OUR SERVICES
Concrete Retaining Walls
Poured walls that hold a slope back and drain properly.
3,000-4,000 PSI MIX · CAST IN PLACE · REINFORCED STEM AND FOOTING · WEEP HOLES FOR DRAINAGE
A retaining wall is not really holding back dirt. It is holding back water in the dirt, and that is a much bigger load than most people expect.
That is why these get built from the footing up: a footing sized to the wall and the ground behind it, reinforcement running through the footing and up the stem, the wall cast in place as one continuous piece, and weep holes set through it so the water behind has a way out instead of pushing.
On the sloping and lakefront lots around Livingston and Onalaska, this is often what has to happen before anything else on the property can be poured.
SCOPE
What's included
- On-site measurement of the slope and the height to be held
- Footing sized to the wall and the ground behind it
- Reinforcement through the footing and up the stem
- Wall cast in place, not stacked block
- Weep holes set through the wall so water has a way out
- Slab or patio tied into the wall where the plan calls for it
- Site left clean when we pull off
RECENT WORK
Retaining Walls we have poured
WHY SLABS CRACK HERE
Built for East Texas clay
Concrete does not crack because it is weak. It cracks because the ground under it moves — and East Texas clay swells when it takes on water and shrinks when it dries out, every single season. You cannot stop that. What you can do is build for it.
- 01
Compacted, stabilized base
The slab is only as steady as what it sits on. We compact and stabilize the base so the ground under your concrete behaves predictably instead of moving with the seasons.
- 02
Rebar on chairs at mid-slab
Rebar lying on the ground does almost nothing. Set on chairs at mid-slab depth, it sits where the tension actually is and holds the slab together when the ground shifts.
- 03
3,000-4,000 PSI MIX
A stronger mix costs more per yard and is worth it here. It resists the stress that seasonal ground movement puts on a slab in this part of Texas.
- 04
Control joints cut on schedule
Concrete will crack. Joints cut at the right time — not whenever someone gets back to it — decide that it cracks along a straight line you chose rather than across the middle of your slab.
FAQ
Retaining Walls questions
Why do retaining walls need weep holes?
Because the thing that pushes a wall over is usually water, not soil. Once the ground behind a wall saturates, it puts hydrostatic pressure on the back of it that the wall was never sized for. Weep holes give that water somewhere to go, and they are far easier to build in than to add later.
Do you pour the wall or stack block?
We cast walls in place. A poured wall is one continuous reinforced piece with the footing, which is what you want when it is holding back a slope that stays wet.
Can the wall and a patio or slab be done together?
Yes, and it is usually the better way to do it. Pouring the flatwork and the wall as one job means the edges are tied in and the drainage is worked out once, rather than trying to make two separate pours meet later.
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