Retaining wall design is an important exterior element. Not only the size, but also the form and the length of the wall should be made so that the wall creates a certain atmosphere and is convenient in everyday use. It is important that a retaining wall design for a wall higher than 70-80 cm is elaborated by professionals to guarantee the wall's strength and safety standards. Another reason for hiring an expert is that the underground water level should be taken into account. Thinking over the project find a suitable retaining wall design example in the Internet. There are many variants of the idea, e.g.:
- a wall, which consists of stacking stones;
- a wall, made of stone blocks or cinder blocks;
- a wall of corten steel;
- a wall made of decks or wood
- rubble retaining wall design
- and others.
A combination of several ideas is quite possible. One can use a metallic net as a basis and then fill it with stones of approximately the same size.
Unlike walls on soil, the bearing capacity of the pile foundation can be increased byadding more piles, either vertical or batter, per the soils report recommendations. The number and location of piles is very important to calculate the pile forces. Each pile axial load must be smaller than the axial capacity, and the sliding forcemust be smaller than the horizontal capacity of the pile group. As well there are special retaining wall design programs, that computes pseudo-static seismic earth pressure on rigid retaining walls supporting soils of varying strength properties (c-Φ phi soils).The equation accounts for sloping backfill, as well as wall inclination, and can readily accommodate layered soil profiles and the presence of groundwater.The best retaining wall blocks
A solid retaining wall blocks are heavy. Lighter, hollow blocks are more affordable. But hollow blocks require individual backfilling, which take time consuming. Pros prefer retaining wall blocks holding together with pins.Summary
Those who understand the science of engineering or understand just a little bit, but need a small wall as a garden decoration, can look for retaining wall design software. However all the best softwares have to be paid for, but probably there are some possibilities to have a good one for free. After having made a sketch of the construction the decorations can begin to be thought over. Usually retaining walls are decorated with flowers and bushes which make the contrast of stone and alive nature milder.
Some Internet sites can present a retaining wall design pdf file. If the pdf has been created by a specialist, a garden engineer-designer, the file includes not only the sketch of the project, but also its general plan showing its position in relation to the other garden objects. It is necessary not to set any retaining walls on often stepped direct ways, otherwise either you will have to go round every time or you will go directly, as you used to do, making the plants suffer all the time.