Are you thinking about introducing gabion walls to your property? Either as retaining walls or perhaps a unique outdoor seating solution, you may wonder whether gabions are the best choice. Like anything else, gabion walls have their disadvantages and advantages. To determine whether these walls are the correct choice for your project, you need to weigh out the pros and cons against each other.
Advantages
There are many advantages associated with gabion walls, including the following:
Gabions have strong bases, this presents them from being pulled away in vandals and heavy rainstorms.
These walls assist in reducing the speed of running water, the rocks scatter its energy which helps reducing erosion.
The baskets and rocks of the gabion wall are flexible, allowing small movements because of the ground below shifting.
As time goes by, gaps between the rocks in the walls will be filled by silt and vegetation, this will further reinforce the gabion wall.
Transporting and handling gabion walls are quite simple, this assists in reducing time in building the walls.
Gaps amongst the rocks allow water to stream through the structure, supporting it to maintain a lower groundwater level.
Disadvantages
Along with the advantages, there are also several disadvantages associated with gabions that one needs to be aware of:
In most cases, the appearance of the walls is minimal (the wire basket will be seen and the algae may be showing).
The high speed of the water could cause damage to the gabion through impact of a large object.
It the ground below the gabion is moderately soft, you are required to create a stone or concrete base for the basket to be placed on. This will result in significant time and cost lost. If your surface is relatively hard, you will be able to build immediately.
If gabion baskets and rocks are in stock, you will be able to construct the gabions as soon as possible. But if the materials need to first be ordered, this means waiting until they’re delivered.
Filling the gabion baskets with rock has to done by hand, this can be extremely time consuming and may lead to injury if not careful. If there are helpers involved, you will complete the project faster.
Here at Buffalo Retaining Walls, we supply a wide range of products including gabions, retaining walls, paving, kerbs and more. For more information, visit our website today!
