Advantages of Properly Planning and Building Retaining Walls

Do’s and Don’ts of Building Retaining Walls

Many North Carolina homes are built on properties with slopes, hills or inclines. This makes building retaining walls to prevent landscaping issues, soil erosion and protect your foundation from improper drainage very important. Even a slight incline can keep you from achieving your lawn and garden dreams. The drainage issues such a slope creates can also cost you a lot of money if water reaches your foundation. All of these reasons make building retaining walls a necessity.

Building retaining walls is generally best left to the experts. Although there are many aspects of lawn care that you can DIY, these structures require drainage planning and skillful engineering. Below, we explore some do’s and don’ts of building retaining walls to help you visualize your project and enlist the right professionals when you are ready to begin.

Don’t start building retaining walls without proper permits.

Many communities require permitting before building retaining walls. While this sounds like unnecessary red tape, the permit serves a highly valuable purpose. 

The permit process serves to ensure the walls built on your property do not direct water and drainage problems onto your neighbors’ land. Sometimes these permits require submission of engineering plans and compliance with a property inspection. Your local Raleigh, Southern Pines and Fayetteville area pros of Drainage & Waterproofing Solutions understand your city’s laws and proper methods of building retaining walls.

Do choose materials that suit your property.

Building retaining walls includes the process of choosing the right materials for your property. There are many materials to choose from. You can request natural stones, bricks, poured concrete, timbers and other options. But your best choice are materials designed specifically for this purpose. 

Working with the pros of Drainage & Waterproofing Solutions makes the material selection process easy. We know which materials will suit your terrain and aesthetic when building retaining walls around your home or commercial property. We can make recommendations for the greatest value and longevity of your retaining walls. 

Do choose pros with experience in building retaining walls.

Besides needing expert help in getting through the permitting process for building retaining walls, you need pros who know how to engineer these structures. The last thing you want is a disaster on your hands after a heavy rainfall. 

When building retaining walls, proper engineering means many things. For example, the walls need strong support. This support starts with appropriate trenching and foundation material. 

Your retaining walls also require a perfectly leveled surface. Otherwise, your walls will lean like the Leaning Tower of Pisa before falling apart after a downpour. Any slant at the bottom looks exaggerated at the top.

Proper engineering and for building retaining walls you also must ensure proper stacking of the above-ground materials. While you do not want a wall that improperly leans, you do need one with a slight backward slope to prevent soil erosion. You need walls with appropriate drainage and backfill, too.

Don’t build one wall where you need multiple.

Many people building retaining walls try to cut corners by building one wall where multiple will work better. Tiered walls require close attention to positioning, distance and height to ensure strength and support. 

Having tiered walls instead of one tall one adds visual depth and interest to your property. These shorter walls are less prone to failure, too. Being shorter, they hold less soil weight and therefore experience less pressure. 

The pros of Drainage & Waterproofing Solutions can develop an engineering plan that meets all of the support needs for your property while also providing the most visual interest. 

Do call upon the experts of Drainage & Waterproofing Solutions.

For your Raleigh, Southern Pines, Fayetteville or surrounding area property in North Carolina, call upon the experts of Drainage & Waterproofing Solutions for your retaining wall design, engineering and construction. We are the pros for building retaining walls and other drainage, waterproofing and moisture control services such as:

• French drains
• Basement waterproofing
• Foundation waterproofing
• Basement moisture control
• Crawl space encapsulation
• Retaining walls
• Crawl space sealing

Call Drainage & Waterproofing Solutions today at (919)508-7503.