RETAINING WALLS (Part 14) Mike Haduck 

That's my wall in the video. Mike is such a professional and such a good guy. I really appreciated it and it is such a fantastic job! And as a bonus, I really enjoyed the history lesson at the end. Thanks again, Mike 👍

I would not have thought “no big deal” if I saw those stones come tumbling off that wall, but Mike is positive, as always, and handles the task like a pro.

I wish more of my generation was like you Mike.

I appreciate all your videos but I'm especially fond of the ones that you show old work and describe how the old timers did that work. Hope you had a Happy Easter Mike.

This is a great help. You make it look so easy. I now have a better idea of how to help my falling wall. The old timers have so much to offer. Thanks for sharing what you've learned from them.

Mike, I'm 84. Your video reminded ome and my dad 70 years ago. Hetaught some or your ideas and techniques. Thanks a bunch....😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅

I am a mason by trade, but i really enjoy these videos. Always good to watch how others do things 👍

Mike another great video,no big deal,pack and stack

The Prince of Portland!!! Thanks Brother

These are one of my favorite videos you do. I know I tell you every time but the repair ones are fun to watch.

That is a project Mike! I love how you can look at any structure that involves stones, brick, cement and you can analyze and explain its origin...mason historian! And it is so interesting when you tell it! I saw an old Larry Haun video and he too spoke of (pardon my English), "asses and elbows." Take care Mike.

Spek-tak-u-lar, Mike! Watching you is like therapy, for free!

So, the first wall really wasn't that poorly made, it lasted 92 years! 🤔🤐 I enjoyed the video Mike, I'm almost as old as the wall and I have no mortar, but I have good drainage. Keep up the good work, we need more like you! JIM🥰

The neighbor knocked down a 200 year old rock house and Im salvaging the rock to build walls around my property and seeing how they built the house is amazing just like the old walls you show

Good video, as always. I do enjoy them. You educate your viewers so well.

I'm really glad I found this channel! I like how he thinks. I love that he always thinks about water. Too many contractors don't factor in water, drainage, etc into their projects; moisture & water seem like afterthoughts.

always enjoy the history and human perspectives. Guess no gym visit that day. thanx

Great video mike. I love the WPA nostalgia..I see works by that program as well as the WPA emblem they'd put in the sidewalks

Glad to see people taking pride in these old walls ! Great job Mike ! I'm a Pennsylvanian living in Mex. Down here they build with Castillos and infill with unreinforced block ...it's just modern day post and beam with " Wattle and daub " !!

Glad you're still around, you feel like an old friend. Keep up the good work. Love your videos.

Old School masonry is long-lasting! SKILLED LABOR is amazing and remarkable.

I just wanted to let you know that you have given me the courage to do my own repairs. It's not as big a deal I was making it. Thanks

Thanks Mike. Your videos helped me plan out my retaining wall repair project this summer. I’ve watched so many of your vids and appreciate all you put out here.

Thank you Mike for teaching old school skills!

Imagine Mike having to "Turn-To" to get a wadge, instead of this free-funds so to say... at the cost of tax payers... I can only hear the crying if a young person had to build one of those retaining walls.... Thanks for another fine job on that repair of the retaining wall. God Bless Brother.... Ernie

Watching that wall come down is mighty satisfying. LOL.

Thanks Mike you inspired me to build my own retaing wall in my backyard. Large blue stone. Thanks for all the knowledge. It came out beautiful

Just a joy to watch your videos Mike. I built a 2 sided dry wall around a creek bed and every Spring much of it needed to be rebuilt but the parts of the wall that were woven into the bank held up the best.Water is the retaining walls worst enemy

Let me be boring and say again how much I love the channel. They are always interesting and Mike has sooo many interesting projects and issues that he tackles and the results are great. These are the best real videos on the boobtube. Thank you Mike for introducing rapid set and showing the great results. Make music.

Another great video Mike! "Ain't no big deal"

Excellent video Mike - thanks for sharing -

I’d be lost without these videos Mike. Learn something new every video! Thanks!

Mike, me too born early 50's and worked along side the remnants of the, "GreatesT Generation" the ones that grew up in the depression and survived WW2 others that fought hard for worker's rights which i was a beneficiary w/o any of the hell they endured, as always tanks for sharing...

Wow! I did not expect that avalanche.

