evac72•2d ago

Caught myself butterflying corners on a retaining wall job near Asheville last week

I kept cutting my corner bricks at a 45 like everyone does, but the guy I was working with showed me that for hardscape walls over 3 feet tall, you actually want a 22.5 degree miter on the tops to stop the caps from sliding off over time, and now I'm wondering why nobody taught me this in 8 years of laying block - has anyone else run into this on taller walls?

2 comments

2 Comments

spencer4072d ago

That's a really good point about the 22.5 degree miter on taller walls. I've been doing this for about 12 years now (mostly in the Piedmont area), and I only picked up that trick two years ago from an old-timer who used to build those massive estate walls. The thing is, a 45 degree cut makes sense on low walls where the cap is just cosmetic, but on anything over 3 feet you're dealing with way more lateral pressure and freeze-thaw movement. I've actually seen caps that were cut at 45 pop right off a 4-foot wall after a hard winter, and it's a pain to fix because you have to pull the whole top course. The 22.5 angle gives you that extra mechanical lock where the cap actually wedges itself tighter as the wall settles, instead of sliding outward. It's one of those small details that separates a job that lasts 10 years from one that lasts 30, and honestly it's crazy that this isn't standard in training courses.

alicea262d ago

Nah, 45 is fine if you're using proper adhesive and not cutting corners.