Tag Archives: concrete block retaining wall installation

Home and Garden, Home Improvement

4 Tips for Maintenance of Concrete Surfaces

Buying a home or a business means being responsible for the maintenance and safety of the property. From the pool sides to the patios, from sidewalks to driveways there includes a lot of cement surfaces around the property that should be properly maintained in today’s world. There are few maintenance tips that will keep the slabs looking good and functioning so sound. So here are 4 tips for maintenance of concrete surfaces:

  1. Annual Cleaning: Never fool oneself by thinking that rain water alone is not enough to clean the cement surfaces. We all know that rain water unfortunately do not cut through grease and grime that generally accumulate on the slabs. A good cleaning with a mild detergent power washer and a push broom at least once in a year that will help in staining and discolouration at bay. This is a principle foundation in maintaining the concrete slabs.
  2. Application of Sealant: After proper scrubbing and drying, applying a quality sealant to the surface of the slab which will provide the vital UV protection and a protective barrier against the damaged surface. Sealant can also aid in repelling water providing a much needed defence against the elements. There includes different types of sealant in the market that are usually located by the concrete repair products at the local home improvement store.
  3. Expansion Joint Maintenance: As one involved themselves in the process of cleaning and inspecting the patios, driveways and other surfaces never forget to check the expansion joints. Damaged expansion joints may prove hazardous to the integrity of the cement slab which allows the water to seep beneath it and to contribute in aspect of settling. If any kind of cracks is being noticed then it’s better to review the expansion joint maintenance.
  4. Routine Monitoring: For another important component of concrete slab maintenance, regular inspection and monitoring the surfaces in the proactive way to catch and repair minor cracks before it becomes large enough that result in large and huge setting problems. If anyone gets any crack or separations  that one can think it very severe for retail concrete repair products then it’s advisable to contact the team members for the repair and services.  A lot of them can go into maintain the concrete services and keeping them in neat and cleaned shape. Even the best efforts cannot prevent the cracking and sinking cement slabs.

The original concept of mud jacking has been combined with the recent concepts and the modern technology to improve its advanced skills. Traditional mud jacking uses a heavier fill as a levelling compound and requires a larger quantity with bigger injection holes in it. Tilted concrete solutions meet the expert concrete levellers. The inspection of the foundation or concrete slab and provide an estimate to sunken concrete slab lifted.

Home and Garden, Home Improvement

Concrete Retaining Walls for Gardens

Garden always makes any surrounding look alluring and draws quick attention. A garden adds life to a very dull looking space. Surely many of you out there might love gardening as well. Many people even have their hobby gardening and love to grow beautiful flowers and plants and vegetable garden as well. But have you ever thought of giving a boundary to your garden to make it look more compact and eye-catchy?

A raised garden bed or concrete retaining wall can give another dimension to the look of your garden. There are also some cases where houses have sloping areas, pool areas, garden sheds, and steep sites can create many problems. One solution for them all is building a concrete retaining wall. A retaining wall in your garden can help prevent soil erosion, banish hard to mow slope areas, and many other similar issues.

Retaining walls that are a height of two feet or below are easy to build without much hassle. But if you want to build higher than this then it’s recommended to consult with a civil engineer. Usually retaining walls for garden aren’t of that high and so you can easily build them yourself with few guidance and right information. This content might help you in that case.

Building Retaining Walls of Concrete for Gardens:

If you have a garden on the front side or may be at the back of your house, in both cases concrete retaining walls can prove to be great for privacy purpose. Here’s how you can build a concrete wall.

  • First of all you need planning, materials and tools that you will be needing in construction, preparation, base course, back filing, inter locking clips, geogrid, capping, gloves and safety glasses.
  • Now starts the main work. First remove the soil from the area where the wall will sit and replace it with base material of good density for supporting the wall. It should be atleast ¾’’ wide. Now keep on compacting and building the base until its 12 inches deep. Make sure your base is level or your wall will be crooked.
  • Now put your first set of base with the concrete blocks. Be careful that the first base is levelled for the rest of the wall to remain straight. Check it with a level.
  • Next part is backfilling. Once you place the first set of blocks fill the large cores of the concrete blocks with crushed stones.
  • Now you need interlocking clips that should be placed. The clips interlock the blocks and prevent any side to side movement. Now add more courses after clipping. Keep working with additional courses and make sure you add the interlocking clips at every level and filling the cores in.
  • Now once you’re done with the two courses add geogrid. This helps to secure the wall. Now keep adding courses until your desired height of the concrete retaining wall.
  • Once you reach the desired height finish the last level by covering it concrete blocks that are called caps to cover the cores. Be sure they are placed properly and neatly for a tight finish to the walls.
  • Now secure the caps with masonry adhesive.

Your concrete retaining wall is all set up. Now you can add more plants or do things you like.

Things to Remember:

Do not forget to make a drainage system in your concrete walls. It is highly noticed that a lot of retaining wall falls or doesn’t last long due to moisture that it gains from the soil and excess water building up behind them.

Retaining walls should have some outlet passage for water drainage so that one can prevent these problems from happening. A drain pipe, or holes can be made to let the water drain out.

Thus you can see building concrete retaining walls is not a daunting task at all. By using some materials and manual work one can easily do it. There are many types of concrete blocks available in the market. You can choose whichever you feel like will go with the look of your building’s external area. Another thing about concrete blocks is they are easier and faster to install. So, building concrete walls using these blocks are very much into high these days.

Contented by: SoundConcreteCo .