If you dread the thought of a thunderstorm because of the water that rushes through your Cambridge and Belmont, MA, yard, a well-planned retaining wall can correct that problem. Here are some ways to tell if your yard could benefit from a custom stone retaining wall.
Related: 3 REASONS YOUR BACKYARD NEEDS A RETAINING WALL IN BROOKLINE AND ARLINGTON, MA AREAS
What is a retaining wall?
A retaining wall can be used to hold back earth in a slope, providing better drainage and more useable outdoor space. Constructed of wall stone and topped with a flat stone such as flagstone, granite, or capstone, a retaining wall serves an important function while also adding a beautiful outdoor feature to the landscape.
How can you tell if your yard needs a wall?
You have drainage problems: Drainage problems show themselves in several ways. One can be when you have a sloping front or backyard and every time the rain comes, the rushing water leaves debris, limbs, and crevices in the landscape. Not only does this ruin your hard work on the landscape design but it is a pain to clean up after every storm.
Another drainage problem is when you have standing water in the landscape after a storm. Standing water can kill the plants beneath and make your yard mushy.
You want a specific landscape design: A retaining wall can give your landscape different elevations for a planting plan. When your landscaper adds dirt to a part of the yard and builds a retaining wall, the resulting look can be amazing. You can also add a retaining wall to a part of the yard that has a sharp slope when the rest of the property is flat and can be planted. The retaining wall space can allow you to carry a landscape plan farther into the rest of the yard than would otherwise be possible.
You want to add definition: A retaining wall can be a perfect way to define specific parts of your yard such as the patio and the garden. A retaining wall can create visual and physical separation for activities, too. When your landscaper transitions among spaces with wide, deep steps, moving about the entire space is easy and the look is lovely.
You want more privacy: If you live in a neighborhood where the homes are close together, adding a retaining wall to your patio or as a boundary marker down one side of the yard can be an attractive way to increase privacy. Because the height of the retaining wall does not have to be specific, you can choose how high or low you want your wall.
With the array of wall stone choices and the various color tones, textures, and sizes, the design of your retaining wall can be completely unique. You can incorporate glass blocks, decorative tiles, and other unique features that customize your retaining wall to your personal taste.
A skilled landscape professional can recommend a retaining wall that accomplishes what you need in your landscape, from solving the erosion problem to creating more landscape space. There is a wall for every purpose.
Increase the visual interest and the functional outdoor space with a retaining wall. Natural stone, wall stone, brick, or concrete—any material you choose can mix and match to add a landscape masterpiece.
Related: HOW TO CLOSELY MATCH A RETAINING WALL TO A BLUESTONE PATIO IN NEWTON, MA AREA
