Why Concrete Is The Best Material For Most Retaining Walls
Retaining walls are a common sight in many gardens and parks around Australia because they allow for an orderly transition from one height to another. No area is going to be perfectly flat forever, and retaining walls help you manage this so that it looks nicer. The trouble is not using retaining walls, it is trying to figure out what type is best suited for your needs. There are a lot of materials out there that you can pick from, but if you want something that will last for a long time and still look good, you cannot go past concrete.
1. Versatile
Concrete comes in all shapes and sizes, in both pre-fabricated slabs and in mixing packets that you can shape the way you wish. That means that virtually any design you find for retaining walls can be accomplished through the use of concrete. There is still debate about which style of retaining wall is the best, from gravity walls to piling walls and so on. Whatever your choice ends up being, there is a very good chance that concrete will be one of the few materials that can be used to create it.
2. Non-Organic
Unlike timber retaining walls, concrete is not organic and therefore does not succumb to the same natural decay that wood will. Wood faces a lot of challenges as a retaining wall, even if it is pretreated and well looked after. Everything from bugs to the dirt itself is trying to break down your wooden retaining walls and eventually, something will succeed. Concrete retaining walls do not rust or rot, the main way they could be damaged is through brute force and the dirt they are holding up cannot do that so there is very little risk in the long run.
3. Easy to Hide
Perhaps the main reason you don't want concrete retaining walls is that they look very brutal and minimalistic. Concrete is certainly not as appealing as a lot of other materials, but that is okay because you can simply cover up your retaining wall with cladding of some kind. Whether that be adding a timber layer in front of your concrete retaining walls or simply painting over them, there are many steps you can take to obscure the concrete itself. Don't deprive yourself of quality material because of looks when that is the easiest problem to solve. Contact retaining wall contractors to learn more.
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