Retaining Walls
Do I really need a Retaining Wall?
Retaining walls look like simple stacked stone, block, or timber. But in fact, they’re carefully engineered systems that wage an ongoing battle with gravity. They restrain tons of saturated soil that would otherwise slump and slide away from a foundation or damage the surrounding landscape. These handsome barriers also make inviting spots to sit, and can increase usable yard space by terracing sloped properties, something that is increasingly important as flat home sites become ever more scarce in many regions.
Along with sloped landscapes where water runoff causes hillside erosion, ideal locations for a retaining wall include spots downhill from soil fault lines and where the downhill side of a foundation is losing supporting soil or its uphill side is under pressure from sliding soil.
Although retaining walls are simple structures, a casual check around your neighborhood will reveal lots of existing walls that are bulging, cracked, or leaning. That’s because most residential retaining walls have poor drainage, and many aren’t built to handle the hillside they’re supposed to hold back. Even small retaining walls have to contain enormous loads. A 4-foot-high, 15-foot-long wall could be holding back as much as 20 tons of saturated soil.
Types of Retaining Walls:
- Timber
- Interlocking Stones
- Natural Stones
- Brick or Block
- Concrete
TESTOMINIAL
“I no longer have erosion problems in my backyard….Thank you Outdoor Solutions”.
T. Jackson
Okc, 2008