Retaining Walls for Dummies

Stone retaining wall

The freelancers who provide content for eHow.com often "specialize" on a subject. This doesn't necessarily mean they know lots about the topic, just that they've already "researched" it (in other words, found a reliable resource, preferably offline, that they can mine for information). Contributor Aurora LaJambre is a classic example: this Brooklyn apartment-dweller has published, by our informal count, three thousand posts about working bricks. concrete, pavers and stone in your yard. We didn't read them all, but if they're as bad as "How to Install a Paver Stone Retaining Wall" at Hunker.com, there must be a lot of disintegrating walls, sidewalks, patios and driveways out there...

Despite being a "professional writer" (her degree in creative writing), Aurora seems to have gotten confused about her topic. Her six-step instructions include five steps for providing a footing and one for building the actual wall. Yes, we know that a good foundation is essential, but we aren't sure we can trust LaJambre: would an "expert" on the topic...

Tell you to "Insert posts [sic] in the four corners of the site and wrap a string around them to outline the wall"? We're inclined to call them "stakes," ourselves. Tell you to "Add 2 inches of course [sic] sand or crushed limestone over the tamped surface"? We'd say "coarse," ourselves. Instruct readers to "Place the paver stones in the trench flush against each other"? That ain't what "flush" means, Aurora: look up the term "to butt." Confuse her readers by saying, "Continue laying courses until the wall is complete, beginning and ending every other row with a half stone" instead of telling them to stagger the stones by beginning alternate courses with a half stone?

And where are the instructions about keeping the wall straight and the courses of stones level? They aren't there at all! If you were in wall-building school, the teacher would have to give you an incomplete, Aurora! But perhaps the most damning omission is that these are instructions for building a free-standing wall, not for building a retaining wall. What a dummy.

The content is incomplete, poorly written, contains misleading information and is off-topic to begin with. In other words, it's the sort of work we've come to expect of the typical Dumbass of the Day.

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