Oh.. and just to give you an idea of what I am working with:

You need an officially engineered designed plan for the permit. DIY grunt labor may accomplish that plan, but only a pro can design it and get it through the permitting. It's likely to need some heavy equipment operated by experts as well, operated under OSHA guidelines for worker safety. Trench collapses and dirtwork is a lot more dangerous than you think. Retaining walls are a lot more complicated than you think as well. They hold back thousands of tons of wet soil, not to mention having to maitain the stability of any adjacent building's foundations during and after their construction.

If this is done incorrectly, and the adjacent building collapses during your construction, you woud be liable for any loss of life as well as the financial repurcussions of damaging their property.

Hire a pro. You don't want your neighbor's house to fall in when you start digging.

Thanks for the input.. I was under the impression that the wall didnt require any engineering.. From what I have been reading it seems that if the wall is going to be 4-5 feet or higher then you need to bring in an engineer.. Will have to make a few calls..

I don't quite get the picture. Is that white fence on your side?

Make sure you have a survey.

I have a keystone wall - 200 ft long, ranges from 3 ft high to 9 ft high.

Keystone has lots of info to help you build the wall.

Check with the city, I don't think you need an engineer for a four foot wall.

Don't over excavate the ground under the wall's foundation. It is naturally compacted.

You will have to excavate probably the depth of 1 1/2 blocks. The foundation should be class 5 limestone or con-bit (ground up concrete / bitumious). Spread the stone, wet it, and run a compactor over it.

Use sand to level the first course - the first course should be ground level (anotherwords, bury one block).

Those 'standards' are 110 lbs each. You will need a lot of space to build that wall. Both in front, and in the rear.

In the rear, lay a perforated drainage pipe, and back fill about one foot, with class 5 limestone. To backfill, use a piece of plywood to hold the fill.

They may be family now, but if they someday move the new people may not want you to be using even an inch of what is technically their property. They would have the right to make your remove it. I wouldn't put something as hard to move as the wall you are considering.

I know it's not what you asked about, but I thought I'd put it out there for you to consider. Good luck with your project.

Whether or not it requires engineering may also be municipality-dependent. Check in with your permits office.

They may be family now, but if they someday move the new people may not want you to be using even an inch of what is technically their property. They would have the right to make your remove it. I wouldn't put something as hard to move as the wall you are considering.

Not a bad point, but often fences and retaining walls end up being easement issues, or jointly owned, etc. Especially retaining walls. However, I'd talk to a real-estate lawyer about how to structure this so it's not a problem for anybody if either property changes hands in the future.

am i missing something ...???

you need a wall ...

whats there does not APPEAR to be retaining anything..

so why is RETAINING WALL BRICK.. a solution to the problem ...???

it APPEARS its not backfilled.. because of the pvc fencing ... i suspect its to stop cars from bumping the fence ...

it would seem easier.. to put in a parking lot guard rails on 4 x 4/6 ... to stop the cars from hitting the fence ... see link

find some other use for the retaining wall block ...

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: 15th pic and others ....

There's a lot of scary talk here, but the gist is that a retaining wall is trivial except when things go wrong. These things can include anything from waterlogged soil to earthquake, but we won't think of them too much lest they come true.

Here in Arizona, the counties regulate building codes, and Pima County says: "Engineering is required if the wall is over 4 feet high, measured from the bottom of the footing, or for any wall height with applied surcharge loads" such as driveways on top or slopes pushing sideways.

Also, and here's the good part: "For retaining walls up to 8 feet high, Pima County Building Safety pre-approved details may be used." That means they have a homeowner-oriented form designed to make it easy unless you're dealing with an intense situation.

Forget engineers. Forget lawyers. Call the building permits people and ask THEM, not us. If you follow their plans and have it inspected by them you can expect a reliable wall and a lawyer-free future for it. If your building codes/permits people donâÂÂt have such a handout, get the one from Pima County and see if theyâÂÂll accept it. ItâÂÂs very BS free.

As I see it you don't want the white fence to get hit! So a guy backs into all those loose blocks- think they are going to head right into that nice white fence. If you got a number of large boulders & placed every 3 ft. I think they would think twice about hitting those. Would look attractive along there & could put in low growing ground cover or just some gravel to complete the look.