Retaining walls are necessary to install on your property if you want to keep dirt and other debris from sliding into your home and making a huge mess, especially after a heavy rainstorm. However, all retaining walls aren’t created equal. Before you hire someone to build a retaining wall in Kansas City, MO, you need to know which type of retaining wall you need. There are four main types of retaining walls that will be discussed in this blog.
Gravity walls
Gravity retaining walls use their own mass—usually constructed out of heavy materials such as stone, brick, or concrete—to hold back soil or other debris. Gravity wall construction is best for walls that are under 10 feet tall. Shorter gravity walls don’t need to be reinforced with mortar in between the stone or brick. Shorter walls don’t usually need to be buried too far into the ground either. Not digging too far saves you money on hiring an expensive excavator to dig up the ground.
Piling walls
Speaking of an excavator… If you’re trying to install a piling wall, you’ll need to hire an excavator. Piling walls work by driving sheets of wall deep into the ground to hold back soil. A third of the wall is usually above ground, while two thirds is below ground. They are often used on excavating sites because they can be put up and taken down quickly and cheaply. They’re perfect for holding back soft soil but due to their vertical installation, they can’t handle too much resistance.
Cantilever walls
These walls kind of look like an inverted “T,” where the top of the T is the foundation. Due to their ability to hold back a tremendous amount of soil, cantilever walls are the most common type of retaining wall. As the name suggests, cantilever walls are made of steel beams poured over concrete. The concrete foundation on the bottom is also able to support a great amount of down force from the soil, thus making the wall even stronger. If the cantilever wall isn’t strong enough, it has to be anchored.
Anchored walls
Installing an anchored retaining wall in Kansas City, MO is a must if you’re trying to hold back large, heavy amounts of soil. It works by mounting several anchors into the soil and attaching the anchors to the backside of the wall with durable cables. The anchors are usually made of concrete and can be injected mechanically into the soil, and then expanded to form a bulb. The anchoring technique can be used on any of the walls above, but is most common with walls that for whatever reason need to be tall and thick and need to support a great amount of soil.
Before you hire someone to come to your home and install a retaining wall in Kansas City, MO, know which kind of wall you need! Call us at 816-318-8599 to request a quote—we’ll be sure to give you a fair offer for the right kind of wall.