Retaining walls · Tyler, TX
Retaining wall installation in Tyler for sloped yards and eroding banks
We install retaining walls in Tyler, TX to hold back soil on sloped lots, level out a yard, protect a driveway or patio edge and stop erosion. A wall that lasts is mostly footing and drainage, and we build both before the face goes up.
Signs you need one
Your yard is on the move
- Soil washes onto the driveway, patio or walk after storms
- A slope is too steep to mow or use
- An old wall is leaning, bulging or cracked
- You want a flat area for a patio or play space on a sloped lot
Why retaining walls fail
Almost every failed wall comes down to water. Soil behind a wall gets heavy when it is wet, and clay soil also swells. If that water cannot drain, the pressure pushes the wall until it leans, bulges or cracks. That is why drainage is not an extra on a retaining wall. It is the design.
How we build them
- Footing: a reinforced concrete footing below the wall, sized for its height.
- Wall: poured concrete or concrete block, with steel tying the wall to the footing.
- Drainage: a perforated drain pipe at the base and weep holes so water has a way out.
- Backfill: clean gravel right behind the wall, not clay, so water moves down to the drain instead of pushing on the wall.
Height, engineering and permits
Short landscape walls are a straightforward job. Taller walls, walls holding up a driveway or a building, and walls near a property line need more care. Walls taller than about four feet are typically engineered, and inside Tyler city limits the City of Tyler decides what needs a permit. We will tell you up front if your wall falls into that group.
Pairing a wall with flatwork
Retaining walls often go in with a new patio or driveway on a sloped lot. Doing them together means one crew plans the grades, drainage and edges as one job.
Done to standard
How we do it to standard
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The wall is not holding back water.
We put a perforated drain at the base, weep holes through the wall and clean gravel backfill behind it.
Water pressure behind a wall is what tips it. Clay backfill holds water and swells.
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Built for the ground it actually sits on.
We treat East Texas clay as a design condition: base, steel, joints and drainage are sized for ground that swells wet and shrinks dry.
Expansive clay moves with the seasons. Concrete that ignores that movement cracks along lines nobody chose.
Standard Texas engineers measure clay movement as potential vertical rise (PVR), using the TxDOT Tex-124-E method.
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Summer concrete that cures instead of drying out.
We pour early in the day in summer, keep materials and the base cool and damp, and protect the surface from drying wind and sun.
In a Tyler summer, the surface can lose water faster than the concrete can set, which leaves shrinkage cracks and a weak, dusty top.
Standard ACI 305R (Guide to Hot Weather Concreting) recommends precautions when the evaporation rate approaches 0.2 lb per square foot per hour.
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Real reinforcing steel, tied properly.
We use deformed reinforcing bar to the ASTM A615 standard, tied at the laps and intersections.
Rebar grade and laps decide whether the steel can carry load across a crack.
Standard ASTM A615 covers deformed carbon-steel bars for concrete reinforcement; Grade 60 is the common residential grade.
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Tall walls are designed walls.
We have walls over the code height, or walls holding up a drive or structure, engineered.
Taller walls carry loads that need a design, not a rule of thumb.
Standard IRC R404.4: retaining walls not laterally supported at the top that retain more than 48 inches of unbalanced fill must be designed.
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The footing bears on solid ground.
We dig footings into undisturbed soil at or below code depth.
A footing sitting on loose or filled soil settles, and the wall or building above it follows.
Standard IRC R403.1.4: exterior footings sit at least 12 inches below undisturbed ground.
Step by step
How a wall job goes
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Measure the slope
Height, length, loads behind the wall.
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Dig and footing
Excavate, set steel, pour footing.
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Build the wall
Form and pour, or lay block with steel.
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Drain and backfill
Pipe, gravel and compacted backfill.
Know the words
Terms you'll hear
- Leaning retaining wall
- A retaining wall tilting or bulging outward. Water pressure and an undersized footing. It needs rebuilding with drainage.
- Drain gravel
- Clean stone placed behind a retaining wall. It lets water move down to the drain instead of pushing on the wall like wet clay does.
- Weep holes
- Openings through a retaining wall that let water out. Without them, water collects behind the wall and pushes it over.
- Perforated drain pipe
- Pipe with holes laid at the base of a wall or footing to carry water away. Water that cannot leave builds pressure behind a wall.
- Expansive clay
- Clay that swells when wet and shrinks when it dries. It is the main reason East Texas concrete cracks, heaves and settles.
- Sloped lot
- A yard with enough fall to need steps, walls or cut-and-fill. Grade changes are where walls, steps and drainage all meet.
Questions we hear
Frequently asked
How tall can a retaining wall be without an engineer?
Rules vary, but walls over about four feet, or walls holding up a driveway or structure, are typically engineered. Check with the city for your property.
Why is my old retaining wall leaning?
Usually water pressure behind it with no drainage, or a footing that was too small. Leaning walls generally need rebuilding with proper drainage.
Concrete or block?
Both work. Poured concrete is one solid piece. Block is modular and can be faster on smaller walls. The footing and drainage matter more than the face.
Ready to talk about your concrete?
Let's get your project on solid ground.
Tell us what you need and we'll get back to you to talk it through and set up a time to look at the job.
Prefer to call?(903) 555-0100