I have an area by my driveway that i would like to fill in to create extra parking.The problem is my yard slopes ; where i would place the wall ,the wall needs to be about six to eight feet tall.I would like to use double cement blocks.I am worried about the pressure the fill would place against the wall.This yard is in tennessee and it was suggested i use shale for the backfill.Any ideas?

Hey stoutboy. Depends on what type of soil you have. Gravel would be my personal preference. I dug out the shale in my PA garden because it was in clay soil. Fairly common here.

I would also be concerned about hydrostatic pressure build up behind the wall.If your soil drains well I would use 3/4 inch gravel pieces, mixed is with 1/2".

Usually available at most nurseries. Not Home Depot or Lowes where you pay by the bag. Purchase it by the yard at a good nursery.A 6 ft wall is a tall order. This would require approximately 3' - 6' back and 2-3' deep of gravel behind the wall at the least. Talk to the codes officials before begining.

No sense building it. If they later tell you it must be built to code. Not sure what the codes are in your neck of the woods.---MM22.

May I suggest also that you consider building two walls instead of just on large one. By construction of multi levels there is much less pressure against the wall surface and the lower level can become a planting bed for shrubs etc.

Also do not forget to install some sort of water drainage system. Just backfilling with gravel does not provide a place for the water to go once it reaches the bottom of the stone.

I agree HCC---I should have mentioned that. I made my walls out of Thomsanized beadboards. I also placed a 1" diameter copper pipe the depth of each beadboard 5/4".

Depending on the length of the wall. My terraced ares are all about the same 7' and I have ( 4 each 1" holes within the 7' run) of the wall.

I have been planning ( well started ) a dry stack stone wall for the width of the yard.Only the thicker base stones are set in gravel at this time. some of the remaing stone is piled on the top of the wall at the moment.

Approximately 25' lg. with a curved section on the end of the right side of the wall to run behind the bird feeder.

Don't want to sit under the feeder. . That being said I am using real PA indigenous rocks of all sizes and shapes. They have there own weep holes/

Some cultured stones come with a spacer rock for a weep hole. Actualy you need 4 to sorround the hole whether Sq rectangular or vertical.

That is mostly decided by the builder of the wall, and is relatively easy if you take your time, and think about the weep holes before you get too high.Nice catch HCC. Dropped the ball on that MINOR feature. --- MM22.