LOS ANGELES – Construction and foundation repair expert Julian De La Torre, founder of Julian Construction announced the company now offers retaining wall design and building services. Retaining walls are freestanding structures used to keep soil on a slope from moving down.
“Many homes are built in areas that require retaining walls to hold back ground on a hillside and create more usable space,” says Julian. “They can also be used to stop soil from sliding away from a foundation or damaging landscaping.”
Retaining walls can be built from various materials, including brick, stone and concrete. Some of the more common types of restraining walls include gravity, anchor, sheet piling, and cantilever. Gravity restraining walls are the most common, and rely on their own weight to keep soil from moving. Cantilever walls are made with steel-reinforced concrete and use less material than a gravity wall. They convert horizontal pressures from the soil to vertical pressures on the ground. Anchor walls made with cables anchored into nearby rock or soil. Sheet piling walls are made from wood, vinyl or steel planks that are driven into the ground.
According to Julian, one of the factors to consider when determining what type of wall to build is whether or not the soil that it will restrain is fill material or a cut face. Other important aspects to the project include the amount of space that is available for the wall, the type of soil it will be built on, the slope of the ground above and below the wall, and the location of pipes or other service lines near the structure.
“Retaining walls need to be constructed properly in order to prevent leaning, cracking or bulging,” says Julian. “This includes choosing the right type of wall for the project, as well as the materials that will be used to construct it.”
Julian De La Torre has been retrofitting buildings since the early 1990s and has personally worked on over 6,600 homes in Southern California. He formed Julian Construction in 2001 with the goal of making safer homes, apartments and commercial properties throughout the region. Julian’s partner Shawn Kyles has inspected over 15,000 structures, working with both engineering firms and local departments of building and safety, and is an expert in foundation repair and house bolting.
Julian Construction owns its own company and is built on a “no middlemen” model – no salesmen, no subcontractors. When you work with Julian Construction you get the principals of the company and workers of Julian Construction under your home. The result is the highest quality work at affordable prices. They can be contacted by phone at 323 733-3377, by fax at 323 733-4477 or via their website, www.julianconstruction.com.
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