Top 10 Reasons to Use Gabion Baskets!

The original article can be found here. For additional questions you may have, or when you’re ready to order your gabion baskets or gabion stones, we can be reached at 5377 Elcho Road, Wellandport. Or both phone and email at 905-386-1744 or sales@ontarioagra.ca.

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Gabions are cage-like enclosures that are filled with Gabion Stones, brick, or broken concrete to form a wall or fence. They can be stacked like bricks and can be used for many practical and aesthetic reasons, like fencing garden or property. Gabion baskets are being increasingly employed to build walls, pillars, fences, and to divide structures and areas. Baskets come in various sizes to create all kinds of designs.

Gabion baskets are made using sturdy wire mesh. They are particularly popular with landscapers and gardeners. Let’s delve into some reasons why you should consider installing them.

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1. Durable

Source: Fence

A gabion wall is made of durable wire mesh that makes up the gabion basket and keeps the wall in structure. Another interesting fact is that they even become stronger with time. It`s because of the silt and vegetation being collected in between the filling of the baskets over time. The wire mesh is not just a container; it reinforces the overall structure of this wall. With age, these walls form even a naturally stronger and permanent structure. Moreover, some people also use gabion baskets as a base for benches and tables.

2. Offer Flexibility

Source: Qingdao Haisan New Energy Co., Ltd.

Another reason why these walls have stood the test of time is that they are highly durable and flexible. It will not break even under high stress. Instead, its baskets compress or deform very slightly. This feature makes the gabion walls highly functional, which prevents the loss of structural integrity of the wall and makes it even stronger with time. Furthermore, they also allow for small ground movements that happen since they are not fixed to the ground.

3. Cost-Effective

Source: gabion cages

They are not as expensive as the ones made with concrete, brick, and mortar. Gabion baskets are filled with broken concrete and stones that are also available locally at a much lower cost. Moreover, the formation of a gabion wall also requires less effort and workforce as compared to concrete walls. Consult a gabion wall professionals if you want to build a gabion wall that’s over a meter in height. Within a low budget, you can have a durable and aesthetically-pleasing wall.

4. Firm Base

 

Source: Pinnacle Design/Build Group

Another key benefit of choosing such walls is that they don’t require to build a conventional foundation. They only need a compacted layer made of crushed rocks to form a firm base for gabion baskets. This base seamlessly settles into the properly leveled and flattened ground so that the bottom is firmly planted in the field. It provides frictional strength to keep the baskets in place and prevent the wall structure from being disrupted or dragged.

5. Aesthetically Pleasing

 

Source: Gardenista

One more good reason that such walls are famous and admired is that they look natural and can be matched with the surrounding space by using the local filler materials. They help achieve your aesthetical goals. Gabion walls can be made using different sizes and shapes of baskets. Curved baskets can also be used to form a bend or a circle when they are placed together. Moreover, fillings of all sizes, textures, and colors can be used to make the wall aesthetically pleasing.

6. Unique Look

 

Source: IndiaMART

Gabion walls aren’t something you find in every neighborhood. They have a unique and classy look that makes your house look expensive and luxurious. That also shows a good taste of the house-owner. If you want a home that stands out from the rest in the street, these walls are the way to go. They not only look different but are also built differently.

7. Gets Stronger with Time

Source: Aggreco

Though most constructions get weaker with time, they work oppositely. They get stronger as they get old. No material is used to keep them together. So as time goes, the space between stones is filled by silt and vegetation. This quality further reinforces the wall and ensures that even centuries-old doesn’t get weak and stays stronger than ever.

8. It’s Fast to Build

Source: Garden Ninja

They don’t require any cement mixture when building them. All it needs is a structure that is created only once at the beginning. After the foundation, they only technically set the stones. That is why such walls are built in a short amount of time. They don’t even need continuous cleaning while setting each row. Fast build means less labor time and less cost. The stones, depending on the type you choose, are expensive compared to regular bricks. However, the savings on labor and its unique style make up for it.

You don’t have to leave your house or cancel your family plans just because a wall is being built. Such walls are durable as they are created. There is also no need to wait for it to dry before you or any of your family members can get near it. They also don’t need paint or a layer of cement.

9. Good Drainage

Source: Good Drainage

Water can destroy walls, but not this kind of wall. These walls let water drain from inside them as there is a gap between stones. You can control the flow of water to direct it to a drain. No matter how much it rains, these walls will stand firm. They will get cleaned with that water giving them a renewed and attractive look. However, this also means you can’t use them for inside house walls. Water can’t affect them, but they also can’t stop it. It’s something you should consider before building these walls.

