Retaining Walls are a fantastic tool for revitalising your garden. Used to create raised beds they introduce new levels and it is this height variation that breathes new life into any outdoor area. With clever planting schemes and the right Retaining Walls it is easy to transform your garden into an entirely new area with ease, read on to find out how!
What can I do with my Retaining Walls?
The most common use for Retaining Walls is to create raised beds. By choosing the appropriate size and shape, you can elevate different areas of your garden to create anew landscape to work with. Planting contrasting flora on the upper and lower sections can also add depth to your garden design for example pairing a Corten Steel Retaining Wall with Imperata cylindrica Red Barron in the upper and Pachysandra terminalis in the lower section you can create quite the spectacle. They can also be used to create impressive borders to ring seating areas or to introduce terracing into almost any outdoor space. Terracing is a beautiful way to landscape a graduated space by stacking retaining wall sections in a tiered arrangement to add structure and style. Implementing raised borders into your garden design gives a stunning contrast between the neat and ordered bedding sections and the natural irregularity of flowers, shrubs and grasses. What’s more, Retaining Walls can be used to encircle seating areas to create an intimate setting perfect for hosting in. A fantastic way of doing this is to sink the seats and have a fire bowl in the centre. This produces a gorgeous and functional space in your garden that will be slightly obscured from view from the outside meaning it will not detract from the rest of your outdoor space. All of these applications are fairly easy to achieve as unlike some other landscape features, the Retaining Walls do the work for you.
How do I install them?
Retaining Walls are deceptively easy to install. Although their set-up and in turn, how much work is required does vary dependent on application. All of our Retaining Walls are fabricated with gusset plates on either end which come pre-drilled so that each section can fit and be bolted together with ease. With nuts and bolts included it is incredibly simple to assemble the Retaining Walls thanks to their intelligent modular design. Constructing your design begins with the base, the Retaining Wall must sit level on fairly solid ground such as compacted soil. Once in the desired position, simply bolt the sections together and back fill with soil. In most cases, there is no need to anchor the segments into the floor as the weight of the soil resting on the foot of each section is enough to secure the Retaining Wall in place. If there is need of a more solid footing or a more complicated set-up is being installed, it is possible to drill holes through the foot of each section and use metal reinforcing bars with right-angled bends in them pushed through the holes into the ground to act as pegs for extra reinforcement. This is advisable for the creation of a terraced garden to give extra structural stability when creating a stacked design.
Modular sections of Retaining Wall are incredibly easy to install.
Types of Retaining Wall
We offer a large range of shapes and sizes of Retaining Walls making it easy for you to create the garden design of your dreams. With the choice of Corten Steel or Aluminium sections, there is huge scope for contemporary landscaping and transformation of your outdoor space. In terms of style, there are straight and corner options which can be angled or curved in a radius design and are available as inside or outside sections. Additionally, each section is available in a range of lengths, widths and heights giving you the freedom to make any design idea a reality. Notably, there are wide-top sections available which can be used in conjunction with a Retaining Wall Seat to add functionality to your raised bed allowing you to sit amongst your planting scheme and enjoy it from a new angle. Determining whether Aluminium or Corten Steel is preferential for your garden comes down several considerations. Firstly, appearance plays its part. Corten Steel gives a beautiful rusted orange hue which deepens over time to give a stunning deep amber patina looking stunning against dark green foliage as a back drop. Alternatively, Aluminium Retaining Wall can be produced in almost any RAL colour giving you a huge freedom of choice that is not accessible with Corten Steel equivalents. The second consideration is the inherent properties each material posses. Both are strong yet light-weight and incredibly durable meaning that both will be a long-lasting feature in any outdoor space. The main difference is in how the materials cope with harsh weather. Corten Steel forms a self-protecting rust layer by reacting with oxygen and moisture in the air which prevents degradation of the inner layers of steel. Aluminium is weather-resistant by its very nature and so both are suited to life in the outdoors. Finally, there is a cost difference between the two. Corten Steel is cheaper than Aluminium so if you are looking for a more pocket-friendly approach, Corten Steel will be your answer. The only downside to this is that you have less flexibility of colour choice and so if you have a specific design scheme in mind then Aluminium will be the material for you. Corten Steel also gives a slightly more textured surface in comparison to the Aluminium and so if surface smoothness is a defining factor in your decision, this is something to consider.
Retaining Walls are a fantastic addition to any outdoor area, brining style, colour and height variation they can elevate a garden to create a beautiful and modern space to thoroughly enjoy. With a huge variety of sizes, shapes and designs to choose from in both Aluminium and Corten Steel it is easy to create your ideal layout. The intelligent modular design means the set-up is easy allowing you to revitalise your garden in no time. Contact us now on 01245 422 353 or on [email protected] for more details.