Why Choose a Wood Seawall or a Wood Retaining Wall?

Wood seawalls and wood retaining walls add rich, natural beauty to any landscape. And, choosing marine-grade wood material is an excellent way to protect your land from the tides, waves, and hurricanes, or to prevent land movement. Selecting wood for your marine construction structure can also be a cost effective choice at installation.

With that being said, it is important to know that wood does require more frequent inspections, repairs, and/or replacement. And it does hold up better in fresh water as opposed to salt water. Regardless, wooden seawall and wooden retaining wall owners will need to be more vigilant about the condition of their wooden marine construction structure. That’s why it’s important to choose professionals to do the job.

At Gibson Marine Construction we use marine-grade material for wood seawalls. Our wall construction consists of vertical 2” x 6” PT marine-grade lumber, a combination of 2” x 8” front and back wale system and a 2” x 12” PT marine grade cap. And depending on the environment, a wood wall can provide many years of service.

Questions About Starting Your Marine-Grade Wood Seawall or Wood Material Project?

If you’re thinking about a wood seawall or wood retaining wall to protect or prevent damage to your property, consider our specialists at Gibson Marine Construction to do the job. With over 30 years of experience our team will work with you to design and construct your wood seawall or wood retaining wall. Contact us today, we’d love to talk about the beauty and function that a wood retaining wall or wood seawall could bring to your property.

Protect Your Waterfront Property by Building a Marine Construction Structure

Most marine construction structures are built to protect or prevent damage to shoreline or waterfront property. The four most common marine construction structures are:

Retaining Walls
Bulkheads
Seawalls
Revetments

Although the names of the most common types of marine construction structures are often used interchangeably, they are all actually a little different. Knowing these differences can help you determine which type of marine construction structure would best protect your property.

What is the Difference? Retaining Walls and Bulkheads

This post will focus on the primary difference between retaining walls and bulkheads. To learn more about the difference between seawalls and revetments, please continue on to the next post.

Retaining Walls

Retaining walls are often considered the most basic out of these four common types of marine construction structures. Wikipedia defines a retaining wall as a relatively rigid wall used to support soil mass laterally so that the soil can be retained at different levels on the two sides. The primary function of a retaining wall is to prevent land movement, such as sliding.

Bulkheads

A bulkhead is very similar to a retaining wall as they have the same functionality. The primary difference between the two comes down to what element is being retained on each side of the wall. A retaining wall has soil (earth) on both sides of the wall, whereas a bulkhead retains earth on one side of the wall and has water on the other side.

Why Build a Retaining Wall or a Bulkhead?

Both retaining walls and bulkheads are a common form of engineered stabilization that prevent land movement, and are often used in areas that have undesirable sloped terrain. Building one or both allows sloped land to be shaped in a way that better suits it for specific uses.

Stabilize Your Property with a Retaining Wall, Bulkhead, or Both

Since every property is unique, the specific factors of your property will determine if you should build a retaining wall, a bulkhead, or a combination of both to provide the best form of stabilization for your needs.

Call Gibson Marine Construction. Their experts can design a beautiful solution to best stabilize your land.

Enjoy the Beauty and Function of a Wood Retaining Wall or a Wood Seawall