Improving Your Home’s Curb Appeal

What Is The Purpose Of A Retaining Wall?

A retaining wall can help you address numerous problems on a property. If you're trying to deal with one of these four issues, you may want to install a retaining wall.

Protecting Flattened Landscapes

Suppose you want to make one part of a landscape flatter and more accessible. For example, you might want to install a sidewalk in a hilly area with lots of ups and downs in the ground. If you only flatten the immediate path of the sidewalk, you'll end up with faces above them after you remove the soil. To keep the soil from crumbling or sliding onto the nearby sidewalk, you need to install a barrier. A retaining wall is often the best choice for this job, especially if you want the area to look nice.

Blocking Moving Hills

Over time, hills move. Gravity, erosion, and other forces will cause the materials that make up the hill to slowly migrate. The process can radically reshape a property, especially in regions with big hills.

You might want to control the movement of a hill by installing a retaining wall. This will provide a barrier that resists the hill's movement. If you're dealing with a large hill, you can even install several walls to create a terraced look while also addressing basic engineering issues.

Drainage

People rarely think of retaining walls as drainage systems. However, a retaining wall can hold up something similar to a French drain. By putting gravel or loose soil behind the wall, you can allow water to work its way to the base of the wall. From there, a drain pipe can carry the water away. If you're searching for a good-looking way to install drainage, especially along the slope of a hill, a retaining wall might fit the bill.

Visual Interest

Retaining walls are often visually pleasing. They can add a rustic look to nearly any landscape. Particularly if you have an area with nothing but grass on your property, a retaining wall is an excellent way feature. It will instantly break up the visual boredom of just looking at lots of grass.

You also can integrate retaining walls into other styles of landscapes. For example, the wall can act as one side of a raised garden along a slope. You can plant flowers or even small shrubs at the top of the wall to beautify the landscape. Viewers will also see the added beauty and texture of the wall's face.

For more information, contact a company like Quality Lawn & Landscape.


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