Anatomy of a Concrete Seawall At Lake Martin Alabama

Winter time around Lake Martin is construction time, and so I thought I would use this time to describe the anatomy of a concrete seawall on Lake Martin. 

First of all, let me say l’m a real estate agent not an engineer or a construction guy. I do not have technical expertise here, but as a real estate agent, I do know that one of the most valuable parts of a lake house or a lake lot is the seawall and the dock that builds around it. A lot of people don’t think about that.

In this blog, I’m going to go through the basic steps and describe the pieces of a concrete seawall. Hopefully, that’ll be helpful to you. 

Foundation of a Concrete Seawall on Lake Martin: The Base of the Seawall

The first piece of a concrete seawall is the footings or the concrete foundation. There will be rebar in the concrete foundation. This is the first step they do, and they dig down to get into a deep footing.

Forms of a Concrete Seawall on Lake Martin: Building the Structure

Second, the concrete forms are set up. Basically, these are just metal rectangular building blocks. They will set them up and tie them in with rebar, and that’s how they’re going to pour the concrete into it.

Concrete of a Seawall on Lake Martin

They will have the rebar going up, down, sideways and then the whole thing is held together by these little metal rods. It’s just basically a big jigsaw puzzle, and they’re going to bring concrete and pump it in there.

When filling the form up with concrete, they will probably run a hose. That’s the next step in the concrete seawall, the concrete itself. Contractor Scott Henderson told me that this is the last step, because they need to have a way to get down into the lake bed and put the rip wrap base that goes in front of the seawall. 

Drain Holes: Ensuring Proper Drainage 

A week or so later, the forms will have been removed. As a result, you will be able to see the seawall before they put the rip wrap. They also have drain holes that are usually in increments of about every 8 ft.This ensures proper drainage.

Backfilling and Rip Rap on Base of a Concrete Seawall

The next step is to backfill. This is one of the last steps. After backfilling, they’ll also put rip wrap. Rip wrap is what we call those big granite white looking rocks. They’re going to put this at the base, and they also put a base of rocks down at the bottom to help against the erosion caused by the wave action that comes up against the seawall. 

Real Estate on Lake Martin

I don’t do seawalls. Henderson and Coker is a great company for that. I’m John Coley, and I’m a real estate agent on Lake Martin. I’d love to help you out with real estate and talk to you about the important things you need to consider when buying or selling a Lake Martin home. Give me a call at the number on the top of this page, reach me through our Contact Page, or shoot me an email.

If you are interested in more information like this, then please subscribe to my YouTube channel. This way I can know that my videos are helpful. Click the link here to subscribe.

For more information on seawalls and other winter projects around Lake Martin, visit the blogs linked below:

Seawall Failures at Lake Martin Alabama

Lake Martin Winter Projects for Homeowners