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10. Natural Colors

Source: The Seattle Times

There are many types of rocks, and they come in different sizes, styles, and colors. The best thing about them: their colors and shapes are natural. So you can choose any color or design of stones for your a gabion wall. You can have a wall that’s entirely white or entirely black without any paint, only with the natural color of rocks. You can also choose to draw designs in the wall using different combinations of rocks. Many people even take advantage of different sizes of rocks to get creative. If you know what you are doing, you can get a wall that is stronger as well as unique and attractive.

For additional questions you may have, or when you’re ready to order your gabion baskets or gabion stones, we can be reached at 5377 Elcho Road, Wellandport. Or both phone and email at 905-386-1744 or sales@ontarioagra.ca.

There are many hardscaping elements that can be added to a landscape design that are both attractive and functional.

One example of this is the gabion wall. Gabion walls can be used in landscapes as retaining walls, decorative site walls, seating walls, accent walls and more.

Randy Jurgensen, president of Decorative Stone Solutions, based in Escondido, California, says gabion walls are well suited for mid-century modern designs as they tend to be more linear in shape and it’s harder to make organic shapes with gabions.

This hardscape structure has seen an increase in usage over the past few years and here’s what you should know if you are considering using one in your next landscaping project. 

What is a gabion wall?

Gabion is derived from the Italian word for “cage” and is a wire container that can hold any sort of inorganic material. They can form flexible, permeable structures that work well in stabilizing shorelines against erosion.

Originally these cages were wicker and were commonly used for civil engineering and military purposes. Leonardo da Vinci even used gabions for the foundation of the San Marco Castle in Milan.

Gabions should not be confused with bastions, which are gabions lined typically with a geotextile allowing it to be filled with a granular soil fill, instead of rocks.

Pros and cons of gabion walls

“I think the big pros are they’re economic, they have little to no maintenance, they’re easy to install and they are very long lasting, and they can be created fairly quickly,” says Jurgensen.

The cost of the wall depends on the wire being used as there are various grades and gauges of wire mesh available, but they are typically all galvanized. The other determining factor on the cost is the fill material being used.

Angular rock is the best gabion fill as they lock together and provide a non-moving unit. Jurgensen suggests using a heavier gauge wire if your customer wants to use a rounded river rock as the fill material to help it maintain its shape.

Jurgensen says unskilled laborers can easily learn to erect, fill and close the wire baskets properly.

“Pilings, underwater drainage systems and excavations are unnecessary,” he says. “There’s no need to drain the site or to construct a cofferdam for underwater installation. The first layer of gabions can be laid in water or in mud.”

Jurgensen says there’s no need to create a foundation for gabion walls as they end up weighing so much when you fill them with rock. He says what anchors the wall is the sheer mass and weight of the structure. The longer it’s there, the more it settles in and the stronger it becomes.

Any gabion wall 3 feet and under does not require the calculation of loads and stress it might take on, but Jurgensen says if you’re going higher than 3 feet you should get an engineer involved to make sure it’s safely constructed.

A gabion wall’s lifespan depends on the type of wire used and the amount of salt spray it is exposed to.

“Something that is very coastal tends to rust out like any metal a little quicker,” Jurgensen says. “The further inland you go the longer these tend to last but 50 to 100 years is the typical lifespan.”

Gabion walls are highly permeable and are able to bleed off any hydrostatic pressure, eliminating the need to install a drainage system.

Unlike a traditional concrete wall, gabion walls are flexible and are able to move with the earth.

“Let’s say you’re in an area where you have a freeze thaw cycle and the earth rises and sinks as you go through these freeze thaw cycles,” Jurgensen says. “This has the ability to move with it so you don’t have a breakdown, where in concrete walls you’re going to get cracking and eventually collapsing under foundation and internal stresses of movement.”

Some of the cons are typically gabions are too bulky for smaller spaces and they may provide a home for unwanted flora and fauna.

“One of the drawbacks, and pro depending on what you’re after, is a lot of windblown and water-carried debris and soil can end up in all the crevices inside the wall so you can actually end up with some vegetation growing in these walls. Some people like that and other people don’t want to see that.”   

Another possible con is the industrial look of the gabion wall, which Jurgensen says some like and others prefer a more natural looking wall. He says one way to make these walls more attractive is to choose a good fill material.

“The more attractive stone you use, the better it’s going to look overall,” he says. “There’s a couple ways to fill these gabions. You can use a very good looking stone as the facing material so that’s what’s actually showing to the viewer and then you can backfill that with a less expensive, more industrial grade stone that’s not going to be visible but still acts a structural component of the gabion wall.”

The fill material can vary from logs to broken concrete to slag glass.

“You’ll see various types of landscape glass, big chunks of colored glass, being used that makes a pretty neat design both during the day and night,” Jurgensen says. “The neat thing about filling it with something like a glass product is you can use lighting inside, so you can run lighting inside of a gabion wall behind the glass, and then that can be lit up at night.”

Contact us to discuss your requirements of Gabion Boxes For Sale. Our experienced sales team can help you identify the options that best suit your needs.