Choosing a Retaining Wall Design

The ideal choices for constructing a new retaining wall include materials that provide a solid and dependable base, offer value for money, and can be used in various designs. With so many different materials available, it’s often the case that you’ll find yourself torn between two or more suitable options.

A retaining wall is more than just a decoration. Often, they need to survive quite a lot of pressure and stress, especially if they are holding back a lot of earth or any other material that is constantly pressing on one side of them. This means that finding the right one is not always as clear-cut as it seems.

Turning to companies like CornerStone Retaining Wall Solutions can be a great option. Businesses like this have been creating and selling a range of both engineered, and natural stone retaining wall systems for many years and have a number of different systems to choose from.

Your Requirements

The first step towards choosing a retaining wall material is to decide what you are actually looking for in it. Do you want a material that can create a straight wall? Does it need to slope in either direction? Or something more complex, like a curve? These are all questions you need to have answered by the design of the wall that you are trying to build.

If you are going to create a straight wall, it is best to go for a material that is durable, cost-effective, and versatile. If you are going for a curved wall, you will need to find something that is durable even at the central points that are under the most stress.

The more complicated the design, the more factors you will need to take into account, especially if the wall solutions you have in mind are meant to include multiple materials. This is not always a good thing, and over-complicated designs can lead to multiple time-consuming meetings with a landscape architect or engineer.

The Materials

It is important to remember that you need a good understanding of all the factors involved in choosing the correct material for your retaining wall, and this can’t be overemphasized. You need to have an in-depth knowledge of the different materials that are on offer and how each one will act in a range of conditions. 

You also need to consider how they will react to extreme weather conditions, as well as how they will react to different types of terrain. This includes both natural things like landslides as well as man-made disturbances.

There are a large number of materials to choose from, mostly split into two main categories: natural and engineered.

Natural Materials

The first category includes natural stones such as limestone, marble, granite, and limestone bricks. These will all tend to require quite a lot of maintenance and you will often need to use either a mortar or adhesive to hold the pieces together, depending on how your wall is constructed.

Natural stones are particularly good at creating vertical and flat surfaces, and they are great for creating stable and straight walls that look stylish. If you are trying to create a vertical wall, you will find that the easiest option is to find a supplier of natural stones or blocks that are suitable for this purpose and then to simply stack them on top of one another and create a strong wall.

This tends to be where a lot of retaining wall blocks come from, which is one of the most popular retaining wall solutions in general. These blocks are usually easier to use than raw materials and are often far more durable than you might expect.

Engineered Materials

The other category includes engineered or prefabricated materials. These usually include bricks and blocks, concrete and masonry, and often materials such as steel and timber as well. They tend to be more durable than most natural materials if properly treated and prepared and are better at creating a variety of different shapes and geometries. 

The main drawback here is that they often do not come with the same look or texture that can be found in natural materials. While they can be far more varied cosmetically, it can take a lot of work to create a fake natural style using engineered materials, especially if you are trying to make the resulting wall look like it was a completely natural formation.

The advantages of engineered materials include their ability to be shaped or modified to a higher degree than natural materials, as well as their durability. Because of this, they tend to be less likely to break down over time and are often far more varied in terms of both design and practical factors.

Choosing a Material

When it comes to choosing a retaining wall material, there is really no clear-cut solution that will work for all situations. However, it is important that you find one that is suitable for your needs. And the best way to do this is to choose a material that you feel confident in and that has the best features for your circumstances.

For example, you do not want it to be too soft for your needs, or it will not withstand the pressure from the ground. Sometimes this means avoiding certain materials that look good because they do not actually have enough practical value or suitability to make them worth using for that kind of project.

Whatever you are looking for, it only takes a little effort to track down the right retaining wall solutions for your needs. Do not be afraid to look at any specific option you have in mind, and keep an open mind while looking at other materials or design options that might suit your needs properly. The more you consider, the easier it becomes to narrow down the options that don’t meet with your personal needs.

Remember that a retaining wall is an important practical addition to many spaces. Sometimes you just have to accept something that you are not completely happy with on the understanding that you can always replace or cover it up later, especially in a space that is still under construction.

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Krystal Morrison
 

I create this blog to share my daily tips about home improvement, children, pets, food, health, and ways to be frugal while maintaining a natural lifestyle. Interested to be a Guest Blogger on my website? Please email me at: [email protected]

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