How To Make Sure Your Water Retaining Wall Actually Does The Job

People who live near levies or bodies of water often use water retaining walls to keep their homes protected against water damage. If you’re interested in having a wall built around your home, there are certain steps you need to take to ensure that the it works when the time comes.

 

Build A Foundation

As with almost all construction projects, the foundation of the wall is paramount to your project’s success. To build the right foundation, you must first have an understanding of your surrounding area. For example, in certain places, retaining walls can be built directly on the ground. In other areas where the ground can move, you should build some sort of concrete footing first to keep the wall in place.

 

Protect Against Water

During your evaluation, it’s also a good idea to understand whether water will drain into the area where you’re going to build the wall. Since you want to keep the area dry during construction, it a may be a good idea to have some temporary grading to keep water from draining into your construction area.

 

Install Proper Draining

You should monitor the movement patterns of the water around your home to get a better idea of where to install the draining. You’ll need to install the pipe in a manner that it transports the water that normally goes into the dirt away from the wall. Keep in mind that the pipe you use will vary based on the type of soil around your home as well as the size of the wall. If the soil around your home drains poorly or if the wall is over 4 feet tall, you will need to use a pipe with toe drain.      

 

Overall, retaining walls are not that difficult to install and can be put up in just a few days.