keep pushing them out of the way to
get my hands underneath.
There is also a grapevine on my side which I
move out the way when I get to it.
December 14, 2014 --
Work is continuing along the east terrace
patio wall.
There was extensive damage to the wall
behind the grape vine that took several days
of layering to complete.
I was finally able to move the grape vine
back over to the right. Believe it or
not, this vine used to cover the entire wall
and the fence. A bad freeze in 2011
wiped out most of the vine. Some of
the old vine branches grew into the fence
which is why you see some still stuck on it. |
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Running total
= 30- 40lb bags / 172 approx. hours labor / 3 gallons paint
(this includes 1 bag used on spalled patio area and
1 bag used on the faux brick stairs) |
The
neighbor needs to make some cuts on his side
to remove them. I did everything I
could on my side. But wait....the
idiot put up the privacy screen, so I am now
stuck looking at the old branches. Sigh....
I also took some time to do a faux brick
treatment to the plant holes against the
wall.
To
see how I did this, please go to this
page....
The huge cracks on the patio were also
filled up. I will be doing a faux
flagstone treatment to the whole patio at a
later date.
I am hoping to finish the east terrace patio
wall before colder temperatures put my work
on hold.
December 31, 2014 --
Despite much colder weather, I am continuing
to work on the rock wall. It is a
guessing game, between the varying weather
forecasts, to pick days to work where the
evening temperatures remain above freezing. |

Work continuing on east terrace patio wall |
|
I also needed to find the
right combination of layered clothing that kept me
warm but allowed me to roll-up my sleeves above my
elbow so my plastic gloves stay on. I did this
with a combination of sleeveless garments under a
hooded sweatshirt. |

East terrace patio wall on December
18, 2014 |
Each time I come to an inside
corner in the walls, a couple of days are spent
building up the corners. All of the corners
are concave. Not only does this make the wall
look weaker, it is just "off looking" to me.
These sunk-in areas also hold water and collect
debris. So I am taking extra time and cement
to make these inside corners better. |

East terrace patio wall corner.
Right side repaired. Building up inside corner
behind grape vine. |
When I got to the end of the east
terrace wall, I came to the gate latch pole.
This pole, that constantly worked itself loose in
the past, was sitting in a mound of piled concrete
that resembled a volcano. (I neglected to get a
photo of this concrete monstrosity. My apologies.) |

East terrace wall finished along with
pole base replaced. Small electric meter wall
repaired. |

New base
made for gate latch pole |
After
chipping away at the "volcano" and removing
all of the concrete, I removed the pole.
The bottom section of the pole was rusted.
So I cut off the rusted section. I
then cleaned out the pole hole which only
goes down about 4" before it hits a huge
rock, reinserted the pole and built a new
more aesthetically looking base.
Yes, the pole is shorter than the other
side. Which is ok for now. The
latch catches on the pole just fine. I
may go back later and shorten the other side
to make the poles even.
The east terrace rock walls are now
complete. I still need to create the
faux bricks around three plant holes which I
will go back and do when I have a longer
stretch of above freezing temperatures.
For now, the dirt has been moved away from
the hole rims and the decorative river rocks
separated from the soil.
|
|

East
terrace wall complete. Three plant rings left
to add faux bricks to. |
I then completed the short electric meter
wall on both sides. I also put some
cement wedges in the corners in the area
under the meter to help keep dust and water
away from the corners. This little
area catches all kinds of debris when there
are winds. The wedges will make it
easier to sweep. |

Electric
meter wall repaired |

Electric
meter wall painted |
|
Continuing along the east side of
the house, I am now working on the East Wall.
Again I have another inside corner that is concave.
An entire day was spent working on this short
section of the wall. |

East wall
repairs continue on December 29, 2014. Building up
top section and inside corner. |

East wall
short wall completed on December 30, 2014. Inside
corner is no longer concave. |
The next wall to complete is
pictured below. I pruned the three plants
along the wall a couple of weeks ago. I am
still waiting for my pomegranate and Arizona ash
tree to finish dropping their leaves. It is
hard to see, but this wall has a bunch of large
cracks. If I can finish this wall this winter,
I will be one happy camper. |

