Homeowners don’t always realize they need a retaining wall until they see drainage problems or a hilly yard becomes hard to live with. When it rains, water and loose soil might wash down a steep hill and ruin the backyard landscaping or flood the house.
A yard with too much slope might be unsafe for children to play in and might make any gardening or landscaping difficult. At some point, every homeowner with a hilly or sloping yard wonders if installing a retaining wall would improve their property.
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Do You Need a Retaining Wall?
If a property is on flat ground, a retaining wall is not needed. But, if a property is on a hill, a retaining wall might be needed. If a homeowner has a yard with a slope of over 35 degrees, a retaining wall might be necessary to keep everything from moving with heavy rainstorms and to make the yard more usable.
Hiring a good company for building a retaining wall is important. Building retaining walls is a difficult process that requires expertise and experience as well as the right equipment to move large amounts of soil and rock.
Retaining walls allow more of a property to be used by leveling off a portion of the property and building a barrier to hold the soil and rock on the rest of the hill. Retaining walls can also be built to make several levels or terraces on a hill. Retaining walls can solve drainage problems and stop a hill from washing down into a home’s yard.
Three signs that a retaining wall is needed include
- The slope of a property exceeds 35 degrees and prevents the homeowner from utilizing the space. Hilly areas can make an outdoor space unworkable or unsafe.
- Water runoff from the hill adjacent to a property is causing flooding in a home or undermining its foundation. It can lead to standing water near a home that attracts mosquitoes and other insects that are unhealthy.
- There is a need to control soil erosion on the property. Retaining walls keep soil and rocks on hills from sliding down into a home’s yard.
Why Hire Professionals to Build a Retaining Wall?
Retaining walls require expert planning and even professional engineering to work correctly and safely. They will be holding back tons of soil and rock.
An improperly built wall can bulge or collapse, creating a big mess and a safety hazard. Retaining walls must be approved by local authorities since they may change the natural flow of water and affect the neighbor’s properties. The community might require a permitting process before a retaining wall can be built.
Some steps in building a retaining wall include
- Designing the retaining wall and getting the designs approved
- Choosing the material to build the retaining wall
- Bringing in heavy equipment to prepare the area for a retaining wall
- Digging a trench for a good wall foundation and add a layer of crushed rock for stability. The depth of the trench is determined by the proposed height of the wall.
- Leveling the foundation for the wall is a must, and the first course or row of blocks must be absolutely level
- Providing drainage for the wall with perforated pipes and crushed stone backfill, sand, and pea gravel
- Completing the wall and finishing it properly for stability and visual appeal.
This is a job where hiring a professional landscape construction company is the best choice. Call a company such as Mason works Landscapes for a bid to design and build the retaining wall. The landscape company will be responsible for building the retaining wall properly, and they will have all the required equipment.