Retaining walls are meticulously engineered systems that wage a continuous battle with gravity. These walls restrain tons of saturated soil that would otherwise slump and slide away from the base, which ultimately damage the surrounding landscape. Along with sloped landscapes where water runoff causes hillside erosion, perfect location to build retention wall includes spots downhill from soil fault lines, downhill side of a foundation or uphill side.
Building Engineered Retaining Walls Right
Poor drainage results in saturated soil and frost, which is the main cause of failure. All sturdy and good retaining walls start with landscape fabric, back fill and 4-inch perforated drainpipe.
Digging: The depth you need to excavate depends on frost depth as well as the wall and soil variety. Concrete walls in heavy-frost area demand footing dug below the frost line. If your area does not freeze and soil drains well, then you may be able to just scrape away top soil to build a base of engineered retaining walls Brisbane.
Before adding gravel, you should lay down sufficient landscape fabric to build new gravel. The fabric must wrap around and create a border between the gravel and topsoil to keep sediment from clogging the gravel and drainpipe.
Back filling: Replace native soil with ¾-minus gravel or bank-run gravel. You need to shovel at least a 4-inch layer of gravel onto the landscape fabric. Now, grab this layer so it slopes 1 inch for every 4 feet, allowing water to drain away. Shovel in back fill as you build the wall, one tier at a time.
Types Of Retaining Walls
Timber Walls: Timber retaining walls should be built up to 4 feet high. If you are planning for timber engineered retaining walls Brisbane, then you can ask for an even taller wall.
Interlocking Concrete Block: These walls are also called segmented retaining walls and easy to assemble. Units used here are small and modular, so these engineered walls can be up to 20 feet high.
Stone, brick or Cinder Block: Cinder blocks are inexpensive and can be reinforced with steel and concrete. You can also try bricks if you want it to have a formal look.
Concrete: concrete retaining walls are strong, well-designed and properly drained and backfilled. As bare concrete isn’t attractive, you can use them with masonry, or other decorative designs.
Livable Landscapes 