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I have been looking high and low for some answers on this relatively detailed question, but not much to directly address the issue. Perhaps I am overthinking this and that's why I'm not finding the information I need. Here's the situation:
My house resides in a hilly and rocky area and as such the driveway contains an incline. The previous owners had a makeshift retaining wall as pictured below to separate the driveway from the elevated landscape which adjoins to the driveway. I scraped away under the first row of rock to find that roughly 1/2 of the thickness of the rock lays on top of the asphalt driveway, and the back half resides on earth.
What I would like to do is remove this mess and build a proper stone retaining wall with base, clean stone back fill, perforated pipe, etc. When I dig the trench for the first course/row of wall block, I plan to have it adjoin to the driveway such that the edge of the driveway meets the retaining wall. Now all that being said, I am going to be having a new driveway put in later this year after I put in the new wall. Here are my questions.
When the asphalt contractor rips out the topcoat and foundation for the new driveway, do I need to be worried that it's possible that the depth of their digging could be lower than the level of the first course of wall block that adjoins the driveway, resulting in a situation where there could be subsidence of the earth or settling of the ground on which the front edge of the retaining wall subsides? Next, should I have the paving company pave right up flush to the face of the new retaining wall? Leave a small gap?
For reference purposes, the makeshift retaining wall you see in this picture is approximately 15 ft long by 2.5 ft tall.
Appreciate any input and advice. Thank you!
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My house resides in a hilly and rocky area and as such the driveway contains an incline. The previous owners had a makeshift retaining wall as pictured below to separate the driveway from the elevated landscape which adjoins to the driveway. I scraped away under the first row of rock to find that roughly 1/2 of the thickness of the rock lays on top of the asphalt driveway, and the back half resides on earth.
What I would like to do is remove this mess and build a proper stone retaining wall with base, clean stone back fill, perforated pipe, etc. When I dig the trench for the first course/row of wall block, I plan to have it adjoin to the driveway such that the edge of the driveway meets the retaining wall. Now all that being said, I am going to be having a new driveway put in later this year after I put in the new wall. Here are my questions.
When the asphalt contractor rips out the topcoat and foundation for the new driveway, do I need to be worried that it's possible that the depth of their digging could be lower than the level of the first course of wall block that adjoins the driveway, resulting in a situation where there could be subsidence of the earth or settling of the ground on which the front edge of the retaining wall subsides? Next, should I have the paving company pave right up flush to the face of the new retaining wall? Leave a small gap?
For reference purposes, the makeshift retaining wall you see in this picture is approximately 15 ft long by 2.5 ft tall.
Appreciate any input and advice. Thank you!
