|
If you're going to use cinder blocks, that means you're going to need to do a wet (mortar) installation. By definition, this means you'll have to pour a footer below the frost line in your area for each wall. Zone 6, it might be 36", but I'm not sure.
Having rebar extend from the footing into the block is a good idea. The block will need to be mortared together and filled with mortar or concrete, not dirt or pea gravel.
Side note - if you were planning to have rebar extend into the dirt below the block to serve as a reinforcement, it's incorrect and a waste of the expense of rebar and your time - if that wall decide to fall, the rebar will slice through your soil like a knife through butter as the wall goes over. It adds nothing to the structural integrity of the wall.
Next, for your wet application, you'll need to provide for weep holes out the face of the wall (since each block will be mortared, sealing off the water behind the wall - gotta give the water a place to go). You'll also want some drainage material behind the wall to collect and daylight the water, otherwise, as Jody mentions, that wall will be tipping over after just a few freeze-thaw cycles.
Now, with all the work I just described, I would think the more economical and easier way to go would be to buy some retaining wall block, which are designed as a gravity (read: flexible) wall system that does not require a concrete footing, mortar or rebar. Sure, you won't be able to get the block for $.01 apiece, but you also won't have to spend $1,000 in concrete and mortar to do the job right. Plus, with that skid steer there, you can have the job done in a weekend, instead of a solid month. Not to mention, it'll look tons better than mortared gray block.
My $.02, anyway.
Then, your block
|