Retaining wall ideas

[Afotomama]

We hired someone to level the spot for our Intex 12x24 today. We made an 18x30 flat spot. It was a lot more sloped than it looked, so we have about 2 feet at the back end. We'll need to build a retaining wall and then transition to just a border when it gets to the level/flat front side. Looking for the most cost effective way to do this (after the $1600 we paid for the dirt work today!)

For standard retaining wall blocks and caps we are thinking it'll be about $550, plus all the extras (tools, pavers base, adhesive, gravel, etc). Are there alternatives to get the price down? And does anyone have pictures of a similar build? Thanks!

 

[CJadamec]

Unless you have a source for materials other than buying them at a store like a friend, family, neighbor, or lucky Craigslist find, standard wall block is about as cheap as retaining walls get.

You are only going up 2 feet which is good because if you go higher than that you need more expensive block rated for taller walls.

You can use wood for retaining walls. Ground contact rated pressure treated 4x4 and or 6x6 timbers will make a nice wall but it's about the same money as concrete block .

You could also just dig the dirt and slope it down to the pool area. It looks like you don't have a lot of room to slope the ground very much.

I ended up with 2 concrete block walls 3 feet high and 1 timber wall 30" high when I landscaped for my pool. The only way to save money on walls is to do the labor yourself.

 

[Afotomama]

Unless you have a source for materials other than buying them at a store like a friend, family, neighbor, or lucky Craigslist find, standard wall block is about as cheap as retaining walls get.

You are only going up 2 feet which is good because if you go higher than that you need more expensive block rated for taller walls.

You can use wood for retaining walls. Ground contact rated pressure treated 4x4 and or 6x6 timbers will make a nice wall but it's about the same money as concrete block .

You could also just dig the dirt and slope it down to the pool area. It looks like you don't have a lot of room to slope the ground very much.

I ended up with 2 concrete block walls 3 feet high and 1 timber wall 30" high when I landscaped for my pool. The only way to save money on walls is to do the labor yourself.
View attachment 101121

Thanks for the input. We want to do the rock but are in a time crunch so I think we'll go with timber.

 

[Tkoblish]

Unless you have a source for materials other than buying them at a store like a friend, family, neighbor, or lucky Craigslist find, standard wall block is about as cheap as retaining walls get.

You are only going up 2 feet which is good because if you go higher than that you need more expensive block rated for taller walls.

You can use wood for retaining walls. Ground contact rated pressure treated 4x4 and or 6x6 timbers will make a nice wall but it's about the same money as concrete block .

You could also just dig the dirt and slope it down to the pool area. It looks like you don't have a lot of room to slope the ground very much.

I ended up with 2 concrete block walls 3 feet high and 1 timber wall 30" high when I landscaped for my pool. The only way to save money on walls is to do the labor yourself.
View attachment 101121

Hello. We are building a retaining wall and pool should be installed later this week. Can you post more pictures? Do you have a deck all around the pool now? I was hoping for a very small deck this year then complete next year. But I am concerned about safety with a gap between the wall and the pool. Thank you