Retaining walls can be used to help customers overcome sloped areas in their yard and often add in visual interest to a landscape while serving a functional purpose. Retaining walls can also be used to increase the amount of usable land available in a yard, and they can even provide environmental benefits such as protecting areas from saturation and soil erosion reduction.
Types of retaining walls
Gravity walls will hold the earth by the weight of the wall’s material. They can be formal pavers or even a stack of large rocks, but they can fall easily and should be used for short slopes of 3 feet or less.
Anchored walls are the strongest type and can be combined with other techniques. An anchor is wrapped around the wall, and a base is placed deeper into the hill, which provides the stabilization.
Piling walls use long piles, or poles, that go deep into the soil and above it. Pilings can be made of metal or treated lumber, and they have a good capacity to hold the soil back.
Cantilever walls are similar to piling walls, however, they get added strength from a sort of “arm” that extends back into the hill. This can increase its capacity to stabilize pressure.
Jim Saitta did beyond an excellent job designing our front landscaping, and really took our likes and dislikes and turned our yard into a piece of art! We are so excited to come home now just so we can sit in our beautiful yard, it feels like we’re on vacation!