There are a number of reasons that you may want or need to have a retaining wall installed on your Newton, MA, property. You may be noticing soil erosion, you may have a slope in your yard that you want to even out, or maybe you just want to add something special into your yard to give it a different kind of look. The different reasons to build a retaining wall will be the most important factors when it comes to knowing where to place it.
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Protecting Your Home
If you’re experiencing soil erosion, not only can it be a bit of an eyesore, but it also has the potential to be damaging to your home’s foundation. Having a retaining wall built to contain the erosion can keep it from becoming a bigger problem in the future. The determination for this particular placement is quite clear. Having it installed in front of and around the problem area to contain the issue is the most important consideration. With this kind of issue, it would not be uncommon for some of the stones in the wall to need to be replaced over time as the soil may continue to erode, it just won’t be a danger to your home’s foundation.
There’s not much you can do on sloped land other than maybe sledding down it in the New England winter. If your home is on this type of land, you may be wondering what to do next. Retaining walls make use of sloped areas so that you can plant a garden, walk from your backyard to your front yard and even offer seating for summer cookouts.
Utilizing Your Yard’s Slope
If you want to take a slope in your yard and split it up to make a sitting area or just to even out the yard, the placement for this is similar to the soil erosion retaining wall. But a trench will need to be dug so that the actual slope is removed and you are left with a flat surface. The retaining wall will begin in this trench, and the bricks will be built on top of the foundation in the trench.
Adding an Architectural Accent to Your Yard
If you’re not worried about the sloping yard and you simply want a retaining wall so that you can build a beautiful garden, make sure that the placement is ideal for the plants that you want to grow. Flowers and vegetables need sunlight and water, so the retaining wall should be built where the garden can receive proper sunlight as well as proper rainwater.
Retaining walls aren’t just for preventing damage or fixing an uneven yard. They’re also beautiful and can really tie a yard together. Take a look at your backyard and see if you can visualize a retaining wall in a specific area that might give your yard a nice architectural feeling. You want to make sure that you have the wall placed where it won’t negatively affect the current layout of your backyard and that it won’t be placed somewhere kids can accidentally fall off of it if they’re walking around your yard.
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