Minneapolis Retaining Wall

A Minneapolis retaining wall is one of those home improvement jobs that comes in just about every shape and size imaginable. Because of that, it's important that you understand the ins and outs of building a retaining wall in Minneapolis, whether you're thinking of building a few small walls in order to bring variety to your landscaping; or you're considering a large, load-bearing retaining wall to make a major family room addition possible on your sloped lot.

Minneapolis Retaining Wall in Landscaping
A retaining wall in Minneapolis can serve many purposes. By far, the most common reason for an average Twin Cities homeowner to have one built is for landscaping reasons. Walls that range from a few inches to several feet high can transform your yard from a boring flat plain into exciting terra firma. And while several well-placed retaining walls can work wonders for your terrain, a Minneapolis retaining wall is also a great way to create borders, and distinguish different beds and areas of your yard from another. Finally, terracing steep slopes with retaining walls can actually create valuable space in places that are virtually unusable if they are not built up and leveled off.

Fighting Erosion with a Minneapolis Retaining Wall
Besides landscaping, fighting erosion is another prime reason that retaining walls are built in Minneapolis-St. Paul. With summer thunderstorms that can dump inches of rain on the Twin Cities in a matter of minutes or hours, steep slopes that are not reinforced can lead to severe erosion, destruction of your landscaping, and, if your dirt ends up in the neighbor's driveway, some heated neighborhood disputes as well. A well-placed retaining wall in Minneapolis is the best way to combat erosion in the greater Twin Cities metropolitan area since it will help to level off your lot and slow down the flow of runoff, which prevents your topsoil and flower beds from washing away as well.

A Minneapolis Retaining Wall and Larger Projects
The third most common residential use of retaining walls is for larger construction projects. If you live on sloped land, retaining walls are often required to provide the necessary footing for large scale additions such as family rooms, kitchen expansions, or extra bedrooms. Furthermore, they can be invaluable when it comes to installing luxuries such as large patios and swimming pools on steep terrain where such projects wouldn't otherwise be possible.

Building a Retaining Wall in Minneapolis
Determining your retaining wall needs is just the first step of building a retaining wall in Minneapolis. Once you've got that figured out, there are a host of other decisions to make ranging from which materials you ought to use to whether you're going to try to tackle the job yourself. The decision of which materials to use is usually decided by a combination of looks, function, and ease of installation. Building a small retaining wall for a new flower bed, for example, can be done easily by homeowners who have a long weekend and a supply of interlocking landscaping blocks ready. Holding up your family room addition, on the other hand, requires a little more planning. You'll probably pour a concrete retaining wall, or build one from cinder blocks or stone, either of which should be done by a knowledgeable contractor to ensure it's done right. Having a landscaping wall fail and losing a couple flowers is one thing. Having the back wall of your new addition begin to pull away from the house because you improperly calculated the size, scale, and reinforcement requirements of the retaining wall that's holding it up is another thing entirely.

Consult the Experts Before You Build Your Retaining Wall in Minneapolis
Particularly if you plan to build a Minneapolis retaining wall over four feet in height, it pays to talk to a contractor who knows retaining wall construction, and one that's familiar with the particulars of building a retaining wall in Minnesota. Walls over four feet usually require extra reinforcement and anchors, additions that are even more vital in the Twin Cities than in some other areas of the country. Why? One of the biggest threats to the integrity of any retaining wall is the contraction and expansion that happens in climates that experience temperature extremes and definite freeze/thaw cycles. With temperatures that can range between 105 and -40 degrees Fahrenheit, and where winter is no passing fancy, Minneapolis-St. Paul definitely qualifies as a climate where retaining walls need to be built to specs if you want them to be built to last.