Houston Retaining Walls

Retaining walls are primarily used for commercial and industrial purposes to hold back massive landforms for buildings and landscaping. In Houston, retaining walls are common and beneficial to residential applications as well. With the land consistently sloping toward the Gulf and periodically overrun with water, it's easy to see why retaining walls are a common phenomenon, especially as you move closer and closer to Galveston and its famous sea wall.

Retaining Walls in Houston, TX
Of course, the Galveston Sea Wall is designed primarily to stop any ocean surges from hurricanes. Unless you live on the coast, this may not be a huge concern, but that doesn't mean soil erosion isn't a problem. Though your lawn probably isn't going to disappear anytime soon, fertile topsoil can be swept away during heavy rains. This makes retaining walls a great installation for gardening. The real advantage in residential retaining walls, though, lies in leveling an area of your yard. Even gently sloping lawns, common to Houston, can present severe problems for Houston homeowners hoping to put in a pool, deck, patio, or any number of other landscaping features that require a level surface.

Leveling an area of your yard is no easy task, even with commercial equipment, but with a retaining wall this leveling may not last, or do your project much good long term. Plus, a retaining wall may be primarily a functional installation, but it will look good doing it, as well. In fact, many homeowners will install a retaining wall simply for its aesthetic value. It can be a great background for a backyard pond and waterfall. Aesthetic walls of this nature may not require the same stringent building methods. You might be able to get away with a dry-stone retaining wall, but you'll still want to take the construction seriously to create a stunning addition to your yard.

Houston Retaining Wall Installation
While even basic, do-it-yourself retaining walls should be handled with care, an installation of any size, or one built from concrete or traditional masonry, is solely for the professionals. First, many locales require retaining wall installations of four feet or higher to have a building permit. Before any project begins, you'll want to make sure you're not breaking any ordinances. And, while obtaining a building permit may seem like an unwarranted intrusion into your property, there are legitimate reasons for these ordinances.

Retaining walls are essentially land dams. Though they appear innocuous, without proper land surveying and planning, retaining walls can have unexpected and far reaching consequences. Drainage is probably the most common one. Whether your wall impedes drainage, causing standing water during heavy rains or diverts rainwater somewhere else (like a neighbor's yard), a poorly designed retaining wall can cause major problems. A professional may determine the contours of your property alleviates these concerns, or a simple fix like a french drain may be used to eliminate the risk, but this should be handled during the installation, not after a problem has surfaced.

Cost of Houston Retaining Wall Installation
ServiceMagic gathers information on the home improvement projects that come through our system, including retaining walls in Houston. We use this information to give homeowners a better idea of what they can expect during their project. The first question homeowners have is, almost without exception, how much the project will cost. We can tell you that the national average for a retaining wall installation is $5,000, but take this number only as a baseline. Projects range all over, from as little as $1,000 to more than $10,000. The size, design, and construction method will all determine where contractors' estimates are likely to fall. For a simple, straight, and small aesthetic landscaping wall, you can get in and out for cheap. A custom-built masonry wall that is meant to serve as a functional retaining wall, and look the part of an elegant landscaping feature, is likely to be a major undertaking.