There is a lot of planning that goes into a retaining wall
design when things begin to start moving forward. To provide more information, you can visit
the Allan
Block Residential Retaining Wall Manual to help organize and formulate your
plan. To summarize some of the main talking points, lets break it down into the
following 5 items:


Slopes – Are there slopes above the retaining
wall? If the grade is going to slope
above the wall, this is an added load and therefore may also require additional
reinforcement. Slopes above a retaining
wall remain one of the largest loads possible; the steeper the slope, the more
load the wall will carry. What about
slopes below the wall? If there is a
slope below the wall, then you will want to verify with your local engineer
that global stability isn’t a concern, or that your wall will remain
stable. Slopes above and below a wall
are an immediate red flag for a global stability concern.

Water Management – Water is the #1 reason why
walls fail. With that being said, you
will want to make sure your grades around the retaining wall don’t bring water
towards it. Instead, you’ll want to use
berms and swales to guide water around the wall, keeping the soil behind it as
dry as possible.
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Examples of permeability in different soils and gravel. |
Retained Height – The height of the wall plays a
major role. As the height increases,
more pressure is exerted on the wall.
Many local building codes govern when a retaining wall needs engineering
and permitting, but even small walls can have issues if the previous notes aren’t
planned for and taken into consideration.
As the wall increases in height, you will want to make sure you have
additional reinforcement to make sure your wall lasts a lifetime!

These items may not be the only items to check and consider
prior to construction of your retaining wall, but it is a quick list to run
down as you begin to plan your wall project.
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