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Retaining walls are built to hold back soil, and they’re commonly used where the land slopes and extra support is needed. The weight of the material being held back, called the “backfill”, gives the retaining wall some of its strength.

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Installing a retaining wall in your home or business landscape not only can increase your usable outdoor space, but can also add visual interest and even boost the resale value of your property.

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Retaining walls can be built with various materials and for various purposes. For both home and business owners, retaining walls improve properties by creating usable flat surfaces and preventing soil erosion on sloping grounds. If you’re planning a retaining wall for your home or business there are many options to consider.

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Retaining walls not only add visual interest to your business or home, but they can help to control your landscape, make better use of your available space, and even improve drainage. But if your retaining wall will be more than 4 feet high, your local building codes almost certainly require that it must be designed by a licensed engineer.

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Wood has been a building material of choice for millennia, and a timber retaining wall adds warmth and visual interest to any landscape. If a row of beautiful lumber beds is your ideal retaining wall, Xpress Engineering is here to make that dream a reality.

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As a homeowner, you know that there are always projects to be done around the house. If you’re like most people, one of your top priorities is keeping your property secure and looking its best.

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Cantilever retaining walls are most commonly constructed of reinforced concrete with an L-shaped or inverted T-shaped foundation. The weight of earth behind the wall is transferred onto the foundation, preventing the wall from toppling over from the lateral force of the soil behind it.

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Poured concrete walls are a great way to improve the appearance of your landscape. They can also provide added support and stability for your landscape.

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Although fading in popularity in some areas, wood retaining walls still complement many yards and homes.

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Retaining walls are a surprisingly common neighborhood feature, but you might not even realize they’re there. Retaining walls allow us to build and live on uneven surfaces by stabilizing the slope of the landscape, ensuring the weight of the earth stays in place and remains stable. This lets us safely build on uneven ground, whether it’s a house or just your landscaping.

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Imagine if the world we lived in was nothing but flat? Pretty boring, right? Luckily for us, we live in rich landscapes with a diversity of elevation, soil cover, and shape.

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Xpress Engineering specializes in matching the retaining wall to the location, ensuring that you receive a product that keeps intrusion on the landscape to a minimum, while considering all the forces acting on the wall to ensure you receive a quality product you’ll love.

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Concrete blocks have been used as a critical part of garden walls for millennia. They can be a beautiful, ‘natural-looking’ way to stabilize a yard with a slope, or create a visually interesting garden packed with textures.

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Retaining Wall Design Benefits

If your property is on an incline, you are likely not using it to its full extent. Depending on the extent of the slope, such land is often underutilized. It just isn’t suited to the addition of amenities like swimming pools, tennis courts, or patios.

The installation of strategically placed retaining walls can change all this. Once you flatten sections of your land, you make them available for lifestyle or business additions. There are plenty of retaining wall designs from which you can benefit. A beautiful retaining wall will enhance your property outlook and boost its value.

The Advantages of Retaining Walls

Well-placed strategic walls can offer you many advantages. Here are some of them

Enhance your property value – a retaining wall is not an expense, it’s an investment. It will boost the value of your business or residential property and open up areas for use

Stop soil erosion – when you get rid of the gradient on your property, you’ll put a stop to water run-off and all the damage that it causes

Improve your space utilization – make a level space for a garage, an office, an entertainment area, or just a sunny spot in the garden to grow a vegetable patch. The options are endless.

Prevent flooding – by putting a stop to the downward flow of water, you can prevent the flooding that happens after heavy downpours

Durable low maintenance – retaining walls that are well designed and built will last for decades. They also need practically no maintenance

Functional – retaining walls can follow curves and runs. You can match the finish of the walls with the building or have them blend in with the natural surroundings

Environmentally friendly – made from natural materials. This means that they are environmentally friendly and won’t harm your plants or garden wildlife.

Why wouldn’t you invest in a retaining wall when it can bring you so many benefits? Enhance your lifestyle and the value of your property with a beautiful retaining wall that will last for decades.

Give us a call, we’ll help you to design a new lifestyle space.

