Perhaps this is the year to rid your yard of those pesky railroad ties. Why? The weather and other elements probably have split and hollowed them by now. And upgrading or adding durable retaining ...

Q. Can you tell me how to build a retaining wall? Are retaining wall blocks a good choice? What critical things do I need to know so that I don't have a collapse or other failure in the years to come?

Humans have been building retaining walls for thousands of years to create flat, or gently sloping, terraces on hillsides. A lot of my readers have them on their own property — or need to build one — ...