A retaining wall is a structure that helps to hold back soil or stabilise uneven ground. They can also be an attractive feature in a garden or backyard, adding tiers and layers to your landscape. They are often necessary in a landscaping project, but that doesn’t mean they have to be ugly! retaining walls Byron Bay can be built from a range of different materials to suit your taste and budget. Some are easy on the eye, such as a timber sleeper wall or block wall, and others like a gabion retaining wall can have a natural feel to it. Whatever type of retaining wall you want, there are a few things you should keep in mind when planning your build.
The most common type of retaining wall is the gravity retaining wall, which uses its own weight to resist toppling and sliding caused by lateral earth pressure. This is the simplest and oldest form of retaining wall, and can be built from concrete, masonry, brick, blocks or mass cast in-situ concrete. It can be built to retained heights of up to about 3m.
A key consideration when building any retaining wall is the bearing capacity of the material being retained. Failure to correctly calculate this can lead to a retaining wall being damaged, or worse, failing. This can be due to soil swelling or settlement, groundwater flow through a retaining wall or even the collapse of a retaining wall itself.
To avoid this, a geotechnical engineer needs to determine the maximum retaining wall height possible for the site. This can be done by using a load test to evaluate the bearing capacity of the soil, or by installing a soil probe. This will provide information about the strength of the soil in a particular area, and allow for an appropriate design to be developed.
Another important issue is the stability of the retained material, which will be affected by pore pressures. These can be negative, as in the case of clay fill compacted to a standard earthworks specification, or positive if the wall is being built on very steep slopes.
A good way to control these pore pressures is to use a geogrid system, such as those from Tensar, in the construction of your retaining wall. Geogrids are a cost-effective solution to reduce the need for heavy reinforced concrete, and offer a number of advantages in comparison with conventional methods such as soil nails or shotcrete. They can also be used in conjunction with a variety of facings, including a range of bricks and natural stone. In addition to being aesthetically appealing and environmentally friendly, geogrids are also durable, with a design life up to 120 years.