The rest
of east wall that I need to work on |
Running total
= 45- 40lb bags / 280 approx. hours labor / 6 gallons paint
(this includes 1 bag used on spalled patio area,1 bag used on the faux brick stairs,
1-1/2 bags used on plant hole faux bricks and patio
cracks) |
January 9, 2015 --
Work continues along the east wall. In this
section the rocks are more eroded. In some
areas, the rocks have lost as much as 2-3 inches.
Which means, after chipping off all of the loose
pieces, I have an indented section of the wall.
It is hard to see this in the photo below. You
only realize it when you start touching and brushing
down the surface |

Section
of east wall before repairs |
Because of the eroded rocks, the
wall is almost all cement by the time I am finished
repairing it. See photos below. |

Section
of east wall about half way repaired |
Since this section of the wall
meets a concrete surface, I again smoothed out the
bottom edge and filled in any cracks where the wall
meets the patio surface. |

Section
of east wall repaired up to the dirt edge |

Section
of east wall now repaired and painted up to behind
the pomegranate plant - Jan 7, 2015 |
Work will continue along the east
wall behind the plants. There will be some night
freeze breaks in between the work. Looks like I have
a good stretch of days between Jan 10-15, where the
night does not hit the freezing mark. |
Running total
= 50- 40lb bags / 320 approx. hours labor / 7 gallons paint
(this includes 1 bag used on spalled patio area,1 bag used on the faux brick stairs,
1-1/2 bags used on plant hole faux bricks and patio
cracks) |
January 18, 2015 --
I am getting near the completion of the east wall.
There are some really bad areas that keep me hung up
for a few days as I apply layers. The bad area
pictured below actually made the wall look like it
was ready to fall over. The visible cracks
running horizontally along the wall added to this
illusion. If left alone, the wall probably
would collapse in a few years.
To repair this section, I needed to start on the
bottom on the patio and work up. The cement
will be built up until it reaches the rock.
The new cement will support the rocks that over hang
the bottom of the wall between 2-3 inches. |

Really
bad area of east wall |

Bad area
of east wall being built-up |

Bad area
of east wall continuing to be built-up, January 18,
2015 |
After this day's repairs, the
really bad section is beginning to look less like it
might collapse at any moment.
The other thing I am doing along this wall, which
eats up a lot of time, is moving the darn rocks
around. The rocks had to be moved to remove
the dirt along the wall. Over the years, the
rocks had been covered by dirt. So as I go
along the wall, I am removing the rocks, leveling
the dirt after painting the wall, and placing the
rocks back on top of the soil. Tedious, but
the plant bed looks a lot nicer now. |

East wall
as of January 18, 2015 |
Running total
= 56- 40lb bags / 376 approx. hours labor / 8 gallons paint
(this includes 1 bag used on spalled patio area,1 bag used on the faux brick stairs,
1-1/2 bags used on plant hole faux bricks and patio
cracks) |
January 20, 2015 --
I am almost finished with the short section
of the east wall.
January 21, 2015 -- I almost
finished the short section today until
afternoon rain cut my workday short. I
also started on the taller section of the
wall.
January 22, 2015 -- First
snow day of the year. The house got about 3" of snow
today.
January 23, 2015 -- Snow melting day. Snow on
roof needs to finish melting. Rock wall area
too wet to work in. |

East wall
as of January 20, 2015 |
|
Running total
= 59 - 40lb bags / 394 approx. hours labor / 8-1/2 gallons paint
(this includes 1 bag used on spalled patio area,1 bag used on the faux brick stairs,
1-1/2 bags used on plant hole faux bricks and patio
cracks) |
January 29, 2015 -- Work on the short section
of the east rock wall was completed on the 26th.
I then began to work on the tall section of the east
wall.
The photograph below shows this section of the wall.
What you cannot see in the picture is how almost
every rock on this wall is heavily eroded. For
the past few years, every time I walked out to this
section, I found chunks of rock or concrete on the
patio.
This wall will be entirely covered with concrete so
I do not have to deal with any more debris.
The bottom of the wall where it meets the patio will
be made smooth. The concave inside corner will
be filled in and smoothed out so water and dirt does
not collect in it. |

