Retaining walls for a block that will not sit still
Most blocks in the Hills are on a slope, and a slope only gives you two useful things: a view, and somewhere for water to run. A retaining wall is how you get a third, which is flat ground you can put a lawn, a shed or a table on.
The wall people see is the easy part. What decides whether it is still straight in fifteen years is what happens behind it: how deep the footings go, what the drainage does with a wet winter, and whether the fill behind the wall was compacted or just tipped in. We dig our own footings, because the machines are ours, which means the person digging the hole is the person who has to live with it.
Concrete sleepers, Kanmantoo bluestone, moss rock. Which one suits comes down to the height, what is above and below it, and what you want to look at.
What is included
- A look at the site before anything is quoted, including where the water goes
- Excavation and levelling with our own machines
- Concrete sleeper walls, in the heights that suit the fall of the block
- Kanmantoo bluestone and moss rock walls where the look matters as much as the job
- Backfill, drainage and the finished level above the wall
Best suited to
- A sloping block with ground that is slowly moving
- Making a flat, usable area out of a hill
- A garden bed or a driveway edge that needs holding back
Retaining walls questions
Do I need council approval for a retaining wall?
Often, yes. It depends on how high the wall is, how close it is to a boundary, and which council you are in, and the council is the one who decides, not us. Tell us what you are thinking and we will tell you what we have seen on jobs like it, then you check it with your council before anything is booked in.
Sleepers, bluestone or moss rock?
Concrete sleepers are the straightest answer for height and cost. Bluestone and moss rock cost more and take longer, and they look like they grew out of the block instead of being delivered to it. If the wall is going to be the first thing you see from the kitchen window, that difference is worth paying for. If it is holding up the back fence, it is not.
Tell us about the job
Send it through and we will come and look at it. Quotes are free.