Concrete retaining walls are used to hold back soil along slopes and can create a pleasing aesthetic. Most people will hire a professional to build concrete retaining walls for them. However, it is possible to do this yourself, but you need to know about the considerations that come before you start actually building the wall.
Proper Planning
As concrete retaining walls are made to hold back soil, you need to plan their placement and building correctly. To start, you have to survey the area where you are planning to build the wall. While surveying the area, you have to familiarize yourself with the conditions of the soil.
You should then mark where you are going to build the walls and make the outlines for the form. This marking will give you the chance to calculate the materials you will need and see if the wall will work correctly.
Familiarize Yourself With The Material
Concrete retaining walls are made using concrete blocks. These blocks lock together and will not need any mortar to hold them. They are also created to easily form curves as this is often a requirement of retaining walls.
It is important that you understand the material that you are going to work with before you start building. You should also know about the size and number of blocks that you are going to need for the wall. You do not want to be part way through the building of the wall only to find that you do not have enough blocks to complete it.
Consider The Terrain
While you will have surveyed the conditions of the soil, there are other factors that you need to think about. The soil that will lie beneath the walls will need to be compact or the wall will start to shift over time. This means that you need to either compact the soil or ensure that the soil is naturally compacted.
You also need to ensure that the soil which will be behind the wall is solidly packed. Loose soil could cause problems when your wall is new, but solidly packed soil will give the wall something to rest against. These are the foundations of the wall and they need to be correct.
Reinforcing The Wall
The wall will need to push onto the soil that it is going to be retaining. If there is too much space between the wall and the soil, the wall could be pushed and collapse. To ensure that this does not happen, you also need to look at anchoring the wall firmly into the dirt. Well-set anchors can stop the wall from moving and will ensure that it is able to complete the task that it has been created for.
Building a concrete retaining wall is something that you can do on your own. However, it is recommended that you hire a professional to do this for you. If you are going to do this yourself, you will need to understand the material, carefully plan the wall and ensure that the wall is correctly anchored.
At Unlimited Drilling, all of the hard work falls on us. You don’t have to worry about materials or soil or reinforcement. Instead, we ensure high quality retaining walls with professional service that makes life easier on you. In the end, you’ll have a retaining wall that is both functional and presentable.
