When working on your home’s landscape, many of you often focus on adding flowers and plants, installing outdoor lighting, or incorporating outdoor furniture. However, not all lawns and landscapes are the same. Some of you probably have a sloping yard, or maybe you always experience soil erosion due to different soil quality. In that case, adding flowers and plants will not suffice in enhancing your home’s landscape. 

What Are Retaining Walls? 

One unique way to enhance your landscape is by adding timber retaining walls. For starters, a retaining wall ideally works as a fence specifically designed to restrain the soil from eroding sideways while also helping change your yard’s elevation. It also helps stabilize the rocks and dirt in your yard, especially if you don’t have much grass or shrubs to hold them in place. 

Retaining walls are available in different materials. You can have it in concrete, brick, dry stone or boulder, and of course, wood or timber. Out of all the materials, many people believe that timber is the most attractive and visually appealing than the rest. Installing a timber retaining wall comes with numerous benefits regarding functionality and aesthetics. Here’s how they can enhance your home’s overall landscape. 

1. Add Aesthetic Appeal 

Installing timber retaining walls is a surefire way to add an aesthetic appeal to your yard. Some contractors or landscape designers would even suggest you add one if you want to boost your home’s value. These retaining walls can add a distinctive look to your lawn, especially if your neighbors all have the same flat garden. Think of them like large wooden planter boxes wherein you can plant some shrubs, flowers, or even small trees after installing them. The overall result will leave with a unique and eye-catching landscape. 

2. Provide Natural Charm 

While you have other materials to choose from when installing retaining walls, timber is often considered the most popular choice. That’s because timber or wood can add a natural charm that’s not possible when you use concrete. This is true, especially if you want to achieve a specific theme like a rustic garden, country vibe, rainforest escape, beach style, and more.

Timber retaining walls are much more flexible style-wise, and they’re also more affordable than concrete and brick. Overall, the natural beauty and decorative flair added by your timber retaining walls will surely catch your neighbors’ and passersby’s attention. 

3. Offer Structural Support 

As mentioned, retaining walls can keep rocks and soil in place. This function is essential, especially if you’re constantly struggling with soil erosion, which reduces your lawn’s capacity to hold water for your plants or flowers. As a result, not many of your plants can survive long in your garden. In worst cases, your planted flowers and shrubs could run off with the soil during heavy rains. With timber retaining walls, they can resist the ground from sliding and keep your landscape looking firm and beautiful all year round. 

Besides preventing soil erosion, the walls can also add depth to your property and level the uneven parts of your lawn. Ultimately, the timber retaining walls will save you from the struggle of dealing with flooding and soil erosion in your garden and ensure the safety of your yard and the people walking by your landscape. 

4. Increase Your Yard Space 

Homeowners with sloping yards or hilly landscapes often find it challenging to work on their lawn and enhance its aesthetic appeal. After all, mowing on a slopy property can be a challenging and dangerous idea. Thus, some homeowners tend to give up on the idea of improving their lawn or making a garden and eventually just let the slopy but valuable space be at rest. Fortunately, a timber retaining wall can help transform your slopy or hilly yard into a usable and functional yard space. 

The retaining walls will turn your yard into level spaces, giving you enough area to finally start a garden or plant your favorite flowers or small trees. Furthermore, you can forget about mowing your slopy lawn and instead focus on planting long shrubs or plants for erosion control. For finishing touches, you can add some large stones to make your yard space look more natural, considering that the timber walls already look natural themselves. 

5. Provide Natural Seating 

Did you know that timber retaining walls can also function as additional outdoor seating? That’s highly possible as long as the walls are designed at a reachable height. In short, you can also turn the timber retaining walls into seating walls. You can install them to surround your fire pit (if you have one) or enclose your patio. Then, you can use this space for social gatherings or outdoor events since you have enough room for seating. 

Wrapping Up 

Overall, timber retaining walls can enhance your landscape’s overall appearance and function. So, if you’re thinking of installing retaining walls on your lawn, don’t forget to consult professional contractors to do the job for you. Adding timber retaining walls is a complicated job, and trying to DIY them might only cause problems and damage in the future.