A retaining wall is a structure that holds back soil or rock in an area. RETAINING WALL prevent down slope movement or erosion and provide support for vertical or near-vertical grade changes. RETAINING WALL are generally made of masonry, stone, brick, reinforced concrete, vinyl, steel or timber.

The design of a retaining wall should incorporate provisions for drainage of water that normally accumulates behind the wall. Otherwise, the hydrostatic pressures will cause structural failure of the wall. Installing continuous may provide drainage perforated drain lines at the lower portion of the wall, and backfilling the areas with stone and gravel. In concrete RETAINING WALL, the perforated pipe is replaced by weep holes in the bottom of the walls that allow the water to exit through the front of the wall. The grade or soil at the base of the drainage system behind the wall should direct any water that accumulates to the weep holes. Unfortunately, RETAINING WALL are often built with inadequate drainage provisions. The gravel backfill or the drain line may be omitted, or the weep holes may be too few or too small to be effective. The weep holes should be kept clear so that the water behind the wall can adequately drain

It is common to see older RETAINING WALL to have some cracks, bowing out or leaning. If you see any of these signs or other related signs in your walls then your retaining wall needs some attentions before it is gets any worse or a possible collapse.

Symptoms of a bowing basement walls or RETAINING WALL can vary depending on the type of construction.

Symptoms of failing RETAINING WALL or basement walls can include horizontal cracks, stair-step cracks, horizontal shearing at the bottom of the wall and tipping at the top of the wall or vertical and diagonal cracks.  In some extreme cases you may witness more than one or all of these symptoms and may even notice basement walls that are bulging and have cracks all throughout the wall or crumbling.  If this is the case, the wall may be on the verge of a collapse and needs special engineering attentions.

Retaining wall repair is the expertise of Safe Engineering Construction.  We will Design and Build your Retaining Wall and Solve your Drainage problems. We can help you and take care of your worry.

Exterior Walls and Water Damages

Older homes with stucco or wood siding normally are not water proofed properly. Over the years they leak inside the walls and floors. If you have noticed some water stains on your ceilings, walls, or around the windows, you may have some water proofing issues on the walls. Most often when we open the walls from outside we notice damages to the wall framing, doors and windows headers, and so on. When we open up the walls we repair all of the damages to the wall framing, then we put new insulations and install plywood for shear and install building papers and waterproof around the windows and doors. Normally we do not have to remove the windows and doors; also we do not have to remove the sheet rock from inside either. So disruption to the interior is at minimum.

After building papers are installed, then new stucco or siding is added. By doing these repairs which are normally done from outside of the building, you can rest assure that damages inside the walls don't get bigger and bigger.

We have done many projects in the San Francisco / Bay Area to repair and re-build their RETAINING WALL; we can do yours too. Feel Free to contact us for a FREE ESTIMATE and a SITE VISIT.