So I am building up this retaining wall between our lawn and the neighbors driveway. That is the plan anyway.

My wife and I dug the ground down about three inches. The pavers are 2" and we left 1" for sand.

We didn't go deeper or use gravel for the base for two reasons. One, we are only planning on the wall being 8" (4 pavers) tall. Two, our ground is hard packed clay with rocks. We tamped down the loose bit of clay on top of the hard packed part and soaked with some water, then tamped it again. Once it hardens it should be pretty solid. Plus, the wall won't be very heavy.

The question is, will that be enough for an 8" wall. I don't want it sinking or shifting in the near future.

TIA,

Kelty

Don' t think you meant a retaining wall, which would hold back soil and such.  That would take a footing and possibly other strengthening.  Sounds like you guys are just building a short wall to divide the property, maybe.

Are the pavers just going to be stacked on top of each other?  If so, what I used was decomposed granite for the base,.  I leveled the base using it, then stacked my pavers (bigger and heavier than what you are using) on top of it.  No problem and it has been in for 5 or 6 years.

I've never built a wall (retaining or not) with less than a 3 inch base of process. Then again, I have yet to build on the conditions you describe.

Decorative walls, paver sidewalks and patios etc, all get minimum 3" base using processed stone and 1" of stone dust on top. Any actual retaining wall, steps etc, get 12" or more of the same process and 1" stone dust.


I would not use sand for the base, generally speaking sand is what Im trying to get out of my way. And sand is generally the reason you need to lay down processed stone.


Like said, its aesthetic so it probably wont matter. And being your own it can probably fly, but I would not sleep well if I did that at a customers house. It cant hurt to go deeper, Ill put it that way.


ETA: Pics to attest to experience;

That looks very nice!

^^^ this.

ar-jedi

ps:
this is always an entertaining thread, lots of pics for you to wonder what went wrong...
http://www.lawnsite.com/showthread.php?t=377514

ar-jedi

That is some good looking work.

So you just put the stone directly on top of the crushed rock base?

ETA: One of the primary reasons I decided to ask here was because the sand seemed so unstable even though it seems to be recommended all over the place.

Yea, I really don't want to end up on that website. I'm willing to spend a little more and from the suggestions here, dig a little more.