About Earth-Reinforced Segmental Retaining Walls
Site and Development Plans Often Dictate the Need for A Retaining Wall
Throughout New England, development space is becoming tighter. Potential sites in prime locations that are available often present challenges for development. Some of those challenges include difficult slopes or are restricted in some way, such that a retaining wall is necessary in order to fully utilize the site.In the past, many designers and contractors have gone with the standard, cast-in-place, concrete retaining wall. Earth-reinforced, segmental retaining walls are a proven improvement to the bland, and more costly, concrete retaining walls of the past.
How Earth-Reinforced Retaining Walls Work
Earth-reinforced retaining walls utilize some form of reinforcement, usually a polyethylene or polyester geogrid, to provide stability to compacted soils. As the retaining wall is being constructed, the installer places this geogrid at various elevations behind the wall, puts backfill over it, and compacts the area. The placement of layers of geogrid within the compacted soil mass causes the entire mass to, in effect, act as a single unit. Instead of resisting the soil forces with a large mass of concrete, which is very expensive, we have created the equivalent, required mass using compacted soil and geogrid, which is much less expensive. Further, the segmental blocks we choose to face the wall area make the wall aesthetically pleasing to view compared to that of a cast-in-place concrete wall.
Benefits
Earth-reinforced retaining walls have many benefits over other types of retaining walls.- Very Cost Effective
- Easy to Build
- Can Reduce Depth of Excavation - No "Frost Wall Depth" Needed
- Mortarless
- Provides for Flexibility
- Blocks Move With Earth, Reducing Chances of Cracking
- Any Minor Cracking is Not Visually Noticeable and Does Not Affect Integrity of the Wall
- Proven Alternative to Cast-in-Place Concrete Walls
If you are a Contractor
If you have a retaining wall shown on your site plans, we would highly recommend the use of a segmental retaining wall. We will gladly design the wall for you. We provide quick turnaround on all designs and will work with the site plan you have.If you are an Engineer
If you have a retaining wall on your proposed site plan, we would highly recommend the use of a segmental retaining wall. We will gladly design the wall for you. We have designed over 4,000,000 SF of segmental retaining walls since 1994.Find Out More
Call or e-mail us today for more information.
Learn more about how we can help you with your project
or check out some of the block wall manufacturers.
