Messed up a wall in Kalamazoo cause I skipped a step

I was working on a retaining wall job out in Kalamazoo last spring, big one about 40 feet long. Got in a hurry cause the sun was beating down and I wanted to wrap up. I stopped checking my lines every third course like I normally do. By the time I got to the top, the whole thing was leaning back about an inch from where it should have been. Looked terrible, like a drunk built it. I had to tear down the top 6 courses and start over, cost me an extra 3 hours and a ton of mortar. My foreman just shook his head and said "that's what happens when you rush." Has anyone else had a wall go sideways on em cause you got lazy with the line?

3 comments

3 Comments

margaretramirez7d ago

A buddy of mine tried building a deck without checking his string line once, ended up with a 2 inch gap between the deck and the house that you could see from the street. Took him a whole weekend to redo it.

wyatt1357d ago

My buddy Dave did something similar but with a fence. He eyeballed the whole thing and the last 20 feet ran right into a neighbors shed. Had to tear down like 30 feet of fence and start over.

the_paul7d ago

Dave had to tear down 30 feet of fence because he didn't use a tape measure? That's dedication to the eyeball method right there.