Retaining walls serve to retain the lateral pressure of soil. Basement walls, for example, are retaining walls, but the term is most commonly used to describe the decorative or structural build up of material to hold back soil on a slopped surface. Most commonly, these are seen on shore lines of creeks, or on hilly slopes. Alternatives made to a home’s landscape create the need for retaining walls from time to time. Without a proper retaining wall, major differences in level can cause erosion and other problems.
For the typical homeowner, though most retaining walls are designed with both practical and aesthetic uses in mind. While a piled wall, consisting of precast sheets of concrete, slabs of steel or thick timbers pounded into the ground may serve the practical purpose well, they may be quite unsightly. Sometimes such designs are augmented by dry stacking stone or brick in front of the sheet to provide the illusion of a retaining wall constructed solely of that decorative material. The most commonly known landscaped cosmetic retaining walls is the cantilevered construction, utilizing pullulated particular, cosmetic impersonation stone, or real rock and bricks. These allow for a sequel of the lawn or garden surface right to the lip of the wall, without unattractive gaps. A design alternative that is gaining in popularity is the use of meshing bricks that work much like a Lego set blocking arrangement. These bricks come in a over plus of styles, sizes, shapes and colors, and are easily installed by most devoted odd job men, in one or two days. During which installing a retaining wall that will also act to resist hydraulic pressure, it is important to install proper drainage systems, too. This is where the home jack of all trades most overtimes fails, and where looking up with a professional fence installer or landscaper becomes critical.
Professional person installers are able to provide the counseling that will turn a functional retaining wall into a work of art, worth of attention and extolment. While the cost may be significant, the benefits, in the log term, will promptly exceed the investment funds.
