Landscape Retaining

What are they?
Retaining walls are walls that function to level slope or retain a grade. This creates a more vertical appearance to the landscape and is very important to grade, drainage, and irrigation work. Landscape retaining walls perform the same function, but they also contribute aesthetic value to the Houston landscape by working to magnify key structures and special points of interest.

Where are they built?
Landscape retaining walls are often built in front of arbors, near trees (as part of tree preservation work), or near a patio or driveway that requires extra support to maintain its grade.

What do you use to build landscape retaining walls?
Native stone and timbers are two materials that come directly from Nature and compliment any backyard landscape with a sense of untamed freedom. Many manmade materials can also be made to look natural and do the same job. Decorative concrete brick, for example, comes in many colors and patterns and is a relatively inexpensive building material. A mixture of stones, varying three to six inches in height, can be mortared together to create a mosaic pattern. Traditional mortared brick, of course, is always an option, too. It is more expensive and normally only used when complimenting a very formal hardscape such as a bluestone patio.

How do you build make landscape retaining walls decorative?
There are several things we can do to make these functional elements look attractive. To begin with, we design a landscape retaining wall with a deliberately informal look. Wall materials are placed by hand to mimic either a haphazard pattern or a natural earthwork. Natural stone is the best material to use for this. Dry laid stone can literally be stacked to look like a natural rock formation, with larger stones at the end and smaller stones toward the middle and top. Stones of many different kinds can also be randomly arranged and mortared together, either to each other or to a concrete wall concealed behind the stone façade.

Another technique we use is to build a landscape retaining wall with a secondary function. This could be anything from the base for a fence, a seat wall, the entryway to an arbor or summer kitchen, or the base for a fence or architectural wall.

How do I know if I need a landscape retaining wall?
If you have a slope in your yard, you will probably need at least a small retaining wall to create a level area for hardscape design, outdoor architecture, or garden design. If you have children, you may also want a retaining wall to create a practice field or play area for the kids.

If I have children, what safety features do you build into landscape retaining walls?
We either build a planting bed, or we build the wall against another structure like an outdoor room or outdoor building. Only the decorative side of the wall faces the landscape. The other side of the wall is blocked off by either softscape or architectural elements. This prevents people from falling off the wall and injuring themselves.