Yes. Without it, water carries fines out of the backfill and into the drainage stone. The stone clogs, the drain pipe blocks, and pressure builds behind the wall face — which is what produces erosion, bulging and leaning. Fabric is the cheapest component in the wall and it protects everything else.

Nonwoven is generally best behind the wall, since it has superior filtration. Woven can be used beneath the base where separation strength matters more than filtration performance.

Yes. A wall under roughly 4 feet may not need geogrid reinforcement, but fabric is always recommended to protect the drainage zone and prevent erosion. Height determines whether you need reinforcement; it does not determine whether you need drainage.

No. Weed barrier cloth is not engineered for structural drainage applications. Always use geotextile designed for retaining walls and soil separation.

Support fabric goes below the base and separates the leveling pad from the sub-base. Filtration fabric at 3 oz goes vertically behind the wall between stone and soil. Separation fabric at 4.5 oz goes above the drainage stone under the topsoil. Different jobs, different weights.

For behind the wall, the width needs to cover the full height of the drainage zone plus enough to turn at top and bottom, so taller walls take wider rolls — which is why filtration goes up to 8′. Below and above the wall, width is driven by how far the layer extends back from the face.

No, and this is a common mix-up. Fabric manages water and separates layers. Geogrid is a lattice that reinforces the soil mass in tension and ties the wall into the earth behind it. Most reinforced walls need both, doing different jobs in different places.

It is common practice and adds a second stage of filtration at the point where clogging does the most damage. It was part of the remediation in the case study above.

Nothing — shipping is free on every order, across all three fabrics and every size.