Retaining Walls: The Perfect Barrier to Problematic Erosion

Earthwork for erosion prevention

Managing erosion is a constant struggle for many homeowners. Sifting through debris and trying to keep your landscape as green and beautiful as possible can also take a toll on your sanity.

A retaining wall is a great way to slow down this problem and help you retain control over your property.

So, if you’re looking for more information on how hiring experts for retaining wall installation services can help prevent erosion, keep reading:

Why Fear Soil Erosion?

Erosion is a term used to describe soil removal by wind, water, or other natural forces causing the soil to erode and expose the underlying bedrock. The resulting erosion can lead to landslides and other problems for farmland, water supplies, roads, structures, and more.

Erosion on your property could also increase the maintenance you need, and even lead to flooding or sinkholes.

One of the best ways to minimize erosion is by keeping water on the land via retaining wall installation that keeps water from running off into streams or rivers.

How Does Retaining Walls Work

Retaining wall structures are typically made of masonry, concrete, or natural stone that rise above ground level and slope toward their base.

For those who don’t know, a retaining wall is composed of two components:

  • The first component is the base or footer wall. This is where you’ll place your foundation for the retaining wall and work with your contractor to determine its height and width.
  • The second component is the face or top wall; this will be what you see when looking at your yard from above.

Retaining wall installation is used to prevent erosion by blocking water runoff before it can reach the surface of the earth. Research also suggests that retaining walls can be used to protect against groundwater contamination. This helps provide a foundation for your yard by holding back water for long enough for plants and trees to grow over the top of them.

The Role Of Retaining Walls in A Slope Restoration Project

In other cases, a retaining wall may be constructed as part of a slope restoration project. Slope restoration is the process of repairing slopes that have been damaged by erosion or other factors. This process sometimes involves removing existing vegetation and installing new plants on steep slopes.

slope failure due to erosion

Get Reliable Retaining Wall Installation Services Today

If you are looking for retaining wall installation services in CA, you’re at the right place!

Mountain Movers Engineering Co. is an experienced design and building company that successfully installed nearly around 10 million square feet of retaining walls.

Our team also takes pride in offering our valuable clients professional high-grade slope wall repair and restoration and extensive land-sliding repair services at affordable prices.

For more information, get in touch with us today!

Understanding The Importance of Professional Grading for Your Commercial Development Project

ongoing grading on a construction site

Did you know that professional grading for commercial development projects can go a long way to ensuring that your building is constructed right? Yes, you heard us!

The grading process is essential in ensuring that every individual building or floor has its designated space with proper drainage, water containment, and other components needed to provide the best results possible.

The importance of professional grading cannot be overstated especially when it comes to maintaining adequate sloping and preparing the land to hold weight. Grading also ensures that all construction materials adhere to specific regulations.

So, if you’re a general contractor or a manager for a commercial project, here’s what you need to know about the importance of mass grading:

1. Helps Saves Cost

Professional grading for commercial development can help you avoid unnecessary costs and delays in your project. It ensures greater precision during construction and better confidence in your finished product. This helps assure most investors that the project will be completed on time and within budget.

2. Helps Maintain Safety

Professional grading provides a safe environment for construction workers and equipment operators. It also ensures that you will have enough room for your building’s equipment, such as trucks, cranes, or forklifts. Having professional grading for commercial projects ensures that these items will not damage your property during construction.

So, if you are planning to build a commercial building that requires grading, hire professionals like Mountain Movers Engineering Co., who specialize in quality grading services.

1. Improves Relationship With Customers

The purpose of grading for commercial projects is to provide an accurate depiction of the physical properties of a piece of property. It does this by measuring the depth, slope, and angle of the land or soil on a particular plot. The information collected can then be used by property developers to design their projects around specific areas where they’ll require more space or less development than others.

Home buyers and sellers can also use the information collected when choosing the plots to invest in. This thus helps build good relationships with customers who want to invest in your project. It helps them make better decisions when deciding whether to buy into a particular plot because it offers more value than others do.

This will not only increase your chances of getting more investors but also increase their confidence in your company as well as its ability to deliver high-quality products and services on time.

Partner with Mountain Movers Engineering Co. Today

If you are looking for a quality earthwork service provider to do grading and cleaning of your commercial development project, then Mountain Movers Engineering Co. is your best choice.

We have been providing grading services in the market for over 6 decades. We have a reliable team of skilled engineers who provide useful technical information to help you improve your commercial development project.

