# Forum Home Renovation Retaining Walls  Retaining Wall Help

## BaggyRed

Hi all - my front yard has now been split levelled. 
There's wasn't much of a slope - however the drop is about 700mm. 
The height is the exact size of 2 reconstitued limestone blocks.  
My thoughts were I was going to lay a concrete footing and then run the limestone blocks 2 high and run a straight wall. Figuring as I am only going 700mm high, I thought the bricks should be sufficient to hold the weight of the dirt 
Am i way off the mark? 
The dirt being retained is a depth of about 4.5metres from my house, running about 10m long, and will be used as lawn and maybe a 600mm garden bed. 
Edit: the blocks I am using are going to be 500mm x 350mm. I am just not sure what depth i need on them. They seem to range from 100mm to 240mm

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## harmful81

Ive done a similar thing at home. Two 500x350x350 blocks on top of eachother with the 500 lengthways should be fine. At work we have had an engineer specify the bottom course to be laid in header fashion with the 350 lengthways, but that was to account for possible wind loading on the fencing. 
Some mechanical lifting device will be needed as the blocks weigh in the order of 115-120kgs each. 
Water is the number one killer of retaining walls, so bear in mind it may need drainage if likely to be affected. Also backfill with sand and not clay.

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