Why Do You Need a Retaining Wall?

Retaining walls are walls which support the soil on which they’re built and prevent it from sliding or eroding. Retaining walls might seem just like the walls that cover your rooms in all directions, except they’re much stronger, help prevent soil slips, and you can sit comfortably on them if they aren’t too high. They’re usually built around houses as boundary walls, either of stone or bricks. Most houses in areas such as Brooklyn and Staten Island have retaining walls.

Now, how will you determine if you need a retaining wall for your home or not? A quick look at your backyard will reveal the answer for you:

• You live in a hilly region or an area with steep slopes.
• The soil in your area is sandy, or very loose.
• You need to have a boundary built around the house.
• You need to make your sloping backyard usable.

But wait, that’s not all! If you’re lucky enough to own a property in the prime areas of New York such as SoHo or Midtown Manhattan, you can even get offers from random stores to put up advertisement hoardings on the outer face of your retaining walls. Shops, supermarkets, and many other such business establishments pay a lot of money to put posters and banners in busy areas, and due to a shortage of advertising spaces, they turn to people living in those areas. In short, your retaining wall turns into a money-making space!

But retaining walls degrade much faster than house walls, owing to the fact that they’re built to brave winds, storms and the force of the soil below them. Poor drainage systems in some houses can lead to the gradual loosening of the wall base. Some of them even get vandalized and lose their aesthetic beauty. And for this very purpose, there are many retaining wall contractors which serve all 5 boroughs of New York City. They’re experienced in the detection of design flaws, repairing the cracked portions and an upgrade of these walls. These contractors have experience and proper equipment for such purposes and can set up your retaining wall according to the requirements.

Retaining walls have to bear enormous load and pressure from the soil, so their thickness and height are the main design factors for efficient load-bearing capacities. A shorter wall need not be very thick, but a higher wall might need a thickness double the original size, or more. Many retaining wall contractors offer architectural guidance in the designing of walls, and some even offer to do it for free as long as the firm has the construction contract. It’s a lot cheaper than hiring your own architect.

If you need a professional firm to build a retaining wall for your home or business, call Tony’s Masonry at (718) 356-4437.