Most retaining walls are made up of horizontal courses of faced stone. Pinned and packed with smaller hearting or packing, and have a batter which tapers from the widest point at the base of the wall to narrow at the top.
This granite retaining wall was recently rebuilt as tree roots had damaged the original build.
Taking down the original wall we found that a lack of packing had contributed to the wall starting to belly. Below is an image of the wall before the work was undertaken.
Retaining walls are generally built to protect a vertical bank from erosion. The batter of the outside face of a retaining wall is usually the same as for a free-standing wall. Dependant on the type of stone. However, when a wall is load bearing and supporting a bank rather than just protecting it from erosion, the batter may need to be increased.
The wall meets steps to the right and gradually decreases in height. No need for an increased batter on this build.
This dyke is in the Bridge of Don , Aberdeenshire.
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