Retaining Walls

Retaining Walls

Retaining Walls

Retaining walls are often necessary to correct drainage problems around the homes in the hilly areas of Alameda, Berkeley, El Cerrito, Oakland, Walnut Creek, El Sobrante, Alamo, Orinda, Dublin, Hayward, Lafayette, Moraga, and Marin County. Retaining walls are used to stabilize hillsides that threaten to come washing down into the house, or undermine the foundation by washing dirt away from the house and down the hill below it. Sometimes retaining walls need to be only a few feet high, and sometimes they get much taller.

Retaining walls are much like foundations in that they can buckle, bow, and fail. Retaining walls can be shored up, or excavated and rebuilt.

Retaining Walls – Contractors

Many contractors with a pickup truck and a dog believe they know how to build a retaining wall.  Because of the drainage problems in the San Francisco Bay Area, retaining wall construction  should be done only by very experienced contractors.  Proper design and construction is necessary to avoid drainage problems, mudslides, and retaining wall failure problems that less experienced contractors encounter.  Careful planning of yard drainage is central to proper construction of retaining walls.

If you’re concerned about retaining wall around your home, give us a call and we will take a look at it for you with no cost or obligation.

Retaining Walls – Types of construction

You may need a concrete retaining wall, or a block retaining wall.  The can also be built with cinderblock bricks, interlocking bricks, or wood.  The most important thing is that the retaining walls be designed and constructed in a matter sufficient for the job, and that proper yard drainage be included in the construction.

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