Here’s What You Need to Know About Retaining Walls

December 2, 2021 by PMS Brick Pavers – We’re the Guys

If your home is situated on a sloping surface, chances are that a considerable part of your home, i.e. slopy surface must be currently serving no purpose. However, with a retaining wall, homeowners can convert their unusable slopy area into a useful zone. In this article, we tell you how. So, read on.

So, What Is a Retaining Wall?

A retaining wall is a vertical structure made of stone, concrete, or wood that is commonly used to convert unlevelled areas into leveled ones. Retaining walls serve a very important purpose: they hold soil in place and therefore, stop soil erosion.

Homeowners must know that retaining walls are quite durable. However, their durability and therefore, life depends on the material used for their construction. Similarly, homeowners must also know that retaining walls can both be straight and curved. Further, other than preventing soil erosion, they serve other important purposes, such as creating a private area where your guests can enjoy without worrying about their privacy getting intruded or creating a unique seating zone.

Different Types of Retaining Walls

Retaining walls are of four different types: Anchored, Pilling, Gravity, and Cantilever. All four types have their advantages and disadvantages.

Anchored retaining walls use tension supports to attach themselves to the rock or soil over which they are built. This tension support makes anchored walls quite sturdy and therefore, anchored retaining walls are often used in conjunction with other walls and serve the purpose of providing support to these walls.

Gravity walls are essentially used to hold soil in place in areas where the slope is no higher than three feet. Piling walls, on the other hand, use poles to get support and maintain their stability. Lastly, cantilever walls use a slab as the base. This slab is placed inside the ground and ensures the wall’s stability.

Here’s What Else You Need to Know

If you are planning to get a retaining wall installed at your place, here are a few things you must know.

Before hiring a contractor to start working on a retaining wall, you must sit down with an expert and understand the quality of soil and drainage in your area. This will allow you to understand which retaining wall type would be the right choice for you.
If your property or home lies on a steep slope, know that the runoff will be quite harsh and extreme, and in such a case a retaining wall will come especially handy during the rainy season when it will serve the key purpose of controlling the flow of the rainwater as well as guiding the flow towards the drainage.
If you care about the climate, here’s a suggestion: you can create your retaining wall in such a way that it directs rainwater towards plant beds and the dry spots in your garden.

If you stay in a sloppy area and soil erosion is a major issue, consider installing a retaining wall. A retaining wall, other than adding a certain charm to your yard, will also make sure that your home’s foundation stays as strong as it should be.

Schedule a Quote from JJW Brick Today!

If you have any questions regarding brick pavers or hardscape design, contact us today. Please feel free to give JJW Brick a call today for your Metro-Detroit, MI home. We can be reached at 1-800-BRICK-PAVERS. We hope to hear from you soon!

Everything You Need to Know About Retaining Walls

May 13, 2019 by PMS Brick Pavers – We’re the Guys

Retaining walls, can be found at both residential and commercial properties but somehow remain unnoticed. These walls, can serve as a valuable extension to your outdoor living spaces. Retaining walls provide support to other architectural features like sidewalks and patios. In this post, we discuss everything that you need to know about retaining walls.

What Are the Benefits of Retaining Walls?

The warm spring season is the perfect time when you can invest in hardscaping or landscaping projects. If you want to add a focal point to your home, you might want to have a retaining wall first. Here are some key benefits of having a retaining wall on your property.

Provides Support

If your property has slopes or is situated in a hilly area, the best thing you can do it to have a retaining wall. The best thing about having a retaining wall is that is keeps the soil in its place and keeps it from entering your home. During a rainstorm, the soil can easily landslide into your home, causing a mess and more clean-up that you shouldn’t have to worry about.

Ads to the Aesthetics

Apart from being an excellent support system, a retaining wall adds to the aesthetics of your property. It enhances the overall look of your property. Its visual appeal depends heavily upon the material it has been built with. A retaining wall can serve as a focal point of your exterior living space and allows you to add other features around it.

Extra Space

By adding a retaining wall to your landscape you can add more features, and also make room for fun activities on your property. Another interesting feature of using a retaining wall is its ability to turn a slope into a flat surface. Flat pieces of land can be used as perfect gardening sites where plants can be grown. A retaining wall can be used for a beautiful summer garden where exotic and colorful flowers can be cultivated with lush green grass. Not only does a retaining wall beautify your space but also increase its functionality.

How to Build a Retaining Wall?

When it comes to the construction of a retaining wall, the contractor must first lay the base material in order to build a surface over it. To construct a retaining wall that is long lasting and strong, around 10% of the wall will have to stay beneath the ground. In order to avoid erosion, the drainage stone needs to be installed around 4 feet behind the retaining wall. The excavated slope should be as stable as possible, so as to ensure a longer life for the retaining wall. In order to keep the property safe, the backfill must have the proper wall materials.

How Many Kinds of Retaining Walls Are There?

Following are three of the most common types of retaining walls.

Natural Stone

This material works best with smaller walls and provides your walls with a natural look.

Segmented Retaining Walls/ Brick Retaining Walls

These walls are made up of building blocks that interlock with one another and fortify the structure of the wall.

Wood Timbers

This material too provides natural aesthetics and works well with smaller walls. However, unlike stone this wood will rot overtime.

If you want to extend and beautify you exterior living space with a retaining wall, call JJW Brick today! We can be reached at 1-800-BRICK-PAVERS and would love to answer any questions about adding or replacing a retaining wall at your home this summer!

PMS Brick Pavers

"WE'RE THE GUYS"