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46 LC DBM Mark Hattenburg wanted to add a terrace and pool to the backyard of his home near Spokane, Washington, but he had no design plan and wasn't quite sure where to begin. He knew he would need to do something about the eight-foot grade change of the property and he really wanted something that would look good. While driving down Little Spokane Drive one day, Rick Lindberg from local Redi-Rock manufacturer, Wilbert Precast noticed an ex- cavator in the field behind Hattenburg's house. Curious about the project and knowing it would require a retaining wall, he spoke to the crew who told him that Hattenburg, who Lindberg knew from previous professional dealings, was going to build the wall. "I called (him) up and he said he knew he needed a wall but he just didn't know what he was going to do," says Lindberg. With a back- ground in the landscape industry, he offered to help Hattenburg out by designing the backyard upgrade, which incorporated Lindberg's products. "It was a fairly technical wall project with a lot of ninety degree turns and a lot of step downs," Lindberg relates. Since Hattenburg owns his own construction company, Hatten - burg Excavation, and had installed walls using those products in the past, he knew it would be a good fit on this project too. It is a precast, large block retaining wall system, engineered to harness the power of gravity to build tall retaining walls. The blocks stack together like giant Legos to install quickly, without the need for additional reinforcement in many applications. The Hattenburgs were happy with the design, which included gravity retaining and freestanding walls, plus coordinating columns, steps, and caps, all in the cobblestone texture. Because of his professional experience with the product, Hatten- burg installed the walls himself explaining, "It was pretty straight forward, we didn't really have a whole lot of challenges once we got the plans set." Above: To construct the water feature, the cascade's course was laid out starting with a bed of sand, followed by a rubber liner and then a layer of concrete. Basalt boulders were installed with the help of an excavator. Smaller pieces of basalt were added around the boulders. The pump circulates the water from the pool's return before it is heated. Left: The walls are various heights topping out 10'. Over 500 cobblestone textured retaining and freestanding blocks were installed along with coordinating columns and caps. All retaining wall blocks including the top blocks (inset) are 18" tall, 24" deep, and 46" long. The base consists of 6" of compacted 5/8 minus aggregate. The first course of blocks was set 6" below grade. At the bottom of the steps are Belgard Urbana pavers in various sizes, lined with a 4" x 8" sailor course.