Next
section of rock wall to work on. The tall section. |

East wall
short wall complete. Work on tall section as
of January 28, 2015. |
The photo below shows the work
completed as of January 29, 2015. The tall
section is almost complete. Rain is being
predicted tonight and the next few days so I will be
taking a break until the weather is better.
You probably think I am almost done with the east
wall. Nope!.....the wall continues into the
front yard and is in pretty bad shape.
Although I can say, I am at least half way done with
this overall project at this point. |

Tall
section of east wall as of January 29, 2015 |
Running total
= 64 - 40lb bags / 424 approx. hours labor / 9 gallons paint
(this includes 1 bag used on spalled patio area,1 bag used on the faux brick stairs,
1-1/2 bags used on plant hole faux bricks and patio
cracks) |
February 6, 2015 --The repairs on the east
wall are now complete up to the tall wall that
separates the side of the property from the front
yard.
There were a couple days of drizzling rain Jan
30-31, 2015 where work was halted. The photo
below shows the now completed side yard. |

East wall as of
February 5, 2015 |
The tall
wall was in pretty good shape compared to
other parts of this section. However,
many of the rocks had chunks that kept
coming off.
So most of the wall was covered with
concrete before painting. The rock
wall where it meets the bricks, had a few
gaps large gaps that were filled and the
transition edge was smoothed out.
Along the bottom edge of the wall, I filled
some cracks and smoothed it out.
The small step and corner in the area
leading to the front patio had cracks and
was starting to spall. Also the corner
was indented and always caught dust and
water. I filled in the corner and made
it even with the edge of the small step.
For extra security I bondo-ed on some cast
iron decorative spears on the wall.
The gas company meter readers have jumped
this wall in the past to read the gas meter.
This bothered me a lot. |

Corner and bottom smoothed out. Spears added
to top edge, |
|
When the gas company was on-site
for another issue, I complained about this wall
jumping. What they did was rotate the gas
meter so the dials face toward the front. So
now the meter readers can read it with binoculars on
the outside of the wall. The spears
will help deter any future wall jumping a little.
Why don't they just walk in the front gate you ask?
We have all gates leading to the outside padlocked
to keep the dogs from getting out. Cable
company worker walked in one day without any warning
or appointment and left a gate wide open. Even
though we have "Beware of Dogs" on all of our gates.
We had to run around the neighborhood to get all of
our dogs back. |

Next
section of east wall to repair in front yard |
Pictured above the next section
of the east wall to be repaired. I will
probably be stuck out here for a month because this
wall is heavily damaged along the bottom edge.
I also have to move the rocks and shovel out the
dirt along the bottom of the wall to make repairs
below the dirt line. |
Running total
= 69 - 40lb bags / 460 approx. hours labor / 9-1/2 gallons paint
(this includes 1 bag used on spalled patio area,1 bag used on the faux brick stairs,
1-1/2 bags used on plant hole faux bricks and patio
cracks) |
February
11, 2015 -- We have had great weather in the
70's for the past week. Work along the badly eroded
east wall in the front yard has continued.
When I talk about bad rock erosion, see the photo
to the right.
Layers of rock just flaking off. In
some areas I need to work carefully. I
am afraid to remove too much loose debris
and have the wall collapse. So I
remove a little, clean the area, then put
some new cement in before moving on to the
next area.
I am again painting soon after the wall is
repaired. This is because I have to
keep moving the bloody rocks around. I
am repairing the wall about 6" below the
soil line. |

Close-up of flaking rocks |
|
So I need to dig down and remove
the soil, repair wall, paint 2 coats, and then move
the soil back, and place the rocks on top.
Easier to do this as I go along the wall. |

East wall
in front yard as of February 10, 2015 |
Running total
= 74 - 40lb bags / 500 approx. hours labor / 9-1/2 gallons paint
(this includes 1 bag used on spalled patio area,1 bag used on the faux brick stairs,
1-1/2 bags used on plant hole faux bricks and patio
cracks) |
February
21, 2015 -- Still having great Spring like
weather here. Unlike the east coast which is
suffering through record breaking snow fall and
freezing temperatures. This is why I live in
the Southwest.
Work along the east front yard wall has continued
and I am almost done, except for the wall where the
Mexican Elderberry tree is. I have been
rushing to finish this wall before February 23, 2015
because, this is when I will have contractors coming
that will be replacing my garage roof.
Photos below show my progress the last ten days. |

