Tag Archive for: Retaining Wall

Retaining Wall Demo/Build

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Priorities: Permanent Solution For Failed Retaining WallChallenges: Maintain Integrity of Walls on Adjacent Properties, Safe UninstallSolutions: Methodical Tear-Out Techniques, Sequenced Install

The general contractor that built this client’s neighborhood had graded each back yard by installing a retaining wall several feet high with railroad ties.

After thirty-plus years, that structure had failed.

Our client’s 63-foot section of the wall had collapsed, creating an unsightly mess and allowing the wildflower garden they had planted above to seep through the resulting cracks.

failed railroad tie wall details

Maas Verde designed a new cut limestone block wall with a buried deluge drain pipe to permanently resolve the issue. The solution required our team to tear out the 63-foot segment without affecting the adjacent properties. The team would then build the wall to match property grade on top of a poured concrete footer.

Tear-out and construction took only two days.

failed railroad tie retaining wall (top) and rebuilt stone block wall (bottom)

Safety was a primary concern in removal, since the existing structure was tied together with rusted nine inch nails and potentially harbored ground hornets. Maas Verde cut the ties inside our client’s property line strategically, to avoid overburdening ties that were stressed beyond the fence line. Existing fence posts provide backup support for these adjacent walls.

Efficiency was key to the construction process. To seat the wall most securely, our team needed to pour the footer and lay the first course of 6” limestone blocks simultaneously. While one crew operated a mixer and shuttled loads of mixed concrete, another tooled the mixture in the trench, then laid and leveled blocks.

The first course of stones set overnight, and the team returned the next day to complete the perforated drainpipe and finish the dry-set wall. We added tie-backs for structural security, backfilled the terrace, and finished the work with topsoil for planting.

Our team also worked carefully to preserve a Baccharis shrub (B. neglecta) — a native pollinator favorite. An irrigation diagnostic and repair completed the job.

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Clarksville

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Project Description:

This client engaged Maas Verde to construct a retaining wall to raise and level his Central Austin front yard. The existing yard sloped severely downhill and left very little useable flat space. With its commanding view of downtown, the house is often the scene of community fundraising parties, yet the slope limited the usability. In keeping with the 1930s character of the neighborhood, we constructed about 90 linear feet of “bric-a-brac” wall using a combination of natural and reclaimed stone, and found objects, including oyster shells and native fossils.  We included a prominent set of stone steps. Hidden in the construction are steel deadmen and stakes to hold the wall in place, as well as a French drain to prevent water build up.

After all the masonry was completed, we leveled the yard with high-quality landscape soil and laid 2 pallets of Zoysia sod. We also rebuild a small screening fence at the property’s edge. An unusual challenge was the presence of an outflow pipe connecting to the basement sump-pump of the house. At fairly regular intervals, the pump would empty the sump into the area of our project. We rerouted the outflow (and French drain) to pop out unobtrusively near the street side stone landing.