Asheville Landscaping; Dry Stacked Retaining Walls

When considering a retaining wall on your property the first question you should ask yourself is what type of material do I want to use for this project. There are many options including wood, concrete and stone. 
Wood walls tend to be cheaper than concrete or stone walls. However their life span is drastically shorter.
A concrete wall is very durable and will last for decades, if done correctly. However, if there is an issue with a concrete wall and it cracks or separates, the wall will need to be removed and rebuilt. I have worked and still work with all types of retaining wall materials. Yet I will usually recommend a dry stacked stone wall as the first option for my clients. Dry stack walling is an ancient craft, possibly the first form of soil retention. When built correctly, it can withstand centuries of weather. Dry stacked stone walls have got a bad reputation in many areas, mainly due to improper construction. 

A true dry stacked wall is constructed using stone of various sizes tightly fit on the face of the wall. Theses stones are backfilled with similar sized stones and gravel to create a structural and free draining area behind the wall. Most failed walls, like this project I am featuring today, are backfilled with only native soils. This creates a devastating amount of hydrostatic pressure behind the wall that causes walls to fail. 
Our clients for this project contacted us with concerns regarding the dry stacked walls they had installed by a local builder no more than 5 years ago. They had a series of walls built in their front yard that were beginning to collapse and wanted to have all the walls built correctly before there was a major problem. We took on the job and have reworked the area giving them new walls and added a pondless waterfall as a bonus feature.

Here you can see the structural backfill we installed when we were fixing the failed walls.

Adding large, tightly fit stone to the backfill, with some gravel and filter fabric behind, will allow any surface or sub-surface water behind the wall to drain freely without any pressure on the face stones. 

We were able to reuse some of the existing stone from the old walls for this project. However, most of the original stone was rather round and not good for stacking a wall.

So we had to import approx. 10 tons of stone from a local quarry to complete this project.

  The picture to the right shows the old failing wall on the top. The lower wall in the new construction using proper backfill and structural stone

We were also able to create some fun features in the new walls, including a stone bench and some inlays that gave this wall character.

Please feel free to contact us with any questions or if you would like a free consultation for your project in the Asheville area.

Jacob

Living Waters Landscaping

828-301-8017