Retaining walls are an important section of professional landscape design. Without them, many of the world’s best landscaping and architecture designs will be impossible. At their simplest, they serve to keep land in place, exerting force against the gravity that pulls hills and slopes toward lower parts of ground. At their most sophisticated, they integrate seamlessly with the aesthetic of a given indoor or outdoor space and successfully marry form with function.

If you’re considering redesigning a patio space that contains a slope, it’s worth going for a moment to learn about the different types of retaining walls available, and the technology in it.

The most standard kind available is called the gravity wall, and uses simple technology. Basically, it uses its weight to hold the planet earth using one side of it set up. As the gravity pulling the earth against one side of the wall is counteracted by the gravity vector of the wall itself, and the resultant reactionary vector keeps everything in place. Walls of this kind tend to be built by piling stones sufficient reason for mortar-one of the oldest bits of landscaping technology known to man. That being said, it’s also one of the least trustworthy, and can easily topple. If you have a large slope to adjust, this may not be the best for you personally, especially if the soil is loose.

The piling wall, another example of slope correction technology, solves some of the problems that go with the typical gravity wall. To build a piling wall, landscapers or architects dig deep into the soil. The wall itself extends into the ground and so, provided that the material of the pilings or wall can handle the force of the gravity on the soil without bending, the wall can hold a lot of strength. For homeowners with steep hills to manage, piling retaining walls certainly are a great option.

One of the most common, as well as perhaps more interesting, kinds of retaining wall is the cantilever wall, which actually uses the very same force that tries to topple the wall to keep it in place. It is described as an ugly T. The cantilever wall features runs on the lever arm – a portion of the wall running horizontally at ground level – which creates a well balanced base for the wall. These walls have a reputation to be a number of the sturdiest, but also most difficult to install. If you decide to have a cantilever wall installed, you need to hire a professional.

The final common form of retaining wall may be the anchored wall. As you can probably guess, these walls are influenced by an anchor system. However, unlike Click for more , the anchor here will not actually pull down with gravity. Instead, the anchor is buried in the slope so that it can become a reactionary force against the gravity that could otherwise make the wall topple. The sturdiness of the anchored walls depends upon placement and weight of the anchor.

To learn more about kinds of retaining walls, seek the aid of a landscaping professional.