 Menu Motherhood.

ModernMom

Do You Need Drainage Holes in Retaining Walls?

by Brian Barth, studioD
A retaining w all is like an
impervious surface,
requiring a drainage hole
to let the w ater through.
If you have an eroding slope on your property and you're thinking of
building a retaining wall, keep in mind that there's a lot more involved
than putting up the wall itself. Grading work will likely be required, and
some sort of provision for drainage needs to be incorporated in the
structure. It can all add up to making retaining walls an expensive
proposition, but skipping steps like drainage features are a recipe for
the wall to fail at some point in the future.
The Need for Drainage

Related Articles
How to Lay Landscaping Fabric
Behind a Retaining Wall
How to Place a Retaining Wall
How to Solve Hillside Erosion
rainstorm.
When the soil behind a retaining wall is saturated from rain, it becomes
many times heavier than in dry conditions. Under the extreme weight,
there is a risk that the retaining wall could shift or collapse. Rather than
build walls with immense foundations and specially engineered features
to keep them from being pushed over by the weight of saturated soil, it
is much easier to install features to drain away the water. This can take
the form of holes in the wall to let the water pass through or drainage
features behind the wall that safely carry away water during a

Weep Holes

If you look at the large concrete retaining walls used in places like shopping center parking lots, you will
notice a series of holes somewhere in the bottom half of the wall. These weep holes contain a small
section of drain pipe to allow water to pass through the wall. The weep holes are usually 4 to 6 inches in
diameter and placed every 3 to 4 feet, though these numbers can vary considerably depending on the
scale of the wall. Sometimes the wall is stained below each hole where dirty water seeps through. Filter
fabric should be used to cover the inlet of the drain pipe to filter the dirty water so it does not stain the
exterior surface.

Drain Pipe
Another way to drain the soil behind a retaining wall -- that eliminates the need for weep holes -- is to
install a perforated pipe in a bed of gravel behind the wall. The gravel allows the water to percolate easily
towards the bottom of the wall where it then enters the holes in the perforated pipe and flows down to the
end of the wall. At this point, the pipe can be left open so the water flows out onto the ground, or it can be
connected to another drainage feature, if necessary.

Dry Stack Walls

Small walls under 3 feet in height may not require drain holes if the wall itself is not completely
impermeable. For example, "dry-stacked" stone walls -- meaning those that are not held together with
mortar -- have enough space between each stone to function as informal weep holes. Dry-stack concrete
block walls under 3 feet in height should still have a drain behind them because the flat blocks fit together
so tightly that water cannot drain through quickly enough during a heavy rain. Filter fabric is needed behind
the dry-stack walls, too, to prevent soil from migrating through the cracks.

Spons ored Links

Fly ing to Ho Chi M inh?

Get The Lowest Fares Online. Hurry & Book Now!

www.airasia.com

M um bai to Zuric h

Upto INR 15000 . Code:FLYINT

www.makemytrip.com

City Oberland Hotel

$144.92
Best Price Guarantee

Booking.com

References

University of Minnesota: Installing Block Retaining

Walls(http://www.sustland.umn.edu/implement/retaining.htm)
Colorado State University Extension: Retaining Walls -- Design
Considerations(http://www.ext.colostate.edu/ptlk/1118.html)
Alabama State Cooperative Extension: Weep-
Hole(http://www.aces.edu/waterquality/glossary/glossary_results.php3?rowid=5740)