Yard retaining wall phases 4a & 4b

Went for the double pour a couple of days ago, that is to say the near eight feet stretch between phases 2 (near in the illustration) and phase 3 (far) and so completing the retaining wall.

The earth at the base of the bank was now much softer, the recent rain having got it and the undercut was far less of a struggle.

I made the side of the shutter up against the earth of the top of the bank in a different way on this occasion, using a piece of two by two recovered from the shed (see 15th May last year and elsewhere) to stiffen the plywood boards making up the face of the shutter. We shall see how easily - if at all - I can get the thing out.

But two by two notwithstanding, the double length of wet concrete did push it out into the earth bank and while the wedges, just visible top and bottom helped, I also deployed my favourite carver cramp - a far better cramp than the Record G-cramps which were far more widely used at the time I bought it around forty years ago - to pinch in at the middle. Carefully covered with a heavy duty green carrier from Bentalls to stop it getting wet and possibly rusty. The cast steel of the cramp had some kind of a grey finish but I did not like to rely on it too much. No idea why we had such a large bag from Bentalls, not recalling a visit to the place for that kind of shopping.

However, I suspect that when the shutter is struck, I will find that the wall is not quite straight, that there will be a bit of a kink between phrases 4a and 4b. Hopefully the joins will be OK and the finish will be OK, without unsightly and weakening voids. On which front, so far, I seem to be doing rather better than on the last occasion (see 27th May last year).

I guessed, or perhaps guestimated, the amount of aggregate to buy quite well with only a small portion of the 1000kg bag now left: certainly less than a quarter, maybe as little as an eighth. 25kg bags would not have been a good way forward.

Hopefully also I have guessed the section of the retaining wall right, and the unreinforced concrete will be able to hold back the slowly moving earth. I would imagine that in its present state of hardness a few bashes of the sledge would have it down; fresh four inch concrete is not that strong, even when it is eight inches at the base. Not that I can actually try this as the handle of my last remaining sledge has rotted off.

PS: getting to wonder about sledges as I type, I find from wikipedia that the word sledgehammer is derived from the Anglo Saxon 'slægan', which, in its first sense, means 'to strike violently'. I then try to check this interesting fact, to find that most of what google finds on the subject appears to circle around the wikipedia article, although I do find some engaging if not obviously relevant material for schools from the BBC at http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/anglo_saxons/anglo-saxon_life/. At which point I turn to the trusty OED which does provide independent confirmation of wikipedia.