I'm in the middle of a DIY retaining wall project using Pisa2 bricks - my first time using this product. I have a few questions:
1) My Pisa blocks come from Mutual Materials. I've noticed that some of the jumbo units not of uniform height. On some of the jumbo blocks, I need to "sand" about an 1/8" off the top of the block. Is there any tool or technique to sand down these non-conforming blocks?
2) I ordered a certain quantity of left corners and right corners, but it looks like what was delivered was a full pallet of corner blocks of a uniform size. They look like
this except that they're pre-grooved between the two top "bumps". If I break this unit apart, I get two blocks that are rough on three sides. I'm a bit confused by this. I was expecting "left corner" and "right corner" units that were rough only on two sides. Can someone explain this to me?
3) Is cutting with an ordinary circular saw and diamond blade recommended for cutting Pisa2 blocks?
4) How do people handle a stepped wall on a sloping grade? If the first course of each step starts along the same line (say 24" setback from the sidewalk) and each course has a built-in 3/4" batter, then the step sections can't connect with each other. In other words, every course in a given step section has a different batter than the same course of the neighboring step section, so the step sections can't be "tied together". I don't know if that makes sense, but I was wondering how people typically handle that.
Thanks!