If you’re having problems with your foundation, water is getting through and making a mess out of everything in your basement, we would recommend building a retaining wall. This structure is specifically designed to resist the lateral pressure of soil or in some cases, water pressures.
Every one of our walls supports a ‘wedge’ of soil. The wedge is defined as the soil which extends beyond the failure plane of the soil type present at the site, and that can also be calculated once the soil friction angle is known. As the setback of the wall increases, the size of the sliding wedge is reduced. By doing this we cut the pressure that’s being put on the wall.
Several different materials are often used in the construction of a retaining wall. We use concrete most of the time, but there are also blocks that are made out of special materials, including light concrete, that are designed specifically for this purpose.
Different styles of retaining walls serve different purposes. Rock Structure Repair in Little Rock, AR offers gravity walls, piling walls, cantilever walls, and anchored walls. We will work with you to select the style that will best fit your needs.
When you’re trying to build a retaining wall, the most important aspects are proper design and installation. This allows us to recognize and counteract the tendency of the retained material to move down slope due to gravity. This creates what is called lateral wall pressure behind the wall which depends on the angle of internal friction and the cohesive strength of the retained material, as well as the direction and the force the structure itself undergoes.
If our wall is designed to retain water, we make an extra effort to install the proper drainage behind the wall so that we gradually reduce the pressure and improve the stability of the material behind the wall. For example, the international building code requires that a retaining wall to be designed to ensure stability against overturning, sliding, excessive foundation pressure and water uplift.
Give Rock Structure Repair a call today at 501-747-2913 and schedule a free estimate for a retaining wall for your home! [masterslider alias=”ms-8-1″]
