How can I protect my wood siding when building a retaining wall against the house?
June 1, 2010 by
Filed under house siding
The yard along the side of my house slopes down from front to back. I would like to build a couple “step down” retaining walls so that we can put in some nice shrubs and flowers. Problem is the painted wood siding slopes down parallel to the ground and building a wall would mean resting dirt against the siding. I know this is a bad idea as it can cause rotting/water damage/mold.
What can I do to protect the siding and still make the step down walls look good?
A simple waterproof tarp should do the trick, over the area you wish to protect, weighing it down at the edges and bottom corners, or taping with duct tape when applicable.
Nothing you can do will prevent the eventual rotting of the wood siding and even if it’s aluminum, you still have plywood underneath.
There is more to be concerned about than just the wood rotting. You could be opening your self up to termites and possible moisture inside your walls. If you are going to do a step down you need to do it so all of the wood is still exposed. Make the top of each step down start below the siding and then dig down.
I would like to repeat this. Do not try what you are talking about all you will get is grief. You should keep all of your wood and hopefully a couple of inches of foundaton showing.
Do not fill against the wood! You may be inviting insects, rot and water damage. There may also be building code requirements for clearance to ground.
Consider cutting/stepping down the siding to coordinate with your walls or build an independent retaining wall system a couple feet out from the house.