Hardscaping
Hardscaping refers to all the “hard” elements of your outdoor living environment. You could differentiate it from “landscaping,” which deals with all of your trees, bushes, flowers, and gardening items.
Perhaps the most critical component involves proper retaining wall installation and engineering. That’s because if you don’t get the fundamentals of draining, functionality, and design correct, then there’s no guarantee the structure will last. Here, we’ll focus on how Hinkle Outdoor Living approaches the important effort that goes into installing retaining walls for pools and other projects.
Retaining Walls - Essential Hardscaping for the Work We Do
A retaining wall is very important whenever we need to either flatten the soil grade or build/catch it. We utilize them very often for swimming pool projects when the terrain isn’t already level. It’s an important drainage issue, especially for the homes in Kansas City with steep hills and elevation concerns.
Some properties have steep backyards, requiring us to cut into the hillside to build stairs that descend toward a pool. We have a choice between doing that or building the area higher. This is essential if you want to have any hope of keeping the new pool flat.
There are various kinds of blocks you can use for this task. We get high-quality materials, like limestone, from three manufacturers and use a heavy-duty excavator to install those heavy pieces correctly. From a design perspective, we can help you find whichever product you prefer, according to your budget, and appropriate for the functional design.
Retaining Wall Installation - Our Step-by-Step Approach
How does this process work?
We begin by putting a compacted base footing. Sometimes this involves concrete, depending on drainage, functionality, and design needs. We approach this with a simple but specialized engineering system.
Next, we run a geo textile mat from the first course of block, all the way up through the excavation. This is crucial for separating the soil from the drainage. We also compact everything together.
Our specialized equipment comes with plenty of laser guides that tell us when to apply the geo grid on the retaining wall. If it’s over four feet long, it would go through our engineering company to ensure safety and longevity. We follow their specs to make sure nothing goes wrong.
What Happens if You Don’t Hire a Professional or Decide to Cut Corners?
What happens if you cut corners rather than hire a professional?
Whenever you take shortcuts with a pool project, you inevitably spend twice as much on it. Therefore, it’s certainly not worth skipping important process steps. If you pick a contractor based on the cheapest bid, you may regret it later.
We’ve seen retaining walls fail when contractors try to backfill with the soil they removed from the ground rather than new gravel. This is a dangerous temptation because the excavation gives you a lot of excess soil, but this doesn’t work well for securing a proper backfill. That’s because the disturbed soil (from excavation) will absorb much more moisture, which will eventually weaken and destroy the retaining wall.
Hinkle Outdoor Living: Certified Retaining Wall Installers
Hinkle Outdoor Living has certification through the NCMA (National Concrete Masonry Association), and always follows their guidelines for installing retaining walls. We’ll start with either a compacted gravel base with footing blocks or use poured concrete for walls. Then, we’ll bury the first course of blockings, use a drain tile behind the wall, and apply a geo mat behind the first layer of footing.
Finally, we use clean gravel for backfill, use geo grid wherever needed, and compact everything. That’s what separates us from normal contractors when you want a retaining wall done right the first time. There is no cutting corners anywhere in our process.
Benefits of Hiring us for Fiberglass Pool Installation
You may wonder why this matters so much. Ultimately, these are the fine details that go into creating the best outdoor constructions possible. As we mentioned, this is a rudimentary and important part of installing a long-lasting outdoor element.
Now that you know the nuts and bolts of retaining-wall installation, we’d like to remind you why it’s so worthwhile when you enjoy a fantastic new fiberglass swimming pool.
- Swimming pools are one of the best ways to add home value with an attractive and enjoyable outdoor utility.
- This is your chance to stay outside even when it’s blazing hot during the Kansas City summers.
- Pool designs have come a long way since the old days when pools may not have been very level, secure, or safe. By following specific engineering specs, we can install a long-lasting pool with only minimal homeowner maintenance.
- It’s a fantastic way to do something with a wide-open or unused backyard space.
Hinkle Outdoor Living: Outstanding Engineering and Design for Dependable Hardscaping
Whether you wish to augment your backyard with a new pool, fire pit, stamped concrete patio, composite-wood deck, or anything else, we can help. Ideally, you would hire Hinkle Outdoor Living to help you transform a normal backyard into an outdoor oasis. While we can handle any construction project, our services are best suited toward luxury upgrades where we combine two or more of those outstanding items.
We have a talented staff of designers, engineers, architects, construction crew, and other professionals with years of experience creating outdoor masterpieces. Our business holds an A+ accreditation with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) as well as a Class C contractor license, enabling us to construct just about anything.
If you want to explore premium hardscaping renovations for your Kansas City home, then contact Hinkle Outdoor Living anytime to learn more.
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