East wall
in front yard as of February 15, 2015 |

East wall
in front yard as of February 18, 2015 |

East wall
in front yard as of February 21, 2015 |
Below is a photo of the same wall
before. You will notice that I raised the wall
a few inches so it is level with the bottom rail of
the neighbors white wrought iron fence. |

"Before"
picture of East wall
in front yard |
Running total
= 89 - 40lb bags / 580 approx. hours labor / 10-1/2 gallons paint
(this includes 1 bag used on spalled patio area,1 bag used on the faux brick stairs,
1-1/2 bags used on plant hole faux bricks and patio
cracks) |
March 14, 2015 -- Work on the rock walls was
interrupted by the "Raising the Roof" project.
(see
these images here....). It
became apparent after a few days that I needed to
keep a close eye on the contractors and what they
were doing.
I did manage to complete the rock wall on the east
side all the way to the front sidewalk. This small
section of wall needed to raised about 4 inches to
make it level with the rest of the wall. |

East wall
in front yard on February 19, 2015 |

East wall
in front yard as of March 5, 2015.
(Trash bins
temporarily here because of construction on garage) |
I am currently working on
the small section of wall around the Mexican Elderberry tree.
For such an distinctive feature in the front of the
house, I am making it look as pretty looking as
possible. For the top cap of the wall, which
has many cracks in it, I
decided to do a faux flagstone treatment.
Yes...I am covering the rocks on the wall and then
putting fake rocks back on the top. I could
have just filled all of the cracks and then painted the cap
the same color as the wall, but where is the fun in
that! |

Section
of wall painted and faux flagstone added to wall cap |
To work around the tree, I needed
to move more bloody rocks. I really hate these
rocks at this point.
I have completed the inside of the tree circle and
outside of the short section. |

Rocks
moved to work on rock wall around tree.
Rock wall repaired inside tree circle and outside
short section. |
Running total
= 100 - 40lb bags / 700 approx. hours labor / 12-1/2 gallons paint
(this includes 1 bag used on spalled patio area,1 bag used on the faux brick stairs,
1-1/2 bags used on plant hole faux bricks and patio
cracks) |
March 24, 2015 -- For the past ten days I worked
as fast as I could to finish the wall around the
tree in the front yard. I was stopped by rain
a couple days. After covering the wall with
cement, I did the faux rock on the cap of the wall.
When this was completed I painted the wall two coats
of paint and moved the small rocks back. |

Rock wall
around tree - before |

Tree wall
after covering rocks with cement on March 21, 2015 |

Tree wall
completed. Faux rocks added to top of wall.
Wall painted. |
The front yard now looks a lot
cleaner and brighter. When it rains, I no
longer have walls that look dark and dreary.
You can now sit around the tree without worrying
about tearing your pants or cutting your leg.
There were some pretty jagged pieces of rocks that I
chiseled off and smoothed out with cement.
I smoothed out the bottom edge of the wall that
meets the bricks. Dirt had always collected in
the cracks and weeds would take root. No more
weeds here.
I still have the wall that runs along the west side
of the house. I will work on this wall next
winter. I now have to get to the new roof on
the garage and paint everything. |
Running total
= 120 - 40lb bags / 800 approx. hours labor / 13 gallons paint
(this includes 1 bag used on spalled patio area,1 bag used on the faux brick stairs,
1-1/2 bags used on plant hole faux bricks and patio
cracks) |
December 2015 - May 6, 2016
|
I decided last year to work on
the west rock walls the following winter. December
2015 was too wet and we had some snow. My work
on the rock walls has resumed January 2016.
Prior to working on the west wall, I had a few other
cement related tasks.
- There was the repair of the cement area below some
siding at the back of the house.
- I had three more plant hole faux bricks to do on
the upper terrace patio.
- Repairs to wall at the back of the house and
reinforcement to some chain link fence poles. |

