What Are Retaining Walls?

The Basics…
Does your yard contain slopes, dips, and inclines? Then you likely have a retaining wall somewhere on your property. Used everywhere from highway construction to landscaping, retaining walls hold back earth that would otherwise erode or collapse. Homeowners often rely on retaining walls to keep soil steady in elevated yard features, but they can also use the manmade structures when planting tiered gardens on a sloped area of yard, controlling erosion on an incline, or creating an elevated sitting spot. If you’re thinking about constructing a retaining wall, here’s all you need to know about the supportive structures.
Retaining walls have a wide variety of uses around the yard, all of which involve keeping earth from spilling off a steep slope. They’re indispensable in the creation of sunken patios, walkout basements, in-ground pools, and any other hardscape with an abrupt separation of ground elevation. You’ll also find retaining walls in parks and public gardens, where they act as retainers for plants, statues, and decorative landscaping elements.







