Retaining Walls for New Construction

Here in East Tennessee we haven't hardly a spot of flat ground. When it comes to building homes often the hillside is being carved out. Water collects on slopes uphill and runs down moving dirt and debris with it, and that last thing you want is that collecting up against your brand new house or piling in the precious yard space you might have. Erosion control is the name of the game and when you have precious little space, nothing does it better than a retaining wall.

The most important part is the beginning. Planning the footing and creating enough room behind the wall for the critical part, water mitigation. Majority of retaining wall failures are due to neglecting these critical prep points.

Again never a level spot of ground in Tennessee. As you can see the first course of the wall ended after about twelve foot making the second course the majority of the foundation block due to grade increasing. Planning this is your footing prep is critical. Behind the wall we have our silt screen to keep dirt from filling in our backfill.

Now we have the first of our perforated PVC pipe positioned. This will be wrapped and installed behind the wall to collect water and move it out from behind the wall.

Add capstones, install some steps made from left over wall material, do some grade work applying seed and straw and our wall is complete!

And a set of steps easing access to the future orchard. If you need help with a retaining wall in the Tri-Cities area, don't hesitate to contact Two Landscapers!