Concrete
under old siding at the back of house spalled and
cracked |

Cement
repaired underneath new siding |

Cement
painted and trim added to siding |

Faux
bricks added to last three plant holes on terrace
patio |
One thing I learned about those
privacy screens you can attach to a chain link
fence.....Make sure your chain link fence is strong
enough to handle any winds.
I had finally purchased the last of the five privacy
screens I needed for the chain link fence above the
rock wall in the backyard. The first three I
put on, did fine in strong winds. When I added
the last 2 this past Fall all it took was a a few
good gusts at 60 mph to almost bring down the fence. |

Back of
our wall that is in a commercial backlot or alley.
Note bent pole under tree. |
I needed
to go on the other side of the wall to
install some U-bolts in cement to tie the
poles flush against the rock wall. I
drilled holes in the cement on the back side
of the wall. I then cemented in the
u-bolt. A rope goes through the
u-bolt, goes over the top of the rock wall,
and secures the pole against the rock wall.
While I was on the alley side of the wall, I
also made some repairs. There were two
areas that had missing rocks that I plugged
up.
|

U-bolt cemented on back side of wall |
|

Big
scary hole - before |

Big
scary hole - after. White stuff is the
drying cement sealer. |

Missing
rock - before |

Missing rock - after |
|
Then I
created some stronger cement bases for two
of the poles since the ground level section
of the poles had almost rusted through.
Eye screws were also added to the rock wall
to further secure the pole that had bent. |

Bases of two poles reinforced with large
cement blocks. |
|
For the privacy screens, I left
the bottom corners and sides un-attached. This
way the wind can go through. The fence is now
standing up straight again. |
January
16, 2016 -
Work was started on the rock walls than run
along the west side of the property.
The area up to the second stair had already
been painted in the past. I will begin
the work from the second stair all the way
into the backyard.
The rocks on this wall are eroding badly so
the plan is to totally encapsulate the rocks
with cement. After covering the wall
with cement, I will then paint it.
January
24, 2016 - I have now reached the
section of the wall where it is in a dirt
section. As with the east walls, I
have to move the soil away from the wall
about 6" deep.
The photo below shows the different stages
of the repair. |

West rock walls before work |
|

As of
January 24, 2016, the rock wall has been covered
with cement up to the dirt section |
January
31, 2016 - The section of wall on the
west side of the house leading to the backyard is
over half way done. I will need to wait about
a week for the weather to improve. The
forecast has the nights dropping below freezing up
to about February 6, 2016.
During this down time, I will make some kind of
cover for the water faucet located against this
wall. This faucet is rarely used because there
are no plants here (for now). I will need to
custom make the faucet/pipe cover. I want the cover
to be as flush as possible to the wall so it will be
about 8" deep, 24" wide, and 24" high. The
material I use will need to be water proof. I
also have some packing material I have saved that I
will use as insulation. The pipes are already
wrapped with insulation. Extra insulation will
be good because when it does snow, the sun does not
hit this area for very long to melt it. |

As of
January 31, 2016, the rock wall is covered past the
faucet |
February 16, 2016 -
Work was halted until February 7th. It
was not until this date that the night time
temperatures were above freezing.
The west wall was completed on the side of
the house.
A box was made out of some scrap ABS to
cover the pipe. It is a little too big
but that is OK. I will be able to
store a small hose within the box. I
will eventually plant some bushes in this
area that will hide the box. Now I
won't have to worry about this pipe, the
next time it freezes.
Work now continues into the backyard |

West wall along side of house now complete |
|
The
backyard wall has one ugly area. The
corner where a chain link fence pole is.
For some reason the pole was not installed
straight into the ground. I think it
was because there is a piece of metal here
from what appears to be an old wrought iron
fence. So instead of digging out the
old pole, the previous owners made this
weird modification. (see photo on the right)
The other problem where the pole is, is the
gap behind it. It collects all kinds
of litter. The plan is to fill in the
area behind the pole with cement and to
improve the general appearance of this
corner. |

Backyard west wall ugly corner |
|
February 25, 2016 -
Work has continued along the west wall into
the backyard. It took about a week to work on
the short wall section along where the wrought iron
gate is and the ugly corner. |