Thank you Mike 🌺🌺🌺

Great. Vid Mike , I must be about two years older than you but still go to work most days . Yeah OK , it’s often quite a short day now , but I still work . Anyway regarding what you say about listening to the old timers . I remember as a young man working with an old farm hand who had spent his early years working with horses before tractors were widely used here in England . One thing he showed me was how to set a big gate post as firm as a rock by back filling the hole just a little at a time and ramming it down really hard as you did so . It worked perfectly. No need for these bags of “postcrete” or whatever that everyone today thinks are indispensable

Nice job Mike. Thanks for showing how simple this can be. I will do the front of my house this spring. No big deal!

Im from wilkes barre, I've been patching up for years and you taught me many good ways. thanks for the vids they are great.

Love all your videos, but this one in particular is awesome!

I never forget how you said walls are the worst kind of job a mason can take, its heavy and they dont work. Me, I was saying ut oh! at the 1 min mark when they all fell.,, heavy work Mike..slow and steady so you can keep sharing with us a long time.

I never thought fixing a wall like that would be as easy as it appeared. I believe I could do that rather easily.👍👍

Great job, Mike. I was really interested in how little cement you used and instead relied on choking everything in. It makes a lot of sense and also saves $ on using more cement than necessary. Once again, the mud trick comes in handy. I’m using the mud trick on repointing stonework at an old farm my friend is renovating and it works great. Thanks for sharing your experience and keep up the great work. From the comments it looks like some viewers watch your videos to learn masonry techniques and other viewers watch just for entertainment and I think everybody learns something worthwhile.

Great job Mike. My problem is I over think things. I would dig out the back... install pipes... install gravel...get out the Laser...next thing you know...I'm not finishing the job. Way to get it done!

Thank you for showing another great video and lesson. Closer to my concern is that the house I in was built with a three tiered retaining wall. It was built with the city signing off on it but does scare me. They say it was engineered but I take what you say as gold because I agree about the 3 types of retaining walls they make. I hope it continues to hold and not move beyond what it has and appreciate your words and knowledge Mike as always, thank you.

Mike I’ve seen probably 100 of you videos and this is my favorite one. I appreciate the work you do and that you share your knowledge. Thanks.

Great work Mike and thanks for the history lesson. I live about an hour down the Susquehanna from you and I love to go find the old WPA walls. No stimulus back then just working for a buck. God bless!

No big deal, truly words of wisdom.

Another A+ video, Mike. Thank you for sharing your knowledge!

I'm always amazed at how interesting these videos are. What I learned here is how deep these walls all. The depth is one of the reasons they've lasted as long as they have. The cap stones, and concrete plinths. That's added weight. As frost and water swell the soil and push against all that rock, all that weight on top pushes down to hold it in place. I hadn't considered that before. What's also valuable information is how after 80-90 years that rubble behind the wall can still drain. I put in a long ABS drain with my dad in our backyard back around 1970. We used pea gravel so the water could 'filter' through and then up into the drain holes along the pipe. My dad said eventually enough silt would get into that gravel to block the flow of water. In this video I'm seeing that rubble and maybe that pea gravel is good for at least 100 years. It'd be interesting to figure out if frost heave tore into those walls or just water swelling the soil. Along mountain ridges where there'd been glaciers on both sides all the rocks on the ridge are loose. Called an arete. There's a lot of them always called sawtooth, jagged ridge, or in Japanese dikiretto. They've been frost shattered, but not yet moved by the glacier. The ones I've climbed along in japan, Glacier National Park and Scotland, have been there for 10,000 years. Every rock is loose but not really going anywhere - so you can hang on to them. In the winter water fills the cracks, freezes, expands, shifting everything, but when the thaw comes puts them back down in the same place. It's like a retaining wall where every rock fits and any rocks that are going to fall out did so over the past 10,000 years.

5:07 mike manhandles stones. Makes it look easy.

Very interesting, thanks for putting this together and posting it.

Another great job Mike! Thanks!

Love the way you do things; also appreciate the Bible verses at the end of your videos-very inspirational-always puts a smile on my face :-) God bless you Mike Haduck!

Great video mike!

Mike you are the best and blessed. Keep sharing the stories of the old school ways. People are going to need them soon. Oh how soft we have grown. BTW born in 48 here.

Wow, that was a solid workout! I realised I've learned a thing ore two, after years watching your videos. Because I troubleshoot and looking for reasons for the issue at hand, before you mention it. Apparently I've learned. No, I am not writing that to brag about me . Obviously, it's yet another compliment directed to the King of Masonry. Retaining wall, mud trick, old and new school. What more could you ask for in a video? Thank you. Have a great day Sir.

Awesome video mike

Thank you Mike

rock solid tips ...🙏

I love your old stone retaining wall videos. Keep it up Mike, don't retire !

Wow really enjoyed your video. Now I am going to look really hard when I walk pass a stone wall

Mike, looks awesome great job.

