What Leaning Retaining Walls Mean for Your Home
Many homes have retaining walls, which are used to create a barrier for soils and prevent them from spilling over into your yard or landscaping. Since retaining walls are constantly bearing a heavy load, they can often start to lean and create problems in your yard.
Changing weather conditions can cause the soils in the ground to shift, which can put a lot of pressure on your retaining wall and cause it to start leaning or collapsing. It’s important to take action at the early signs of a leaning retaining wall to avoid complete wall failure.
At MidAmerica Basement Systems, we offer many repair solutions to stabilize your retaining wall and can often adjust it back to its original place. All of our products have been tested and proven to provide stability, and are all back by warranties.
Repair Solutions for Failing Retaining Walls
In order to provide the best repair method for your failing retaining wall, we must understand the problem that is causing it to fail. Here are some common signs to look out for:
- Tilting, crumbling, or buckling
- Separation of retaining wall from adjoining walls
- Forward movement of wall or wall sections
- Rotted wood
Around houses, retaining walls make sloping areas usable by creating level space for gardens, driveways, terraces, and walkways.
Retaining walls are also common along roadways, parking lots, and bodies of water. They have many applications.
Basement walls are also a type of retaining wall. We have a unique system for repairing failing basement walls.
How to Repair the Retaining Wall
Depending on the situation of your retaining wall, we offer both a wall anchor system and a helical tieback system to stabilize the wall and potentially adjust it back to its original position. Our representative will be happy to assess your wall’s situation and will provide the best solution to fix it.
How to Identify a Failing Retaining Wall
Depending on the severity of your wall, sometimes it’s easy to identify the damage and sometimes it can be difficult to identify. It’s important for homeowners to inspect your retaining wall every once in a while so you can spot the problem early before it gets worse.
Most common signs of failure:
Leaning or Tilting
You may notice that your retaining wall is starting to lean or tilt, which is an early indicator of wall failure. This happens when the soils in the ground shift and start to put an immense amount of pressure on your wall and cause it to lean or tilt. This will only get worse over time and must be addressed in order to stabilize your wall.
Separation from Nearby Walls
As retaining walls start to fail, they can separate from adjacent walls. Not only can this be an eyesore for your yard, but it no longer supports the weight of the soils pressing against it and can cause the wall to completely fail.
Cracking or Crumbling
Depending on the material that your retaining wall is made of, they can start to crack or crumble as they fail. If you notice any unusual cracks or the wall material is starting to crumble, it’s best to get it inspected before the problem gets worse.
Our Retaining Wall Repair Methods
At MidAmerica Basement Systems, we offer two reliable solutions to repair your failing retaining wall. Both products are proven solutions to stabilize your wall and will often move it back into its original place to restore its appearance and structural stability.
Wall Anchors:
Wall anchors are installed by driving steel rods through the wall and deep into the soil. They are connected to earth anchors that are installed behind the retaining wall to keep it stabilized and prevent future leaning or tilting. Once installed, the rods can be tightened to try and completely straighten the wall.
Helical Anchors:
Holes are cut into your retaining wall and the helical blades are drilled deep into the soil. Once the proper depth is reached, wall plates are installed over the rods and are tightened with nuts to cover the end of the rod and provide stability for the wall.
While both methods are effective for repairing retaining walls, one option may be better for your home over the other depending on the severity of your wall as well as the soil conditions. During your free estimate, our specialist will review all options with you to find the best for your home.
A helical anchor system utilizes helix-shaped plates welded to the anchor shaft to pull the anchor deep into the soil.
A wall anchor system relies on the fixed position of an earth anchor and clamping pressure from an anchor rod.
Avoid These Temporary Fixes
There are many temporary solutions that contractors may recommend, but these methods many be unnecessary and will ultimately fail again.
Rebuilding the Retaining Wall:
Completely removing and rebuilding the retaining wall is an expensive, time-consuming process that may be unnecessary. As the soils in the ground continue to shift, you may experience the same problem in the future with your new retaining wall.
Installing Poor Quality Wall Anchors:
There are other types of wall anchors available on the market that are lower quality and will not perform as well. They are more susceptible to corrosion and may not be durable enough to support the wall and will end up failing again.
Rely on MidAmerica for Retaining Wall Repair
At MidAmerica Basement Systems, we offer retaining wall repair to our customers throughout Davenport, Peoria, Waterloo, Dubuque, Iowa City, Clinton, Moline, East Peoria, Rock Island, and nearby areas. Schedule your free estimate with one of our specialists today!