Clear debris first — one sharp stone under a bag is a leak. Lay the first row tight, folded edge up, seams overlapped like bricks, not stacked in columns.
Build a pyramid: each row steps back half a bag. Tamp each row flat with your boot before the next goes on. A wall under 1 foot needs 3 rows; every extra foot of water roughly doubles the base width.
The sheeting trick
For real water pressure, lay polyethylene sheeting on the water side, tucked under the bottom row and over the top. It cuts seepage more than any extra row of bags.
Remove the wall within days after the water drops. Wet bags breed mold — and municipalities often collect used bags separately.
Bags matter
Use filled, uniform 18 kg hessian bags with double-sewn seams — exactly what we fill year-round. Lumpy or half-filled bags stack crooked and leak at every gap.
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