Backyard west wall ugly corner - Ugly
no more. |
A lot of cement was used to fill
the gap between the left post of the wrought iron
gate and the rock wall. Then more cement was
used to level out and smooth the edge. Over
the years rain water would rush through this gap
eroding the exposed rocks. Now the water will
just run over the outer edge.
The wall was built-up in the corner with cement
encasing the back of the chain link fence pole. This
filled in the gap that would trap pine needles, pine
cones, dirt, and other litter.
Half a day was spent chiseling out the ugly cement
blob at the base of the pole. I removed half
of the cement. I then placed a plywood square
mold around the blob and made a nice square block of
cement. I went high enough to encase where the
pole was starting to rust.
Everything in the corner was then painted.
Yes, the cement sidewalk needs to be repaired.
The movable fence around the plant protects it from
the dogs. If left exposed, the dogs would
destroy the plant in a matter of minutes.
Work continues along the wall. It is difficult to
work at the top of the wall because of the bottom of
the chain link fence. I use a piece of wood
wedged between the fence and wall to stretch out the
bottom of the fence enough to allow me to slide my
hands underneath and work on the wall. I still
end up with torn gloves and a lot of scratches on my
forearms. |

The
remaining west wall to work on, as of February 24,
2016 |
March 4, 2016 - Work has
continued along the west backyard wall.
Temperatures have been in the high 70's and lower
80's through this period. A little too warm
for this work but it is better than the 40's.
If anyone is wondering again, w-h-y on Earth I am
covering all of the rocks with cement, see the
photos below. |

The reason I am encapsulating the entire
rock wall. Layers of rock keep falling
off the exposed rocks and the rubble
collects at the base of the wall. |
 |
|
After 40 years, the rocks
continue to erode with 1-2 inches of the rocks now
gone in some places. If left alone, the rocks
would just keep eroding until the wall fails.
By covering the whole wall with cement it will
probably stay standing 50 years or more with
very little maintenance.
As I work along this wall, I am
beefing up the bases of the chain link fence poles which have rusted
but have not broken....yet. While I have the
cement and I am removing the dirt at the base of the
rock walls anyways, it is just easier to do this at the same
time. |

Base of
pole dug down to cement |

Base of
pole after adding cement |
|
I dug down deep enough until I
got to the cement the pole was set in. I just
built up the cement around the pole until I covered
the rusted areas. The paint will help protect
the pole from any more rusting for now. |

Scrap
of 2 x 4 wedged between wall and fence to allow me
to get my arms
under the fencing to work on the wall |

West wall
in the backyard as of March 3, 2016 |
March 15, 2016 - The west wall was completed on
March 14, 2016. Work will proceed on the final
wall which runs along the south end of our backyard.
It is around 6' tall and is around 46' long.
The first thing that needs to be done is to cap the
top of the wall with new cement. The original
cement work done on the top only sealed between the
rocks. A smooth cement cap was never done.
Over the years, the cement used, which had a lot of
aggregate materials, has spalled. There are
also some holes.
To work on the top of this wall behind the chain
link fence, I need to go to the other side of the
wall into the back commercial lot. I also need a
ladder to reach the top. |

West wall
in the backyard completed on March 14, 2016 |

South
wall being capped on March 14, 2016 |
March 19, 2016 - The cap
on the south wall was completed today. It took
5 days working in direct sunlight to do this wall.
I could only work around 4-5 hours per day because
of the heat and no bathroom. It took 7 bags of
cement to do this 50 feet of the wall on the top.
There were a few rocks missing along the top that
were filled up with cement. I have a feeling that
some of this damage was done by the dumpster. Either
by the dumpster truck hitting the wall or the lid
being flopped onto the wall over many years.
In the picture below, it is far enough away to not
cause any damage. Usually the dumpster is a
lot closer to the wall.
The corner section on the far right was built-up
around 4" with some added rock and cement.
This corner piece was a crumbling mess. I used
almost an entire bag on this section.
I could now walk comfortably along the top of this
wall if I needed, without fear of rocks falling off. |

South
wall cap completed on March 19, 2016. No more
crumbling. |
Work will now continue on the
yard side of the south wall.
March 21, 2016 - Before working on the south
wall, I needed to make a hole in the wall. The
reason for this is the rain. The rain collects
on a large section of the roof and all of the water
eventually ends up at the lowest part of the
yard........and there it sits, until it is absorbed
in the ground. See photo below.
If the ground is saturated, this water can enter the
lower level of the house. For 18 years we have
been lucky. I don't believe we will always be
this lucky. Plus, the new garage roof now
collects more rain water, which all ends up..... in
the backyard.
I am going to open up an area of the wall and insert
some pvc pipe. Some of the rain water will
then be diverted to the other side of the rock wall
into the back commercial lot. Hopefully
keeping any water from entering the house. |

