Landscaping Design and IdeaThe construction of a retaining wall more than 30 inches high is a project that should not be undertaken without due consideration, particularly if the soil which you are to retain, and into which you must dig, is heavy and needs draining. Any retaining structure will have to fight against the full, wet weight of earth behind it since you are creating a barrier to the natural drainage flow downhill.
Provision for drainage is indispensable if your structure is to be sound and lasting. Do not take any chances where the proposed retaining wall is near a structure. Seek expert advice, especially where the slope to be altered is steep.
It is often not required to build a retaining wall at all if you grade out the bank in a series of "cut and fill" exercises, that you then turf or plant to retain. If you do decide to use retaining structures to support a particularly steep bank, you can use a similarly piecemeal approach, choosing a series of small retaining walls.
The strongest type of retaining wall is one of concrete poured with, reinforced with metal rods or welded wire mesh, a specialist-engineering job. Hollow concrete blocks, which have been reinforced with metal rods and then filled with poured concrete, will also make a solid retaining wall.
Brick has less strength, being a smaller building block, and when used for retaining walls should not be built more than 3 feet high unless as a fascia for reinforced concrete backing. Natural stone, which has been cut on one side, or roughly dressed, makes a good solid retaining wall, chiefly if it is built on the batter (sloped into the earth which it is to retain).
A dry-stone wall with provision for planting within its structure, gives a delightful rustic effect where it is desirable. However, stone is neither available, nor suitable, everywhere.
To eliminate the build up of water behind your retaining wall, it is vital that it be pierced frequently by weep holes. These can either take the form of a gap in the jointing, or preferably a drainpipe set through the wall, angled downwards to a flush finish on the wall's face 6 inches above ground level. Direct the water behind the wall to the weep hole by backfilling against it with a thickness of rubble or gravel. A land drain at the base of the retaining wall may be required to take surplus drain-off.
You will expand the life of a retaining wall by incorporating a damp-proof course and backing the wall with a waterproofing membrane as well.
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Wood may be used as a retaining material either in the form of railway line ties, or of logs, set into the ground vertically. Planks can be used horizontally, but with this method the vertical supports for the planks must be tied back into the bank with, for example, metal rods set into buried concrete and bolted to the supports. Depending on its imperviousness, wood will rot comparatively quickly, however.
