Concrete seawall and dock repairs in Southwest Florida

As with all structures, seawalls can begin breaking down as the years progress. Smaller repairs to seawalls can help prolong the wall’s lifespan. Some seawalls require larger repairs or full replacement. In order to decide what repairs are best suited for the structural integrity of your property, our estimators will need to inspect the entirety of the seawall. Often times there are multiple solutions for seawall damage or reinforcement. If you’re concerned about the state of your wall, please review our “Common Seawall Problems” document under the resources page.

Repairing concrete seawalls with vinyl seawalls

Vinyl walls are easily distinguishable from concrete walls, as they are constructed of thick corrugated plastic panels that are bolted to existing concrete walls. We do not build free standing vinyl walls, but they are ideal for stabilizing some failing concrete walls. If an aging wall is beginning to fail, it is sometimes the best option to install vinyl in front of the failing wall rather than ripping out the original wall. This process is generally selected if it the wall has only failed slightly, and vinyl would be financially or structurally the wisest choice.

These walls are essentially like building a brand-new wall on top of the old wall, as each panel is bolted to the concrete wall, and the space between is filled with concrete and epoxy coated rebar. The panels are driven deeper into the canal bed than the current wall, which will help stabilize a wall that is beginning to lean.

Upon inspection of your seawall, your Honc Marine estimator will determine if your property is an ideal candidate for a partial or full vinyl repair.

Using CVS pilings to reinforce concrete seawalls

CVS stands for concrete, vinyl, and steel. These pilings are used to reinforce seawalls. We use a single vinyl panel that is driven deeper into the canal bottom than the existing seawall panel, then the panel is bolted to the seawall and filled with concrete. Rebar is inserted into the concrete while it is still wet. These pilings are one of our go-to methods of seawall reinforcement and are very similar to our vinyl wall repair method, except CVS pilings typically are only placed where they are needed.

Repairs in seawall seams Should include JET Filter drains

Seawall seams are designed to allow water to drain out from the landward side of the property, this relieves pressure against the seawall panels. Over time, the seams can increase in size and more and more soil can be lost when water drains out, which can cause small voids to open in the ground. A minor repair that can help with this is applying a small aluminum patch to the seam on the outside of the wall.

Since this will prevent any water from draining from behind the seawall, we recommend installing JET Filter drains as well. JET Filter drains are small plastic drains that are installed into the seawall. They have a fine mesh insert that allows water to pass through, but not soil or rocks.

Batter pilings, an alternative to deadman anchors

Batter pilings are 10 x 10” solid concrete pilings driven at a 30° angle into the canal bottom in front of your seawall to prop it up and replace an old tieback and deadman system which is no longer adequately supporting the seawall. These are ideal for sections of seawall that are within 15 feet of a pool, where installing deadman anchors would conflict with pools or other structures landward of the seawall.