After Sam installed the log retaining wall, he started on the south side of the front of our house. Again- the whole front of our house had a slope that was unpleasant to walk down, and mow. Have you ever had to deal with a difficult slope or hill while mowing your yard? Well, we just put in a giant retaining wall to level out that slope.

So here we are with the beginning of our project, in the middle of August, 2015 with the lovely view of our house with weeds growing on the difficult to mow hill:

At my work, we had recently purchased a new TetraPak machine, which was shipped piece by piece in giant wood crates from Sweden. These machine parts were so big, that the crates were made entirely out of giant timbers. Our maintenance crew sent out a notice to any and all- come pick up the free lumber! and when Sam heard about it, he jumped on the opportunity.

After we brought home the wood, Sam burried it in the yard to age and weather a little quicker- for a couple of months. I wish I had a before and after photo of the wood, but alas- I do not.

Sam dug a straight line in the front of our little hill to start the placement of the wall. You can see that to level out the timbers, on the dirt, he used old bricks for a level and stable surface.

Fun fact: this was before we owned a tractor with my Dad, and so Sam had to hand shovel all of this dirt.

The first two stretches of timbers installed:

And Sam used a 2×6 to conceal the ends of each board coming together at the ends.

And to connect the two retaining walls together- we have a mini rock wall with steps up to our front yard.

Quickly thereafter, Sam started on his mission to plant trees and shrubs. Here’s the progress of our yard a couple years after the retaining walls were installed

June 17th, 2017:

And this year, our trees and shrubs have done so well! We are getting a bit of privacy going.

September 11th, 2019:

With Love, Erika Nora