August 25th, 2015

When it comes to retaining walls, many find bulkhead materials to be a great solution.

What Are Bulkheads?

Bulkheads have a number of uses for retaining water. Such uses are for:

• Ships
• Watershed retaining walls
• Mines (for containment of flooding)

With coastal bulkheads, they’re normally called riptrap revetments, bulkheading or seawalls. Being man-made, their main purpose is erosion-control along shorelines. As the materials of the bulkheads vary, many often use concrete, rocks, metal or wood to combat the harsh waves. Slowing down the landslide erosion process, coastal property owners turn to bulkheads to preserve the area and control water flow.

Bulkhead Installation

Installing bulkheads is an easy process if you have the correct equipment.

Clean & dry. Make sure that the bulkheads are clean and dry before installation. Avoiding thread lubricants, Teflon, or silicone is important as they cause the gasket to not seal properly or scoot out.

• File threads. Filing threads around the female and male threading helps keep the bulkhead from leaking before installation. An easy way to file would be using a pocket knife, nail file or jeweler’s file to clean the excess flashing.

• Flange side, not nut side. When installing the bulkhead, make sure that it’s never on the nut side. If you install a gasket next to a nut, it will lead to leaks. To prevent leaks, place the gasket on the bulkhead’s flange side.

• Internal-threaded bulkheads. When cleaning internal-threaded bulkheads, it’s important to remove excess flashing. You may need a lubricant for the valleys and threads of the bulkhead.

• Never use a bulkhead as support. Use weights or supports to run piping or pumps, as the bulkhead has stresses of its own to handle.

With a wide array of bulkheads and a professional staff on hand, Bayou City Lumber can help ensure that your bulkhead installation process will run smoothly and efficiently.