Building A Hypertufa Retaining Wall

There are tons of gardening ornaments that can be done using hypertufa and one of them is a retaining wall for your garden. A hypertufa retaining wall is ideal since they are able to tolerate the extreme winter temperature, for up to -30°C. They are also good to look at as they can give your garden a more natural stone visual appeal. Although hypertufas are generally light, a number of constituents could be added to make them more heavier and tougher for the purpose of creating a retaining wall.

To construct a hypertufa retaining wall, you should adjust the basic formula that is regularly used: mix 2 parts Portland cement, 1 1/2 partss peat moss, 2 parts perlite, a little bit of nylon fiber mesh, and 1/2 part coarse sand. The coarse sand will make your hypertufa heavier than the typical and the fiber mesh will improve the structural integrity of your construction, so that it is acceptable for a retaining wall.

The next task is to locate the mold for the blocks that will be employed for your retaining wall. You'll want to take into account the spot where you will be placing your retaining wall so that you will have an idea of the size of the mold that you will need to have. You can use shoe boxes as molds although if you feel that they are not applicable, you can always generate your own mold using styrene foam used for house insulation, wood, or cardboard. You can even dig block-shaped holes in your yard and cover them with plastic for your mold. Just do not forget that you will need to have lots of molds as possible. You will require a lot of blocks for a retaining wall and it requires considerable time to cure a hypertufa so it is perhaps a good idea to create all of the necessary blocks in a single batch.

After your hypertufa blocks have been fully cured and are ready to be positioned, you should make a mortar mix to hold them together. For that you will need to mix 1 part Portland cement, 1/2 part peat moss or black potting soil, acrylic fortifying base, 1/2 part clay soil with clods broken up, 2 parts builder sand, and water. Then line up a layer of your hypertufa blocks, add the mortar mix on the top of the layer, and repeat the procedure until you have put together the retaining wall.

MADDW