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Retaining Wall Design

Imagine if the world we lived in was nothing but flat? Pretty boring, right? Luckily for us, we live in rich landscapes with a diversity of elevation, soil cover, and shape.

For more info visit: https://xpressengineering.com/retaining-wall-design/

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The Use of CMUs in Retaining Wall Engineering

Concrete masonry retaining walls are the best looking and longest lasting of all retaining walls. This is because CMUs come in such a wide variety of textures and colors. The aesthetic scope of the blocks enables the engineering of beautiful, enduring retaining walls.

What is a CMU?

A CMU is a concrete masonry unit, commonly known as a cinder block. It is standard rectangular cast concrete block made of cement, aggregate and sand. These blocks are stacked to create the retaining wall. These bricks are easy to install. They’re fireproof, durable and require little to no maintenance.

Reinforced steel bars that are integrated into the CMUs add strength. This improves the wall’s weight-bearing capacity.

Concrete blocks come in various sizes and shapes making it possible to engineer retaining walls to suit the landscape.

CMU walls are built upon a poured concrete foundation. The blocks are cemented onto the foundation and then onto one another. Staggered vertical joints give the retaining wall added strength. Cap blocks finish the top of the wall.

The advantages of CMU blocks for retaining walls

Lightweight – because the blocks are hollow, they’re light and easy to install

Reinforced – steel reinforcing bars offer extra strength to an already strong wall. Concrete is poured into the holes that contain the rebar, creating a solid and durable wall.

Water resistant – Concrete blocks are ideal in high humidity areas as they are water resistant

Cost effective – CMU blocks are relatively cheap

Versatile – concrete blocks come in a variety of colors and shapes. This means that you can match the wall with the surrounding environment or the existing building. Pigments can be added to the block and mortar so you can blend the colors or choose to go with a sharp contrast.

Easy maintenance – CMUs are strong and easy to maintain. All they need is an occasional wash.

Improve your outdoor living along with the value of your property with a block retaining wall. We specialize in engineering beautiful retaining walls that should last a lifetime. Give us a call.

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The Benefits of Cast-in-place Retaining Wall Designs

When it comes to retaining wall designs, cast-in-place concrete has many benefits. Used in the construction of residential and industrial buildings, cast concrete is strong and durable.

Retaining walls hold back tons of soil and backfill. They should last for decades with few maintenance requirements. The retaining wall design must support robust strength and durability.

  Retaining wall designs that last

Retaining walls stabilize the slope of the land. They provide flat surfaces where previously none existed. This allows residents to make better use of the space for gardens, patios, or even building extensions. The extra usable space and improved aesthetics will increase the property value.

Retaining walls help to prevent soil erosion and correct drainage problems. They should stop uncontrolled water run-off and resultant damage to surrounding landscapes.

Because of its function, a retaining wall must be strong, durable, and weather-resistant. Cast-in-place concrete involves pouring concrete into molds. Reinforcing bars are cast into the concrete to increase the tensile strength of the retaining wall.

The molds are subsequently removed once the concrete has set. The concrete will continue to strengthen as it dries following installation. This leaves behind a solid wall that stands up against the forces of nature.

Thorough foundation preparation is crucial for a strong and durable retaining wall.  These walls are subject to ongoing and sometimes extreme environmental stresses. Cantilevered retaining walls can hold back a ton of soil. They use the soil’s weight to hold the footing in place.

The benefits of cast-in-place retaining walls

Concrete retaining wall designs offer many benefits. We listed some of these below:

Cast-in-place concrete is the strongest of all retaining walls. This is the reason that they’re used for big infrastructural projects such as bridges.

Concrete resists structural damage that could result from floodwaters or an earthquake.

Concrete is durable and will last for centuries. It is almost indestructible under normal circumstances.

Concrete is versatile. You can build a wall of almost any shape and even include a bench, a planter, or a staircase in the retaining wall design.

Made largely from naturally occurring materials, concrete is environmentally friendly.

If you’re looking for a retaining wall design that is strong, durable, and beautiful, consider a cast-in-place wall.