Seawalls & Natural Looking Shorelines

Steel Seawalls

Steel Seawalls are vertical walls made of steel sheet piling that allow for depth right up to the shore. The sheet piling is manufactured in Chicago, IL by Superior Piling. This type of wall is ideal for those who are a looking for a clean up to the shoreline property.

Steel seawalls come in 8, 7, and 5 gauge iron thickness as well as galvanized. Steel walls are driven into lake/river beds to depths matching the wall height. In other words, if the wall is four feet to the top of grade, then the sheet piling will be eight feet in length. Piling is cut to order up to 24 foot lengths. Walls are capped with 4/4 angle iron welded at each sheet face.

Anchoring the seawall is a concrete and steel piling dead man system. The anchor has three rods (3/4") tied from the dead man sheet out to the wall face and welded to the cap.

Backfill for the seawall consists of washed stone with a layer of topsoil separated by filter fabric. Washed stone relieves the steel wall from hydraulic pressure due to moisture buildup and winter expansion. Any water behind the wall runs through the wall down to the lake level. This is vital for a wall to last. Once the seawall is complete, we lay seed and straw blanket to all affected areas and haul all debris from site.

Natural Looking Shorelines

Stone seawalls are installed after we excavate the shoreline to the proper grade. A filter fabric is then secured to the shoreline to keep existing soil from eroding out from behind the stone. Once the shoreline has been secured with fabric, we install the stone wall. These projects are done very rapidly with the typical project under 200' completed in just two working days.

Rip Rap

Rip rap has a pleasant, soft appearance and holds together well as it is fractured, not round. This type of stone comes in several sizes depending on the client needs. 3"- 6" rip rap is used on small ponds or no wake areas on larger lakes. 6"- 12" rip rap is ideal for river and inland lake shorelines. Larger sizes up to 48" are available for Great Lakes shorelines.

Boulders

Boulder shorelines serve as great seawalls as well. These walls are built using granite boulders that are either hand or machine placed to ensure wall stability. Granite seawalls have an extremely attractive appearance and come in the same sizes as rip rap.

Outcropping

This is a Shore Werks original! For 15 years we have been installing these very attractive and functional seawalls.

Outcropping is a heavy, solid, flat rock that is blasted out of the limestone pits in Wisconsin. It is irregular and rugged. Thickness and depth of this stone are made to order. It comes in as thin as 4" and as thick as 18". Depending on client needs and lake/river conditions, we custom build these seawalls to be functional and beautiful. Installation is similar to the above stone seawalls. Heights of outcropping walls can exceed four feet.