Seawalls 101

Vinyl sheet piling has made traditional materials like wood, steel, concrete, and aluminum obsolete. Traditional materials have no performance guarantee, and begin breaking down almost immediately in a salt-water environment. Everlast Synthetic Products offers the industry’s leading product warranty. It guarantees against issues like UV damage, corrosion, rot, rust and marine borer damage.

Capping Your Vinyl Seawall

EverCap
ESP’s EverCap is a structural cap and wale system consisting of a customized alloy designed specifically for harsh marine environments. EverCap can reduce installation time while providing a clean, sleek look in several different surface finishes. The choices consist of a mill finish, powder coating finish, or an annondized finish.

Composite Cap
Composite Caps consist of capping your Everlast Seawall with a long lasting, warranted composite deck board. The advantages consist of having a nice boardwalk feel to the top of your seawall while enjoying the long lifespan that composites have to offer.

Concrete Caps
Concrete caps are very popular in the Southern U.S. and Caribbean markets. Concrete caps encapsulate the vinyl sheet piling and provide an extremely strong structural beam to support the Everlast Seawall. These caps have a nice clean look and provide strength and longevity for an Everlast Seawall.

Pressure Treated Wood Cap
Pressure Treated Wood Caps are an excellent way to cap and support an Everlast Seawall. These caps remain popular due to their low cost and strength that they provide.

Typical Installation with wood cap.

1. Always set a drive guide or template to assure a straight, firm surface to drive sheets against. NEVER ATTEMPT TO DRIVE SHEETS ALONG A STRING LINE ONLY. Run a string line and set temporary posts (usually 4 x 4 posts) where the completed wall will stand. This drive guide (generally a 4 x 6 or 6 x 6) is tack nailed, c clamped, or screwed into the temporary posts. This drive guide can become part of the permanent wale/cap system for a wood capped wall.
   
   Driving Guide
2. Thread a pair of sheets and drive in pairs. This will decrease installation time as well as help keep the sheets plumb and straight. Upon reaching desired embedment, screw a lag screw into the flange of the leading Sheet. NOTE: IT IS CRITICAL TO GET THE 1ST PAIR OF SHEETS STRAIGHT AND PLUMB AS THE REST OF THE WALL WILL FOLLOW SUIT.
   
   Driving In Pairs
3. Be sure to level each pair of sheets in both the vertical and horizontal directions and continue driving down the length of the wall. It is recommended to lead with the male lock so that soil and debris can easily escape through the female.
4. Continue installation by installing front or back waler to wall utilizing carriage bolts or all-thread(AT) rod. Carriage bolts(or AT) should be used every 2’ –3’ between tie rods.
   
   Securing waler boards

   
   
   Fastener Kit Diagram
5. The tie rods will be secured through the front and back waler to a deadman behind the wall.
   
   Tie Rods secured to dead men
6. Complete the process by fastening the top cap board. This board is generally a 2 x 12 pressure treated board or deck boards that run perpendicular to the walers.
   
   
   Top Cap

Installation Tools

Installation tools for vinyl sheet piling are generally dependent on the soils being driven into. In sandy soils tools such as water jets, vibratory hammers, air hammers, and rail jets are often used. In cohesive clays and silts drop hammers, vibratory plate compactors, and backhoe buckets are generally the tools of choice.

HPSI 65 Vibratory Hammer driving Everlast 8.5 16'-18' in the ground.

Air Hammer

Rail Jets

Vibratory Plate Compactor

Backhoe Buckets

Water Jet

Trench and Fill

Drop Hammer