Spring is here and there is a good chance that means rain is about to come. Spring is typically the season where we get all the water needed for summer. If you have a garden or a yard that is not perfectly flat, you might want to consider building a retaining wall. You can build one yourself or hire someone to do it. Either way, it probably would be a good idea. There are lots of benefits of having a retaining wall. Here are 4 reasons you should consider building a retaining wall.
Why You Should Think About Building a Retaining Wall
Keeps Your Yard from Washing Away
A retaining wall is a wall that goes around your yard or garden. It holds the soil, dirt, and plants in place. If you live in an area with a lot of rain you will probably benefit from a retaining wall the most. The last thing you want is to have half your yard sluffing off onto your neighbors property. Retaining walls will keep everything that belongs to you on your side of the fence.
Prevents Damage to Property
This is a big one. You don’t want to have to pay for damage to your property, or someone else’s. If your yard starts sloping off it could damage your house. Mudslides can do a lot of damage. When you install a retaining wall, you’re reducing the chance that your property will create a mudslide in stormy weather. A retaining wall will hold all the soil right in place. Retaining walls are strong and typically made of concrete. That dirt isn’t going anywhere. If your neighbors have something like a shed close to your sloping garden, a retaining wall would be a good idea.
Prevents Sinkholes
Yikes! Sinkholes sound scary. They are. They typically just open up and swallow everything in its path. The scariest part is that a lot of times there is no warning for a sinkhole. When you constantly have flooding water that creates a pool in your yard, sinkholes can happen. The water sits and soaks into the soil making it softer and softer. Until one day, it turns to jelly and caves in. Wouldn’t that be awful? Your house or cars could be damaged. Or worse, someone could get hurt.
Image Source: Sprinkler Juice
They Look Great
Retaining walls look beautiful. There are so many different rocks or bricks you can use to make to design the wall exactly how you want it. You could use red brick, or river rocks, or gray concrete. It’s totally up to you. Yes, retaining walls serve a lot of functional purposes. But they also create another dimension to your yard that would look great. This isn’t one of those things where you have to sacrifice beauty for functionality. Retaining walls look beautiful and serve multiple purposes. You don’t have to choose between your yard looking good and preventing it from washing away. You can have both!
Summing Up
Retaining walls are a great idea. They’ll prevent damage to property, prevent sinkholes, keep your yard from washing away, and make your yard look beautiful. These are just 4 reasons you should consider building a retaining wall, but there are so many more. Build a retaining wall and make your yard more beautiful and safe.
Image Source: Landscaping Network
It’s fantastic to learn that retaining walls in your home can help prevent sinkholes. My wife and I are wanting to build our dream home and we were wondering how we could prevent sinkholes from forming on our lawn. I’ll be sure to tell her that we should build strong retaining walls for that reason.
I love the idea of using red brick for my retaining wall. My dad has one in his backyard so I want one too. Red brick would match my home’s color more but maybe another color would look better.
It’s interesting that you mention that a retaining wall can enhance the aesthetics of your yard. My wife and I want to have a beautiful-looking yard, so we’re thinking about hiring someone to build a retaining wall for us this year. I’m going to see if there’s a good provider of retaining wall installation services in the area that we can hire.
Wow, it was really interesting when you talked about how retaining walls can be used to prevent sinkholes from swallowing everything in their path. If your home is affected by a sinkhole, you probably aren’t going to be able to rebuild it because the soil will be gone. It seems like it would be a good idea to have a retaining wall constructed if your property has this kind of risk.