How to Terrace a Backyard

Not all yards are perfectly flat, unfortunately. Many yards have steep hills or slants that make it hard to have a garden or landscape. You can terrace your backyard to make sections of level ground to overcome this challenge. This allows you to prevent erosion, plant gardens and even add some beautiful landscape to an otherwise unattractive slanted backyard.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Shovel
• Materials for border
• Level
• Spikes or plaster, if needed

1. Contact the utility company to check for underground lines in the area you are working in. They come to your property and usually mark the areas for no charge.

2. Determine the rise and run of the area you want to terrace to compute how many levels and what sizes of terraces you will need. For instance, if the run is 16 feet and the rise is four feet, then you need four sections that are each four feet long and one foot high.

3. Select the materials that you want to use for the terrace borders. This can be some 4-by-4 wood, bricks, rocks or concrete blocks. Measure how much you need according to the size of your terraces.

4. Dig a trench in the front and sides of your first bottom level of the terrace. This is where the border is going to go. Build it just wide enough to fit your material and deep enough to hold the first layer of material at least halfway into the ground.

5. Layer the material into the trenches. Tie the materials in each layer by alternating the placement of the materials on each row. For instance, lay the first row down along the front and then take the last piece and turn it at ninety degrees. On the next layer, do the opposite pattern.

6. Secure wood or timber by drilling holes through all the layers of wood and driving spikes through the wood. The spikes should be long enough to go through all the pieces of wood and several inches into the ground. Most rocks and bricks will secure themselves as you stack and tie them but you can buy plaster material to offer more security.

7. Begin the next level on the back corners of the previous level and tie the first layer of the next level in with the top layer of the previous level. The top of the previous level will be at the same level as the bottom layer for the trenches for the next level. Repeat these steps for each level.

Tips & Warnings

• Try to overestimate when buying the materials. If you have any left over you can use it for other projects. If you are tight on money, then underestimate and buy what you need as you get closer to the end. Wood is much easier to estimate than rocks and bricks.
• Use the dirt from the trenches to level off each terrace. Use a level to make sure you are keeping everything level.
• Do not try to build terraces more than two feet high for each level unless you are experienced at this kind of work.
• Do not stack the material in more layers than the manufacturer recommends for that particular material.

Resources

• Find more terracing tips at Home and Garden TV.

[breathebeast]

on 3/1/2009 I was wondering, we live in New England and I've been told by a contractor that brick or concrete walls outside need to start at or below the frostline (about 3 feet down)). If I'm putting pipe to stabilize my wood beams, does it also need to go 3 feet down? If not, can anyone explain the why of it all?Thanks!

[Casieopea]

on 9/1/2008 PLASTER?! nooooooooooooooooooooo
Also - you might want to consider your zoning and building offices - some places have rules about what you can and cannot do to steep hillsides in the interest of safety

[Casieopea]

on 9/1/2008 PLASTER?! nooooooooooooooooooooo
Also - you might want to consider your zoning and building offices - some places have rules about what you can and cannot do to steep hillsides in the interest of safety

[Casieopea]

on 9/1/2008 PLASTER?! nooooooooooooooooooooo
Also - you might want to consider your zoning and building offices - some places have rules about what you can and cannot do to steep hillsides in the interest of safety