Our company will also be able to provide advice on how best to handle different problems that may arise during construction, such as slope restoration, extensive landslide repair, or installation of retaining walls.

Contact us or check out our projects today.

4 Tips To Prevent Landslides

An eroded slope due to soil erosion

Every year, hundreds of people are injured, and many more are killed in landslides. Landslides can be caused by various factors, including earthquakes, heavy rain, snowfall, and soil erosion.

It is a destructive force that can affect large portions of the land, including roads, bridges,and buildings. In addition to being potentially dangerous to human life, landslides can also block highways and hinder search and rescue efforts.

Since landslides are a serious hazard to life and property in most parts of the world, here are things you can do to save lives and keep landslides from destroying your home:

1. Monitor your property regularly

The first tip is to monitor your property regularly. Do this by keeping a watchful eye on the slopes and the changes in their condition.

Other ways include:

  • Checking for cracks in the ground
  • Checking for loose rocks and debris around the home or business
  • Paying attention to weather conditions such as heavy rain or snowfall

This will help you indentify any landslides before they occur and keep them from getting out of control.

If you notice any subtle changes in the landscape, such as cracks or fissures, you should immediately call experts for extensive landslide repair services.

2. Design slopes using retaining walls to avoid the accumulation of debris and soil erosion

Poorly maintained and un-kept slopes are the major reason for landslides in the urban regions.

This is why retaining walls are built along the slope to prevent soil erosion. These can be made of stone, concrete, or other materials and work by holding back soil and gravel that would otherwise slide off the hill down into a valley or depression below.

So, if you have a lot of slopes on your property, opting for retaining wall installation services is essential to reduce the risk of landslides occurring on your land. You should also control surface water sources such as rain barrels and catch basins to prevent slope erosion.

1. Keep Your Property Drainable

Debris flows happen when heavy rain or snowmelt causes loose soil to move downhill without being held in place by trees, plants, or other vegetation. This can occur during storms or after heavy rains and snowmelt during springtime when plants have not yet returned from dormancy.

So, if you live in an area prone to landslides, consider keeping your property drains clear of debris and other materials that could hamper drainage. You can also plant trees and shrubs that will help hold back soil from moving downhill.

2. Reduce Runoff From Impervious Surfaces Using Earthwork Services

Impervious surfaces include paved roads, driveways, or parking lots. It also includes roofs covered with asphalt shingles and storm drains that carry water away from streets but don’t allow it to soak into the ground where plants and soil can absorb it.

Earthwork services can help reduce runoff from these impervious surfaces, including grading, rock removal, and erosion control.

We Offer Extensive Landslide Repair Services To Protect Your Property From Landslides

Do you want to minimize your liability for any damage when a landslide occurs on your property? We’ve got you covered!

Mountain Movers Engineering Co. is a trusted retaining wall construction company with years of extensive landslide repair experience under our belt.

Reach out to our professionals and get high-quality and reliable slope wall repair, restoration, and grading for commercial projects.

Contact us or check out our projects today.

The Loads and Forces That Should Be Considered When Building a Retaining Wall

A retaining wall in a residential area

Retaining walls are the most effective physical barrier against flash floods, land sliding, erosion, and slumping hillsides. They can protect your property while maintaining its functional and visual appeal.

Building a retaining wall, however, is nothing like a simple wall or boundary construction. A lot of thought, design, and engineering expertise go into the process.

Before installing a retaining wall, Mountain Movers Engineering Co.’s expert design engineers thoroughly assess construction or project site conditions. They take the space, ground conditions, size, and various other factors into account before coming up with a design. For optimum performance, retaining walls must meet strict criteria consisting of balanced loads and forces.

Let’s talk about these technicalities in detail.

1. Lateral Earth Pressure

Lateral earth pressure is the first element that lays down the foundation for creating a retaining wall. It’s preset to retain soil on the ground surface before, during, and after installation.

Lateral earth pressure is defined as the horizontal pressure exerted by soil. It impacts the overall binding and stability strength on the soil level, ensuring its ability to balance a retaining wall. Earthwork and retaining wall builders follow the sliding wedge concept when designing a retaining wall.

2. Surcharge Loads

In addition to horizontal pressures like lateral earth pressure, a retaining wall also has to bear vertical forces. The ground applies a surcharge load creating an adjacent pressure and acting as backfill for the wall.

