Gabion Basket Retaining Walls
Our company was founded on the idea that grading land and installing retaining walls can turn unproductive land into useable space. You may own land or want to buy land in an area with insufficient flat area or gradually sloping ground to build your structure or use as you desire. We are here to help.
Gabion basket retaining walls are simply baskets made with metal wire or welded rods. The metal is typically galvanized and can be coated a few different ways. The baskets are assembled on the job-site and filled with gravel or stones of some type. Water is typically not an issue for gabion walls since they are extremely porous. Gabion baskets are often used for shoreline or hydraulic challenged erosion management because they are porous and are underlined with filter fabric to retain the land.
Six steps to building a gabion basket retaining wall.
1
Contact 811
Building the retaining wall always starts with us contacting the state locating service to avoid damaging any buried utilities. This simple required step avoids potentially catastrophic injuries to life and possessions.
Disturbing the Land
Check that grading is within an inch or two of the land’s ultimate grade. We don’t expect the ground to be final graded, since we will disturb it while we do our work. The land will be disturbed during the wall’s installation. No “collateral damages” to any trees, structures, or surfaces should be expected unless they have been discussed and agreed upon in writing.
Installing the Footing
We typically require commercial project layouts to be done by others. We work directly with homeowners to be sure we are doing what they want by making any final adjustments before we start digging the site. We paint the footing’s path on the ground and place offset markers to retain the path once the path has been dug. A filter fabric lined crushed stone footing is the most common.
Building the Wall
Once the footing is installed, filter fabric is placed against the vertical land being retained. The baskets are assembled, placed on the footing, and secured to the soil and each other. The rocks are placed in those baskets, the backside of the baskets are then lined with filter fabric, and the void behind the baskets is filled.
5
The Finishing Touches
This is when PGMC is completed with commercial projects. If a residential customer requires an irrigation system, sod installation, or a fence or railing, we can assist our customers with their needs. You should be able to inspect your new wall and view it like a piece of art, worthy to behold and enjoy for decades into the future.
6
Maintaining Your Retaining Walls
Gabion walls are low-maintenance. They typically last between thirty and one hundred years depending upon the construction material, its coating and environmental conditions. Avoid using heavy machinery near the wall, especially in wet conditions. The equipment can apply lateral pressure from further away than expected.