Great video Mike. I enjoyed the history lesson as well, I like hearing how it was done back then from someone who knows. Best wishes to you.

Mike i envy you working with them old boys, i grew going what we call RSL's each day with my grandparents, i think its called the returned service league i was always surrounded by WW1,WW2, Korea, Vietnam veterans they all mentored me , im about 15 years younger than you.

Great video Mike,love the history stuff

Always good videos! Very informative!

Mike your the best! My sister has a wall similar to this in Northern Bergen County in New Jersey and I repaired it basically the way you did but the one thing I did not do was use the mud in the joints. I will be doing that with the next couple days

Looks good! It's amazing to think how long some of those old walls built during the Depression Era have held up, particularly in a place like Pennsylvania with the freeze-thaw cycles you mention.

0:58 Came down so easily. Scary to think what would happen if a kid was messing around with it. Nice repair.

Nice job, I thought the wall coming down when you pull the first stone, that was my first impression.

I have learned alot from your videos. I hope u make some new ones soon.

Great job that's old school

This might have been your best wall repair yet. What a great job! I think they're going to call you back in the future for other parts of it. p.s. Please don't get run over by a car!

Sounds like Mike has been choking more than this retaining wall...ha ha..pardon me..sometimes I just can't help myself! Good stuff Mike..

When you get a minute, there is a wall south of here that needs to be finished.

Nice work mike mate

Hi Mike!! I've learned so much from your videos and really appreciate the guidance that you offer to make just about any job a reality for the novice. I recently acquired a home that has a TON of old sandstone from an old foundation. The previous owner used it to make accent barriers around the front of the house and driveway. I want to use the large blocks of sandstone to build up a three-sided loafing shed. I live in southern Colorado and the climate here is relatively dry (high desert). What would be the best type of cement to use to bind the sandstone bricks together? Thanks!!

My biggest problem in life...I make a project out of everything and wind up working twice as hard as Mr. Haduck. I'm stupid like that.

Mike I watch your videos amazing, Masonry Picasso

those birds singing in the background too singing praises

No big deal!!! Thanks Mike!!

Just like new lol. Those were some heavy stones it looked like.

What a pro!!

Thanks Mike

Better not let pops see u stealing his soil that looks like some good rich soil he might give you the Boot😂 great job Mike thanks

Mike, I can't tell you how much I appreciate your videos. I have learned so much in the last couple years and am so grateful. Had a question: there's walls like the one towards the end of the videos with big, square and rectangle stones that some how fit together perfectly.. are the stones rough sawn to a certain height and length to fit or is it all field work? I have a hunch it's in the field, and if that's the case, these early masons had incredible talent and skill! Thanks again and looking forward to the next video!

Hi Mike, I noticed that the last wall you showed had the soil quite a ways lower than the wall. That’s what I was imagining when you were saying about how you want the soil over the top of the wall. That wall was the opposite, and I was wondering if the reason it hadn’t fallen down was because of the big opening area with no wall to the right of that wall? Did that big opening prevent that collapse by it relieving the pressure?

Like it is said, ‘If walls could only talk’.

That was easy... Loll.... Nice work

I was just watching this with my 86 year old mom and she said " is that that actor? Harrison Ford? It looks like him"

I stopped to admire a wall once. My wife screamed, "What are you stopping for??? We gotta get to the store before all the bargains are gone!" I said, "Mike said to look, the next time." She asked, "Who's Mike? One of your stupid friends?" I'll look at the wall after I'm dead. What a life.

I’ve seen some amazing WPA stone work here in Minnesota.

More about how they built buildings such as the old churches.

When that entire section collapsed, I would have said, forget it. Goodbye!

Excelente video 👍 👏 saludos desde chile 👊 👌🏻 👏

Mike I've watched this video about 50 times and I'm still in awe. Amazing! Quick question: you mentioned the mud bank in the back. Did you pack your concrete all the way and fill that void from the stones to the bank or leave some gaps for drainage? We have a similar situation on a wall out here in Pittsburgh but our wall is intermixed with stone and concrete slabs (think they threw whatever they could get in there). Some folks have said to fill that void with gravel to promote drainage to a pipe, but not sure if it would make sense to just fill it up with more concrete and stone instead. I imagine back in the day they didn't have too much access to gravel.

It's like playing Jenga, except with blocks that could crush your hand.

@ 7:20 Could that rock had been laid flat? Tie the wall in? Thx Mike, all the Best!

Mike, if I ever get the money, I want you to do some 18th/19th century style work for me.

Those WPA walls also kept debris off the road and improve the scenery.