Retaining Wall Contractor

Retaining Wall Contractor2021-02-21T04:04:03+00:00

RETAINING WALL CONTRACTOR

Retaining wall contractor Fairfax Contractor is a Northern Virginia company that can build all types of retaining wall projects. In most of the Northern Virginia Counties any retaining wall over 36 inches will require a building permit. Smaller walls such as plantar walls, garden bedding walls, and small retaining walls are exempt from the building permit process. If the retaining wall project you are looking to construct is over 36 inches Fairfax Contractor can utilize two methods to secure the building permit. The first way is to utilize the Fairfax County detail for retaining walls, this method utilizes plans that the county has designed for 4 foot, and 5 foot tall retaining walls. Only residential retaining walls fall under the category of typical retaining wall detail plans in Fairfax. On the Fairfax County retaining wall detail plans located on the county website shows both a wood retaining wall detail and a engineered masonry detail. One other caveat is the fact that these walls cannot be built any problems soil area, tiered, or used to support a driveway or other structure. The second method to construct a retaining wall over 36 inches in Northern Virginia requires engineered stamped plans for wood, segmental block, and masonry retaining walls. If you reside in the counties of Fairfax, Loudoun, Arlington, or Prince William County you will be required to submit plans to the local municipalities to obtain a building permit if your wall exceeds 36 inches. Fairfax Contractor can produce the drawings needed to secure the proper building permit to build a legal, permitted retaining wall. Don’t be fooled by some unlicensed landscape company to build your retaining wall project, they may build your wall without a permit, or even worse yet have you pull the permit in your name. Fairfax Contractor is licensed by the Virginia DPOR with a class A license# 2705154312 which expires on July 31, 2022, this license is endorsed with the RBC stamp. Only contractors and companies that possess a valid contractor’s license in the state of Virginia with a RBC (residential building contractor) stamp are permitted to pull the permit build a legal retaining wall.

Retaining Wall Contractor Northern Virginia

Types Of Retaining Walls Fairfax Contractor Builds

If you want to construct a simple plantar wall, or a critical structure retaining wall one must consider what kind of retaining wall you want to build. The 3 main types of retaining wall systems. Fairfax contractor installs include, engineered masonry retaining walls, segmental block, retaining walls, and pressure-treated lumber, retaining walls. The most common material Fairfax Contractor uses is a CMU block wall with a thin stone veneer. Many people in Northern Virginia care to build or replace their existing retaining wall with pressure-treated lumber this offers a inexpensive option for retaining wall. Some of the state-of-the-art segmenting retaining wall options include manufactures that create amazing structures that are built without mortar or any reinforcement. These segmental walls rely on using colored concrete blocks that are constructed into a retaining wall which has had soil stabilized behind the wall. The last one foot of the back fill is comprised of #57 gravel which acts as a dam to reduce any hydro static pressure against the segmental blocks. Wood retaining walls utilizes pressure-treated 6 x 6 timbers that are supported by a series of whalers and dead man in conjunction with a gravel back fill. Most masonry retaining walls are engineered by a state licensed civil engineer to stand the test of time. To build a cinder block or concrete poured retaining wall will require a number of County inspections to become a legal retaining wall. The options to veneer this wall range from building stone, then stone, and clay brick.

MATERIALS USED FOR RETAINING WALL PROJECTS

If you choose to build a masonry retaining wall through Fairfax Contractor we will either use the Fairfax County retaining wall detail, or a licensed civil engineer to design the actual retaining wall. After acquiring the permit to build the retaining wall, we will utilize the engineers plans to update the footing system and install the rebar necessary to pass the footing inspection proportion of your retaining wall project. The next step will be to lay cinder block up to the desired height of the wall. Once the cinder block has been installed, you have a choice of covering the block with either clay brick, or thin stone. We had conveniently built a slide show of the various thin stone samples that you can utilize in veneering your retaining wall project . Click here for a complete slideshow of different thin stone samples that can be used on your retaining wall project. In addition to using thin stone to cover your retaining wall, we can utilize cultured stone that emulates the look of natural stone. Seeing that many of the homes built in Northern Virginia are colonial in style , many people prefer to have their finished retaining wall covered in face brick. There is a wide variety of colors and finishes of face bricks that can be utilized to cover your retaining wall. Face brick is typically a clay brick that is designed and engineered to be used on the façade of homes and retaining walls. These face brick come in to typical sizes, either module brick, or over sized clay brick. You should check with the 4 main brick suppliers in Northern Virginia , which include LC Smith located in Alexandria, Potomac Valley Brick located in Lorton VA, Glen Gary, brick yard located in Manassas, or General Shale brick yard located off of Balls Ford Road, in Prince William County , Virginia..

Interlocking Retaining Walls 

Fairfax Contractor can design and install Interlocking Retaining Wall Contractor Northern Virginia. these interlocking retaining walls also refereed as SRW.  Sentimental retaining walls are built from custom engineered concrete building blocks.  No, they are not mortared in like a traditional retaining wall system, yet they’re designed to alleviate a hydraulic pressure through a gravel drainage system that is installed behind the retaining wall.  There are many Brands of sentimental retaining wall systems that we can utilize in your Northern Virginia home. Belgard , Anchor,  Techo bloc are all well known brands that we install.These concrete retaining wall blocks are available in a myriad of colors and styles to enhance the look of your residential or commercial space. There are different kinds of textures and looks to choose from. Our experts at Fairfax Contractor can help you choose the right color and style to match and enhance your home

