Problems Experienced With Retaining Walls

Retainer walls serve a lot of purposes for gardeners.  They can "extend" the area of the garden, for example, by providing additional space in the form of elevated platforms.  Also, they can allow gardeners to avoid the problem of persistently bad soil by giving them the opportunity to build a subspace within the space allotted which they can fill up with good quality soil away from the unhealthy mound.  Most importantly, these walls can also beautify the landscape, what with the sheer variety of designs made possible by their colors, textures and shapes.

Building retainer walls, however, is not as easy as it seems.  There is a science behind the process, one that has been perfected by years of experience and countless hours of study.  Building these walls has been classified under the domain of structural engineering.  Yes - engineering!  If you're like me and the term intimidates you, don't fret just yet.  Engineering can be as practical or as difficult as we want it to be.

A lot of people encounter many problems in building retainer walls.  Let's take a look at some of these, as well as discuss how we could best avoid them.

* Wall collapses.  Bear in mind that your wall will have to go against the weight of the mound it will be supporting magnified by the force of gravity.  If the wall is not properly angled, it will always be in danger of collapsing.  The best way to avoid this is to make sure that the wall is built in a way that it inclines towards the mound.  This way, it will go against the force of gravity and enhance its resistance against the same.

* Blocks keep detaching.  The problem here would have to be the way the blocks are cemented together.  Blocks, especially the modular ones, usually have biters where the cement should pass through.  Once the cement hardens, the blocks will have a better grip since the biters are sculpted for such.  Another possible cause for the problem is improper cement mix.  Too much water can affect the adhesiveness of the cement.

* Blocks crack.  Modular retaining walls rarely have this problem.  Chances are, you created your own blocks.  Mass density may be a possible cause, again, if too much water was applied to the mixture.  Also, temperature, either above what is ideal or sudden changes thereto, can place too much strain on the blocks and make them crack.  The solution is prospective.  Before you create your blocks, study the factors that will be at play so that you can take preventive steps.