If you’re considering a brick retaining wall for your home, there’s a lot to consider first. Does it match the house? What does it need to hold back? Do you want curves? Is there a good spot for drainage? Is it going to be visible from many different angles? Is there a lot of weight to hold back? Once you have those questions answered, we can work on the question that brought you here in the first place: How much is a brick retaining wall going to cost you?””
Does it match the house?
You should also look at how it will match the house. You can do this by using the same brick, the same brick color, or even by using a similar pattern. Do not use a style that does not work with your home’s architecture. It can look odd when it does not fit in with the style of your home’s architecture.
What does it need to hold back?
The first step to building a retaining wall is determining what you are going to be using it for. The answer: a lot of things.
- How much weight will it need to hold back?
- Is the retaining wall going to be visible from many different angles or just one point of view?
- What type of soil does it have access to, and what kind of water will I be dealing with (excess rainwater vs erosion)?
Do you want curves?
Curved walls can be more difficult to build because the wall must be built in a straight line, but the curved portion of the wall must also be straight. If you want curves, it will cost more and take longer to build.
Also, a curved wall may not look as natural as a straight one because there are no naturally occurring curved walls found in nature (with some exceptions).
Is there a good spot for drainage?
The next step is to check the site for drainage. Retaining walls are designed with a certain slope—they must be sloped so that water can drain off of them, away from homes and other structures. Check the ground around your wall for drainage issues. If there’s a lot of standing water near the back of your wall, or if you have puddles around it after rainstorms, then there may not be enough drainage in place for this project.
Next, inspect how steeply your retaining wall is sloping compared to the ground around it. If there are areas where this slope is steeper than necessary (for example, on top of a hill), then those spots need some extra attention so that they don’t become erosive during future rains or snowmelt events (see more on erosion).
Is it going to be visible from many different angles?
If you have to look at it every day, then make sure that you’re happy with the way it looks from multiple angles. For instance, do you want to see the wall from inside your home? How about from outside on the street? Will anyone be able to see into your backyard through this new view?
If you have privacy concerns about having a retaining wall installed, then check for blind spots where someone might be able to peek over or around. You may need extra screening or plants around certain areas of your yard so that no one can see what’s happening behind them.
Is there a lot of weight to hold back?
The weight of a brick retaining wall is determined by several factors: how big the wall is, what material you’re using, how many bricks are used in each course and how deep you go with your terracing.
Most people don’t realize just how heavy their walls are until they start digging their trenches for drainage. It’s important to know this before beginning construction because it can affect everything from where in your yard you build the wall to what type of materials you use. If you’ve never built a retaining wall before or just need a refresher on proper techniques, read on!
Make sure the wall can do what you need it to do.
The first thing you should do is make sure the wall can do what you need it to do.
- Make sure it can hold back the weight of your wall. If your retaining wall will be holding back a lot of dirt or gravel, then this is important.
- Make sure it can be built to the right height with no problems. You don’t want to have an ugly dip in your ground or have grasses growing over where they should not grow because there was an interruption in elevation from where soil levels were dropped due to construction work on nearby surfaces and structures like patios, lawns and driveways; thus leading them higher than intended after construction was completed making them look sloppy and unprofessional when viewed from any angle due to this phenomenon called grade contour (leveling off all surfaces so that water flows evenly across all areas without having any dips).
Conclusion
We hope that this article has given you some ideas about how to design your retaining wall. If you have any questions. We look forward to hearing from you soon