Heavy
rain in backyard April 2014. Note water
covering sidewalk. |
After looking at photographs of
heavy rainfall that I have taken over the years, I
determined where on the wall I would need to make a
hole. I also took photographs of both sides of
the wall to determine the easiest place to chip away
cement and rock.
According to the old rain photos, the heavy rain
flooding hits below the lightest gray square rock in
the photo below. I needed to work on both
sides of the wall and chipped out the cement to
create this gap. I bought both 2" and 1-1/2"
pvc pipe. To see which would fit best. I
eventually got the 2" to work in the hole. It
needed to be low enough and angle downwards into the
back lot.
Since the gap was large, I managed to also fit the
1-1/2" pipe in just above it. This pipe may
never be needed, but it is there just in case.
And in case anyone is wondering.....The 3" pipe
would not have fit. There was some rock I
could not chisel away.
I will still need to go back to the commercial lot
to cement the hole and pvc on that side. This
I will do after the yard side sets. I also
need to make sure the hole is somewhat camouflaged.
Why? Because some idiot will eventually come
along and stuff some trash there....if they see it. |

Hole made
all the way through the rock wall |

Both
pipes cemented into wall. Dirt removed at base of
the wall in preparation for cement. |
April 1, 2016 - Work along
the south wall is going slowly. Since I am
dealing with a 6 foot high wall, it just takes
longer. About 14 feet of the wall have been
completed.
In the corner, I purchased more bricks to pace on
the sand/dirt. No grass...or anything grows in
this area, including weeds. The dogs just dig
holes and kick up dust when they play. Better
to just cover it. I still need about 100 more
bricks to finish off this area.
This is a nice shady area, so I bought a cast
aluminum bench for this corner. Since this
bench is aluminum, it will not rust. |

About 14
feet of south wall done as of April 1. 2016 |
For the next section of the wall,
I dug up about six feet of the ivy and removed the
dirt. I discovered that the next pole had
rusted all the way through at the base. I will
be making another big ass block of cement to support
it.
About the ivy. Not good along rock walls.
The ivy digs it way into the cracks and crevices,
weakening the wall. It will all be removed as
I work along the wall. |

Next
section of wall to work on. Dirt removed at
bottom.
A big block of cement will be placed at base of pole
which has rusted through.
Ivy will be removed. |
April 8, 2016 - Today is a
rain day, so I get a day off. I have completed
another 6 foot section of the wall. A few more
feet of ivy has been removed and the pole with the
rusted base has been covered with a big block of
cement. |

South
wall as of April 8, 2016 |
The pillar section of this wall
is heavily eroded on the bottom so it needed to be
built back up and filled in with cement. The
corners between the pillar and the wall also had a
lot of cracks so a lot of cement is being placed
here in the inside corners. They are being rounded
out so dust and rain flow smoothly off of it. |

Erosion
on pillar base |

Building
up pillar base with cement |
|
April 20, 2016 - The south
wall is now 3/5 finished. The ivy was
pulled out and another pole was repaired.
The broken pole needed
to be straightened before the base of the
pole was repaired because it was leaning
against the top of the rock wall.. I
did this by temporarily wedging a scrap 2 x
4 between the rock wall and pole. I
also added a glob of cement between the wall
and pole at the center pole to keep it
straight.
Why do I only paint a small section at a
time? It has to do with the dirt
removed. If I just did the whole wall
at one time, I would have have all these
piles of dirt that were removed from the
base of the wall. |

Pole broken at bottom |
|

Broken
pole straightened and cement block made around old
block and up over broken area. Blob of cement
added behind pole to help keep pole straight up and
down. |

South
wall as of April 19, 2016 |
May 6, 2016 -
Done with bloody rock walls. Finally!!! |

South
wall completed May 6, 2016 |

South
wall as of May 7, 2016 |
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