A retaining wall is a structure designed and constructed to resist the lateral pressure of soil, when there is a desired change in ground elevation that exceeds the angle of repose of the soil.
A basement wall is thus one kind of retaining wall. The term usually refers to a cantilever retaining wall, which is a freestanding structure without lateral support at its top. These are cantilevered from a footing and rise above the grade on one side to retain a higher level grade on the opposite side. The walls must resist the lateral pressures generated by loose soils or, in some cases, water pressures.
The most important consideration in proper design and installation of retaining walls is to recognize and counteract the tendency of the retained material to move downslope due to gravity. This creates lateral earth pressure behind the wall which depends on the angle of internal friction and the cohesive strength of the retained material, as well as the direction and magnitude of movement the retaining structure undergoes.
We design Retaining walls of all sizes for all sorts of uses.
If I could give more stars I would. Extremely responsive and helpful. Adam from Melbourne Civil and Structural Engineers' pre-purchase advice on a 1960s brick veneer house was absolutely priceless. We had already had a regular building and pest inspection that, while thorough, left us with a lot of questions (are the cracks in the brick structural or cosmetic? is the movement something to worry about? what repairs would we need to do if we bought the house?). Adam's advice was all answers. From now on I will only have a structural engineer pre-purchase inspection. I highly recommend MCS Engineers - the advice was very tailored and Adam went way above and beyond to be helpful. We now feel confident about negotiating a price on the house because we know that its structurally sound and we know what repairs are needed to keep that way. Fingers crossed we will be working with MCS Engineers on a renovation of this gem of a house soon.
Amy Longhurst - Sunshine West - VIC
