Retaining walls are not decoration. They exist to hold soil where gravity would rather it went, and in hilly parts of northeastern Pennsylvania they are frequently what makes a project possible at all.
Signs you need one
- You want a flat, usable area on a sloping lot
- Soil is washing onto a driveway, patio or into a neighbor’s yard after heavy rain
- An existing wall is leaning, bulging or cracking
- You are installing a pool on a slope and need a level pad
- Erosion is exposing roots or undermining a structure
Why they fail
Almost every failed retaining wall we are asked to replace failed for the same reason: water. A wall that cannot drain becomes a dam, and saturated soil is far heavier than dry soil. Proper drainage behind the wall, appropriate backfill, and a base that will not settle matter more than what the face is made of.
The second cause is height without engineering. Past a certain height a wall becomes a structural element, not a landscaping feature, and it needs to be designed rather than stacked. If a contractor quotes you a tall wall without discussing drainage or base preparation, get another quote.
Walls and pools together
On sloped lots the retaining wall and the pool are one project, not two. The wall creates and holds the level area the pool and deck sit on. We build both with the same crew, which is why we would rather quote them together than have you coordinate two contractors across one hole in the ground. You can see examples on our retaining walls and swimming pool pages.