Highway surcharges, backfill compaction surcharges, and adjacent footing surcharges are common load types affecting your retaining wall design.

3. A Retaining Wall’s Structural Weight

The next thing the retaining wall design team has to study is the final product’s probable weight. It includes all the components, such as the footing, base, bearing, and the wall itself. Assessing ground conditions and forces is essential to ensure the stability and strength required to hold a retaining wall in place.

4. Wind Forces and Seismic Pressure

Yes, the wind force and the earth’s seismic pressure are quite critical for a retaining wall installation plan. Your retaining wall will be exposed to external weather conditions, including strong winds and earthquake shocks. Therefore, the design team will invest time in computing maximum level wind force and velocity.

This helps decide the correct wall positioning, earthwork requirements, and retaining wall material.

 A curved wall made of bricks

How Can Mountain Movers Engineering Co. Help You?

When it comes to high-quality retaining wall installation and earthwork services in California, no one does it better than us. At Mountain Movers Engineering Co., we’ve built credibility with our quality services and unmatched customer experience.

Our projects include residential, commercial, and industrial sites where we have performed excellent earthwork, grading, slope wall repair, retaining wall installation, and more.

Dive deeper into our service portfolio, or call us now for further discussion.

 Reasons Ground Erosion Happens and How to Prevent It

A broken wall due to soil erosion

The topmost layer of ground is soil replete with nutrients and essential minerals for plant growth. It’s also referred to as the bearer of all life forms on our planet. However, several reasons can affect the ground’s stability and balance, leading to erosion and damage.

Ground erosion can happen in many ways. It doesn’t just pertain to soil erosion that leads to plant and crop damage. Ground erosion can happen anywhere if proper prevention strategies aren’t implemented to maintain ground balance.  

In this blog, our Mountain Movers Engineering Co. team has discussed the main reasons behind soil/ground erosion and a few effective prevention techniques. So let’s get into the detail right away!

Reasons for Ground Erosion

Here are the top reasons for ground erosion:

Harsh Weather

Thunderstorms and heavy rain is the leading cause of soil or ground erosion. Rain is essential to maintain plant growth and nutrition. However, severe and heavy rainfall events can lead to widespread ground damage. Rain and strong winds can also result in rill, gully, sheet, and splash erosion.

Raindrops disperse the softer layer on the ground and penetrate deeper ground levels. Frequent rainfall can create basins and potholes and prove quite hazardous for sloped grounds, especially in mountainous regions.

Earthwork for erosion prevention

Land Sliding

Land sliding is a common problem people face in hilly or mountainous areas. Earthquakes, rainfall, and storms make the ground fragile and cause a destructive movement of rocks and stones. Land sliding occurs due to the gravity influence.

Experts suggest that land sliding is a major reason behind mass wastage, but it’s entirely preventable. We offer high-end retaining wall installation and earthwork services in CA. You can talk to us about how to restore land sliding damages and prevent it from happening again.

Other common reasons that may lead to ground erosion include grazing, the soil type, deflation, and lack of vegetation.

Here’s how you can prevent ground erosion and its adverse effects:

  1. Plant more trees and shrubs to control water flow during monsoon seasons
  2. Invest in professional mulch matting to maintain the ground level stability
  3. Construct heavy-duty retaining walls to prevent floods, rain, and earthquakes from causing ground erosion
  4. Maintain a proper drainage system to prevent water from creating basins within the ground
  5. Construct an anchor wall for better protection
  6. Opt for a wire basket wall to prevent soil erosion and land sliding while improving your property’s aesthetic quality

Partner with Mountain Movers Engineering Co. Today

We’re a leading retaining wall construction company with extensive industry experience. Mountain Movers Engineering Co. has successfully built approximately 10 million SF of retaining walls across CA.

Our team specializes in studying every project’s unique requirements to curate a tailored solution. You can talk to us to avail high-quality and professional grading for commercial projects, slope wall repair and restoration, retaining wall service, and extensive land sliding repair.  

Contact us or check out our projects today.

Camino Vida Roble – TFW

Camino Vida Roble – TFW

Mountain Movers Engineeering Co.

About Project

TFW asked us to take a look at this project and see what we could come up with. In-house, Mountain Movers designed all the courtyard walls, including ramps, walkways, bocce ball courts, barbeque areas, bike parking, personal meeting pods, etc.… We utilized different block systems and brought the whole thing together in a unified, beautiful aesthetic. Our highly experienced field crews made it all a reality.