I so appreciate your input on yesterday’s post about how to get the look I want for the skirting on the front porch! My mind is now spinning with ideas, and at this point, I’m not quite sure which direction to go. Fortunately, I have a little more time to think about it because right now, it’s pouring down rain. While I’m sad that I’ll miss a day of working outside today, I’m also a little relieved that I don’t feel the pressure (pressure that I put on myself) to make a quick decision on this today.
I did take some time yesterday to try out my idea of using my hand grinder to cut off the fronts of the retaining wall blocks. It didn’t go well. I made my mark all the way around the block using a Sharpie marker, and then cut as deep as I could using the handheld grinder on all four sides. But even then, the cuts couldn’t reach all the way through the block. So then I tried to snap the front off the rest of the way using a prybar and a hammer, but it just chipped off significant portions of the front that I wanted to keep.
It’s possible that it would have gone better if I had a proper chisel for stone, but because I’m wanting to cut such a thin slice off of the front of each block, I think I’d probably still lose quite a few of them in the process. So this technique isn’t an option.
I do have a wet tile saw that will cut through concrete very easily with the proper blade. That’s what I used to cut the pavers for the studio side steps. The problem there is that the retaining wall blocks are too tall to fit under the blade on my saw.
I spent some time trying to come up with a way to fit the blocks under the blade, and I do think there’s a way to do it. I wouldn’t be able to use the rolling table that the block is sitting on in the picture above. That table is on wheels that roll on tracks and those wheels make the table sit up pretty far above the water basin below it. So if I can rig a way for the block to sit lower, just above water level, I would probably make it work. But it sure would be a lot of work to get all of them cut on that saw without the rolling table to make the job so much easier.
I read all of the comments about other options for cutting — hiring it out, getting a concrete blade for my circular saw, renting one of the large concrete saws, etc. But after giving it more thought, I think I’m going to abandon the idea of cutting the blocks altogether.
One idea that several people had was to create a mold (or probably several molds) using the retaining wall block, and then pouring my own concrete blocks (or front slices) using concrete. I actually love that idea, and I think it would be so much easier than cutting concrete blocks.
I’ve seen many videos of people making their own molds for various projects, but I came across one video that seemed like the way to go. This man makes silicone molds using silicone caulk and corn starch! That creates a moldable silicone with the consistency of Play-Doh.
Even if I don’t use that idea for this project, I want to create silicone molds now. 😀 He adds food coloring to his molds, but I don’t see a need to do that for my purpose. I would just need silicone caulk and corn starch. That’s it. While that looks really fun, I’m not sure about the time it would take. I would think I’d need at least five molds so that I’m not pouring one “brick” at a time. This idea is definitely a contender, but I need to give it more thought. Whether or not I use this idea for this project, you can be assured that there will be some silicone mold making in my future. This looks too fun and useful to pass up.
The other idea that I really like is to just paint the skirting on the concrete porch and then build an actual retaining wall planter bed around the porch. I really like this idea a lot. The challenge I run into with that is knowing where to start and stop that retaining wall.
Here’s another look at the landscape plan for the front of the house.
So if I just paint the front porch skirting and then do an actual retaining wall planting area, I’m guessing I would just follow the line of the walkway that is shown on the plan above, right? Because there’s not really enough room around the porch to have a raised area with a retaining wall plus a lower planting area between the retaining wall and the planned walkway. And then I guess I would continue the retaining wall on the other side of the house, i.e., the area in front of our bedroom door. So basically, the side of the walkway closest to the house going all the way around the front of the house would be a retaining wall. It wouldn’t have to be high. It would be maybe two blocks high, or three at the most if I consider that the first row would be partially below the current ground level.
I’m not sure if that makes sense, but I think I can picture it, and I think it would look great. But then I’d have to figure out how to tie in the steps in front of our bedroom with the retaining wall and the walkway.
Or maybe I’m overthinking it. But what I do know is that there’s not enough room between the front porch and the planned walkway for a retaining wall planting bed and a lower planting bed in front of it unless the retaining wall planting bed is only about one foot between the porch and the retaining wall.
*Sigh* I have no idea what I’m doing. Can you tell that landscape design just isn’t my thing? I know. It’s obvious. 😀 I’m having fun thinking through the options, but it also stresses me out. I’ll be kind of relieved once I can get back to my indoor projects where I feel much more secure and confident. 😀 But it is very fun for me to think through the ideas and see if I can envision what this might look like.
If it weren’t pouring down rain, I would go get some spray paint and try to mark out these ideas on the ground so that I can envision them better. Perhaps we’ll have better weather this weekend so that I can do that. I need to mark out the walkway on either side of the house and then see just how much space I have to work with for the planting beds. But overall, I do love the idea of using the retaining wall blocks to build actual planting beds! And that would make the porch project so much easier if I can just paint the skirting area and move on.
So those are the ideas that really caught my attention and got me thinking and planning and dreaming. What are your thoughts?
UPDATE: We had a break in the rain, so I went outside and took some measurements. Y’all, I was completely wrong. There’s plenty of room for a raised retaining wall bed with a lower planting area in front of it! I don’t know what I was thinking. There’s a full nine feet of space between the porch and where the planned walkway will go.
So then that brings me to this question. If I do the raised retaining wall planting bed, would it wrap around the side of the porch like this?
Or would I just keep it to the front of the porch like this?
And if I do one on that side of the front steps, I think I would need to continue it on the other side of the steps as well, right? Y’all know my obsessive need for symmetry, and this makes sense in my mind.
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.
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