Before they can start construction on soldier pile and lagging walls, contractors need to create submittal packages and get public works approval. These packages should include shop drawings – visual plans that make it easier for reviewers to understand both your project as a whole and crucial details about your plans.
When you’re getting ready to submit shop drawings for a retaining wall, it’s important to know your shop drawing package covers everything it needs to. Here’s what contractors should look for in their shop drawings before finalizing their submittal packages.
What Should You Know Before Finalizing Shop Drawings?
While reviewing a shop drawing package for your planned retaining wall, make sure it covers your project’s:
Lagging Panel Material
Both timber and precast concrete are common choices for lagging panels. Since the material these panels are made from will affect their performance, your shop drawing package should account for your lagging panel material of choice. (And if you haven’t selected a lagging panel material yet, remember that precast concrete delivers superior quality control, moisture resistance, and installation speed).
Geotechnical Details
Your retaining wall project’s geotechnical report summarizes all sorts of information about geological conditions on your job site. By reading one of these reports, you can learn about lateral earth pressures, groundwater levels, surcharge loads, soil conditions, and much more. Of course, your shop drawings should align closely with the findings listed in your geotechnical report.
Pile Spacing
Soldier piles are evenly spaced in retaining walls, but that doesn’t mean different walls have identical beam spacing. Instead, soldier pile spacing varies based on factors like the lateral earth pressure and surcharges on a construction site. If you clarify soldier pile spacing, panel dimensions, and tolerances in your shop drawing package, reviewers won’t have to worry about issues related to panel fit and bearing support.
Intended Lifespan
Not every retaining wall is built to last forever. With that in mind, your shop drawings need to clearly identify whether you’re building a permanent or temporary retaining wall.
Knowing your retaining wall’s ideal lifespan can also help you choose a material for lagging panels. Treated timber panels can last for a few decades at most, making them suitable for temporary retaining walls. But since the National Precast Concrete Association states that precast concrete lasts for 50-100 years on average, concrete panels are a much better choice for permanent structures.
Lifting and Handling Details
The precast concrete panel installation process can be difficult if workers don’t know what they’re doing. To let reviewers know your project won’t run into problems like panel damage and safety hazards, your shop drawing package should cover lifting inserts, rigging points, panel weights, and crane requirements.
Connection Process
Your retaining wall’s lagging panels need to connect directly to this structure’s soldier piles to work as they should. As a result, your shop drawings must clearly illustrate how this connection works and identify the hardware, clips, or supports required to make that happen.
Installation Sequence
To correctly place lagging panels in your retaining wall, your workers will need to follow a specific installation sequence. Defining specific excavation lifts, phasing, and maximum unsupported soil heights in your shop drawing package will help you ensure this work goes smoothly.
Void Filling and Backfilling Requirements
It’s also important to include void filling and backfilling methods in your project’s shop drawings. By doing that, you can tell reviewers how you plan to eliminate gaps behind your wall and maintain soil support behind its panels.
Drainage Provisions
Retaining wall drainage plays an important role in keeping hydrostatic pressure under control. Before you submit a shop drawing package, look through it for drawings of weep holes, drainage composites, or filter systems.
Getting Ready for the Submittal Review Process In Order to Meet Contractor Requirements
When you’re preparing a submittal package for review, you need to show reviewers that your plans meet contract requirements for your project. By making sure your shop drawings include contractor review stamps and approvals before you send out your package, you’ll clarify that these plans have been finalized and okayed.
It’s also a good idea to ensure reviewers understand the adjustments you’ve made to your project over time. Identify any deviations from your original shop drawings and include these changes in your submittal package.
More Information To Include in a Submittal Package
Even though shop drawings are an important part of submittals, they aren’t the only thing that needs to appear in submittal packages. Your package should also include:
Structural Calculations
No one should go into a construction project without a clear understanding of the costs and risks involved with this process. That’s why structural calculations reports are so important – these documents include every mathematical calculation involved in construction project preparation. When you find seismic loads, concrete PSI, surcharges, and earth pressures, add these findings to your structural calculations report.
Concrete Mix Information for Precast Lagging Panels
If you’ve decided to go with precast concrete lagging panels in your retaining wall, you need to make sure reviewers understand what type of concrete you’ll use for these components. As part of that, add details about your chosen concrete mix (and the exposure class of this concrete) in your submittal package.
Details on Water Routing
The drainage diagrams in your shop drawings can help reviewers understand your plans for avoiding water-related problems, but that alone won’t be enough. Once water drains from your wall, it needs to go somewhere – and that’s where your routing strategy comes in. By including information on how you’ll re-route drained water, you’ll thoroughly explain how you’ll protect your retaining wall from the risk of erosion.
Additional Details
Even this isn’t a comprehensive list of the information your submittal package should include. It’s also in your best interest to add:
- Technical/product/safety data sheets
- Physical material samples
- Product brochures
- Project-specific submittal requirements
- Any other necessary details
Where To Get Top-Notch Concrete Lagging Panels
Have you committed to precast lagging panels in your shop drawings and submittal package? If so, you should know that the supplier you buy these panels from matters. By picking the right company to manufacture your panels, you can get components that meet your precise measurements and deliver the right look for your project.
The best choice for lagging panels in any residential or commercial retaining wall project is American Precast Concrete Inc. If you’d like to get started by looking at our spec sheet and typical details package, contact us today!