Retaining Wall Design and Cost

There are lots of ways to build a retaining wall. This article will show you what the most attractive walls are and what they might cost.

Dry Stack Flagstone Retaining Wall

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Hands down it is the best looking wall. Everyone will love your wall. It takes a skilled craftsman to produce it. You will get a lot of variety in the wall because the product is natural. The best dry stack walls actually have some cement holding them together that can not be seen.

Block Retaining Walls

If you like a good design, stay away from any man made block walls. They just don't look natural. Many give you a boxy feel. It's like you're in a city park instead of a natural setting.

Boulder Retaining Walls

Boulder walls are beautiful and cost effective. To get best results, make sure you know what the rock looks like before ordering. Boulder walls should start out with larger rocks and move up to smaller rocks. A typical wall will start out with five foot rocks and work on up to two foot rocks for the top level. Don't build boulder walls with all the rocks being of one size. Larger rocks definitely look better, if you have enough space.

Wood Retaining Walls

The most common wood retaining wall is the railroad tie wall. The oil in the wood helps preserve it for a long time. They are extremely strong, inexpensive, and long lasting. Railroad ties come in grades. If you purchase low grade ties, the wall will be very inexpensive. The main downside is that about 50% of people think they are ugly.

Concrete Retaining Walls

Not a great landscaping wall. They are pretty ugly unless resurfaced with stone or stucco. And, by the time you add on the cost of making it look good, you might as well have built something else.

Pricing

.00 per foot, including labor, is a good average. If you have the materials, .00 per foot, for labor, is a good starting point.

Railroad tie walls are the least costly option.

Boulder walls are also one of the least costly walls. The biggest factor is buying the stone because the prices fluctuate wildly. 0.00 per 12 yard truck is an average price.

Dry stack flagstone walls look the best, but are the most costly.

Prices on retaining walls are close enough that you are usually better off focusing on what you want more than price. Prices don't make a large difference unless you are building a lot of wall.

Retaining Wall Design and Cost

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Small Bathroom Shower Design Options

How to fit a small bathroom shower

What do you do if you want to install a shower but you only have a very small bathroom?

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While I love my bathtub for the rare occasions that I get to use it for a long relaxing soak, I don't know what I would do without my shower. Showers are quick, refreshing and a lot more economical than taking baths. When I had the chance to redesign my small bathroom I jumped at the opportunity to improve the shower that was installed above the bathtub at the time.

The first thing to remember is that there usually is a way to do these things and you mustn't give up before you've really thought about the problem. Don't be put off by the fact that you don't seem to have much room to play with in your bathroom design.

So what are the options?

Throw the bathtub away

Taking out the bathtub will give you more than enough room to fit a sizeable shower enclosure. Unfortunately you won't have a bath anymore. While this might fit in well with your current lifestyle you might want to think about what you might have need of a few years down the line and when you come to sell your property.

When you sell a property you must have a bathroom with a bathtub even if it has a great shower instead. People expect to find a bath in the bathroom and the lack of one can seriously depress the value of your property.

Put your shower in your bathtub

If you have no other option you can install a showerhead above your bathtub together with a shower curtain or splashguard. This should be the easiest solution, as it will take up no additional floor space. Personally I'm not keen on this option.

Turn your bathroom into a wet room

This is an ambitious design that will involve turning the floor of your entire bathroom into a giant shower base and drain. It can be a very expensive option to convert a conventional bathroom into wet room but it has the advantage of allowing you to put your small bathroom shower anywhere you like. Even over the toilet if you want to although I wouldn't advise it.

Install a curved quadrant shower cubicle

The option that I like best for any bathroom is to install a separate shower enclosure either free standing in the room or in a corner of the bathroom. This is a great solution if you can find the space to accommodate the shower enclosure.

The problem with this idea is finding the space in a small bathroom to fit the shower enclosure. Enclosures come in various sizes so you will need first of all to decide on the smallest size that you think you can live with. Even a very small shower enclosure is better than none at all.

To make the space available you should consider the whole small bathroom design. Find a smaller toilet and washbasin and even a smaller bathtub if you have to. Use squared paper and cut out shapes to try many different ways of arranging everything.

Finally look at curved quadrant shower enclosures as a space saving alternative to square or rectangular ones. Finding one of these was the turning point in my small bathroom shower design. Everything fell into place nicely after that.

Read the full article at Small Bathroom Shower

Small Bathroom Shower Design Options

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