Engineered Masonry Retaining Walls

Engineered masonry retaining walls built by Fairfax Contractor include poured concrete retaining walls, and retaining walls built of cinder block. In the Northern Virginia area, any of these types of retaining walls require a building permit when the wall exceeds 3 feet in height. Most of the retaining walls Fairfax Contractor builds are of the cinder block or CMU variant. All masonry walls are built based on a cantilevered reinforced system. In the opinion of Fairfax Contractor, the cantilevered retaining wall, is unquestionably the best design for longevity. The concept of building a cantilevered retaining wall is that the footer is counterbalanced, so the majority of the footer is on the backside of the wall. This will allow the wall to stand up to hydro static pressure better than other types of retaining wall systems. Many contractors have the ability to only build gravity retaining wall systems, but Fairfax Contractor can build an incredibly strong cantilevered retaining wall, that can stand the test of time. Designing a masonry retaining wall for your Northern Virginia home over 3 feet in height will require either utilizing standard plans issued by the county, or plans designed by a structural engineer. Retaining wall systems that are taller than 6 feet are considered critical structures, and or often permitted through the commercial inspection team of many Northern Virginia counties. However, you decide to design any retaining wall over 3 feet will require a building permit. Not all contractors have the ability to obtain building permits to construct retaining walls, a contractor must possess an endorsement on their contractor’s license that is RBC residential building contractor. Never allow your contractor to have you pull the building permit to construct a retaining wall, this is the responsibility of a properly licensed contractor. Once the engineered plans have been submitted to the county, a county engineer will review the engineering mathematics to make sure that the retaining wall will stand up to the soil conditions, height, hydro static pressure, and slope behind the wall. All cantilevered retaining wall projects need three types of inspections, a footing inspection, back fill inspection, and a final inspection create a legal structure. More complex retaining wall plans that are installed in problematic soils that exist in many parts of Alexandria, Lorton, and some areas of Fairfax County will require deeper footing systems, and bond beams to meet the permitting requirements. Cantilevered retaining walls, once built, can be veneered with many different building products. One of the most popular is thin building stone, clay brick, or manufactured stone veneer.

Pressure Treated Wood Retaining Walls

Wood retaning wall northern virginia
Fairfax Contractor has the ability to repair, replace, or build pressure-treated wood retaining wall systems in Northern Virginia. Technically a wood retaining wall system is a classified gravity retaining wall. Building a pressure-treated wood retaining wall less than 3 feet in height does not require a building permit according to the 2012 statewide Virginia building code. Building a pressure-treated retaining wall over 3 feet requires a specialized Virginia licensed contractor. The basic engineering principles to constructing a pressure-treated retaining wall system utilizes 6 x 6 pressure-treated to create a structure that will economically work as a suitable alternative to a cantilevered masonry retaining wall. Pressure-treated retaining walls are built with three main components. The first component of constructing a pressure-treated retaining wall system is to utilize a support system that pins the wall, utilizing a system of Dead man, and whalers. As the timber retaining wall is built, six-inch pressure-treated lumber is constructed with a whaler and Dead man system that is installed typically every 8 feet. Each 6 x 6 pressure-treated lumber is secured with a 2 60 d spike hammered in horizontally. One of the most important factors of building a code compliant wood retaining wall is to have an effective drainage system behind retaining wall. Building code requires one foot of encapsulated three-quarter inch aggregate tied into a drainage system. This drainage system will divert any hydro static pressure placed upon a pressure-treated retaining wall.

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Repairing A Retaining Wall In Northern Virginia

Repairing a retaining wall in Northern Virginia maybe quite possible depending on the state of repair of your current retaining wall.  Fairfax Contractor may be able to repair your current deflecting, wood or masonry retaining wall  saving you thousands of dollars.Some of the most common retaining wall repair projects we undertake include failing egress retaining walls. Homes built in the 1960s through the 1980s have poorly constructed egress retaining walls. If your egress retaining wall system is starting to fail, we can remove the brick rowlock brick, and install rebar and fill the cells of the cinder block with concrete. This technique for repairing egress retaining walls can save you a lot of money. If some of the cinder block in your egress walkout retaining walls have deflected, we can reset the cinder block before the very expensive repairs necessary. Give us a call if you have a failing egress retaining wall in your Northern Virginia home.

Where We Build Retaining Walls In Northern Virginia

Fairfax Contractor build all types of retaining walls in Fairfax County, Arlington County, Loudoun County, and Prince William County VA. We also design and build retaining walls in the following Fairfax County cities including Alexandria, Annandale, Burke, Clifton, Centreville, Chantilly, Fairfax, Fairfax City, Fairfax Station, Falls Church, Great Falls, Herndon, Kingstown, Langley, Lake Barcroft, Lorton, McLean, Newington, North Springfield, Oakton, Oak Hill, Reston, Springfield, Sterling, Tyson’s Corner, and the Vienna, Virginia. Fairfax Contractor also is licensed to build retraining walls work in Arlington County, including the cities of Arlington Forest, Ballston Crossings, Cherrydale, Claremont, Rivercrest, Westover, and Yorktown, Virginia. In Loudoun County, we install all types of home improvement projects in the cities of Ashburn, Aldie, Bristow, Dulles, Countryside, Lansdowne, Leesburg, Purcellville, Potomac Falls, South Riding, and Stone Ridge Virginia. And finally, we build all types of retaining walls in the cities of, Prince William County, including Dumfries, Dale City, Gainesville, Haymarket, Lake Manassas, Lake Ridge, Manassas, Manassas Park, Occoquan, Triangle, York Shire, and Woodbridge Virginia.
Fairfax Contractor is a General Contractor that specializes in home remodeling projects in Fairfax County Virginia, and the surrounding areas.

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