Terraced Walls can Tackle and Unruly Hillside – Building a new home can be exciting and often challenging. This hillside lot was indeed a challenge for the homeowners building in a new development. They needed to reshape the slope in front of their home and gain more usable land for a driveway leading to the front entrance. Read all about it:
Terraced Ashlar Blend Retaining Wall
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Allan Block® has the first Eco-Friendly concrete retaining wall system available – AB Fieldstone
1/26/2010 MINNEAPOLIS, MN – Allan Block Corporation is pleased to release the first Eco-Friendly mortarless concrete retaining wall system – the AB Fieldstone Collection®. Using recycled materials has allowed Allan Block to create a green retaining wall system that is safe for the environment and is able to use post consumer materials without taking away from the quality of the blocks.
With the look and appearance of natural stone, this system is sure to meet the aesthetic needs you have come to expect. The lightweight units install quicker and easier than natural stone and lock securely together to build small landscape walls up to large commercial retaining walls.
The AB Fieldstone Collection is available with different facing textures for the beautiful natural stone look, multiple size units to build patterned walls and is manufactured in several blended colors to match your existing landscape.
Green, Natural and Friendly is how we describe the AB Fieldstone product. Allan Block retaining wall systems, including AB Fieldstone, has available tools, programs and support. Visit allanblock.com for more details and to find the nearest distributor.
Allan Block Corporation is a leading provider of retaining wall systems for commercial, industrial, roadway and residential projects. With millions of square feet of retaining wall product installed throughout the world, Allan Block has the resources to deliver performance and quality to every project. We have the expertise to help you plan, design and build your next project.
Media Contact:
Allan Block Corporation,
Phone: 952-839-5309
Fax: 952-839-0013
Email: info@allanblock.com
http://www.allanblock.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Allan Block Design Software AB Walls 2007 Upgrade Now Available
8/25/2009 MINNEAPOLIS, MN – Allan Block has enhanced their segmental retaining wall design software with an update to AB Walls 2007, Version 9.1. The update is currently available for download at allanblock.com or by clicking the Update button in AB Walls 2007. AB Walls 2007 is a comprehensive design tool which outputs professional quality construction drawings, along with the technical support data. This program allows designers to transfer a conceptual layout from a site plan to a complete wall solution.
The software continues to allow the designer to generate elevation, plan and multiple cross sectional views of their retaining wall project. Additionally, its design capabilities include static and seismic calculations for internal, external and internal compound stability. All of this continues to make it the most flexible design tool available for engineering segmental retaining walls.
With this design software and methodology comes supporting documents like the AB Engineering Manual and Tech Sheets, as well as full technical support from the Allan Block Engineering Department.
Allan Block Corporation is a leading provider of retaining wall systems for commercial, industrial, roadway and residential projects. With millions of square feet of retaining wall product installed though out the world, Allan Block has the resources to deliver performance and quality to every project.
Media Contact:
Allan Block Corporation,
Phone: 952-839-5309
Fax: 952-839-0013
Email: info@allanblock.com
http://www.allanblock.com
We just published our new AB Landscape Wall Guide and it got us to thinking, “How do you know what block is the best block for your site?” As you are planning your retaining wall project, it is easy to get overwhelmed with all the retaining wall block options. To help narrow this field of choices, the first thing I would recommend is to contact your local dealer to see what block is available in your part of the country.
If you are fortunate enough to have both the AB Collection and AB Europa Collection available in your area, it comes down to your personal preference whether you like the hand-laid look of the antiqued AB Europa Collection or the smooth, fluid finish of the AB Collection.
2 Course Pattern
Why?
Well, as you wall gets taller there is more soil behind the wall pushing against it. After about 3 ft (1 m) you start to get to a point where the weight of the block isn’t enough to hold back all the soil. At this point, the full size blocks may help keep the wall a gravity wall; otherwise you will need to add geogrid to the wall for stability.
Tom
I just wrapped up helping an engineer with his design and thought to myself “this is a great wall to blog about.” The wall was nothing spectacular, in fact, it was quite ordinary. All too often we get excited about those monster walls and forget that most of the walls built are less than 10 ft (3 m) tall. What made this wall interesting was the slope below the wall, a parking lot above the wall, and a very tight jobsite. For a detailed look at some of the conditions you need to watch for, see the Conditions page on the Allan Block website.
The first thing we addressed was the slope below the wall. A general rule of thumb is to bury additional block when there is a slope below the wall so you have a minimum level area, or bench, of 5 ft (1.5 m) extending from the toe of the wall horizontally to daylight.
In relation to this slope below the wall, we discussed the potential for a global stability problem. A global stability failure can be defined as the entire hillside slipping and sliding to the bottom of the slope which would obviously take the Allan Block wall with it. Global stability can also be a concern when building terraced walls, working in poor soil conditions, or building near water.
Wall Setback
For information on how to plan design and build Allan Block Segmental Retaining Walls and Allan Block Courtyard Walls go to
www.allanblock.com
