Since 1986,Shoreline Foundation Inc has been providing the best in seawall and specialty marine construction services throughout Florida, the Bahamas, and the Caribbean. If you live in Florida, you know of the importance of seawalls, which serve to protect the upland from erosion and act as a breakwater. Neatly defining the boundary line between land and water, seawalls hold back the upland, keeping it in place and preventing property from eroding into our waterways. What you may not know is that seawalls are by no means permanent structures, and if they are made of concrete –as the vast majority are- they will require replacement at some point during their anticipated lifespan of 30 years.
Telltale signs of failing and eroding concrete seawalls include the loss of fill behind the seawall resulting in low points or soft ground, rust-colored stains bleeding through the concrete cap, panel and pilings, concrete cracking as internal steel reinforcing bars rust and swell, (aka concrete spalling), and/or concrete caps or seawall panels which have rotated and are no longer level –tilting toward the upland or the water. Shoreline Foundation Inc says that often it is the unseen failure of the in-ground anchoring system that holds the seawall pilings, which in turn support the seawall’s concrete panels that cause the seawall to fail.
Ignoring these signs and not being proactive in the replacement of an aging seawall can result in catastrophic failure and collapse resulting in the loss of property, damage to adjacent structures / pools, utilities, landscaping and result in damage to or loss of in-water ecosystems. Older seawalls often collapse due to major multi-hour rain events, king tides and/or storm surge, which cause the upland soils to become hyper-saturated as flooding water soaks into the ground exiting through the seawall and into the waterway. The weight, volume and pressure of these saturated soils, in combination with the force of water draining through the seawall, can cause it to be pushed away from the upland in a chain reaction like falling dominos. In a matter of hours, large sections of seawall that stood for decades can collapse into the water, taking the upland with it.
Shoreline Foundation Inc points out that as the vast majority of seawalls in Florida were built over 30 years ago and are on private property, local municipalities are establishing new ordinances which enable code enforcement officials to inspect private seawalls to determine if they are structurally deficient or too low in elevation and in need of repair or replacement. Many of these new ordinances require seawall reconstruction and replacement within a specified number of days and require them to be rebuilt to higher minimum elevations in support of coastal resiliency efforts.
Coastal municipalities are also aggressively replacing and elevating the seawalls on their publicly owned properties. Shoreline Foundation Inc has built over 4,600 lineal feet of brand new concrete seawalls, at ten separate locations throughout the City of Miami Beach. Built to an elevation of over seven feet above mean low water the new seawalls have eliminated the street flooding previously caused by King Tide events.
Contact Shoreline Foundation Inc when your seawall has reached the limits of its service life. We have built miles and miles of seawalls throughout Florida and beyond, and are your one source for seawall design, permitting and construction. In concert with our independent network of coastal engineers, we will schedule a convenient on-site courtesy inspection and guide you through the replacement process.
Shoreline Foundation Inc provides the best in specialty marine construction services
www.shorelinefoundation.com - Office: 954-985-0460
