After the completion of the retaining wall footing, you will be anxious to start on the retaining wall construction.  Building a wall in Austin, Texas is very common as many homes in Austin, Westlake Hills, Lake Travis and West Austin are in the middle of the Texas Hill country.

However building a wall is not as easy as it looks.  It is not uncommon to see walls that fall down, due to poor planning and improper construction that is notbased on the needs of the site. This is where the 20 years of landscape design experience we have in this region come in handy.

Here are three steps that should make constructing a retaining wall easier:

Step one: Lay your first course of stone.  To do this, set a bed of mortar on the footing which should be level.  This will allow you to lay your stone courses quickly.  Set your stone, and tamp it down so it makes contact with the wet mortar, and use a level to insure it is indeed level.  As you lay this course you will need to install 1 inch PVC drainpipes to allow the water to exit the wall.  Depending on your design you may need to install also a French drain to pick up ground water and carry it from behind the wall.  This alleviates any pressure that might build up from the water.

Step two: Continue setting stones until the first course is complete.  When you start on the second row, set back the second course ¾ of an inch so it is further into the hill than the first course.  This will create a stair step effect so the wall will lean in to the hillside.  This will also help keep your wall strong by making it lean in rather than outwards, thus have minimal chance to lean and collapse outwards.  Next you will need to stagger the joints of each row, so they do not line up. (If you are building the face of your wall straight up then you will need a different design than described).

Step three: After installing 3-4 courses of stone, you will want to start to back fill your wall with gravel.  This will provide good drainage, and is critical to the life of your wall.  Upon reaching your desired height of stones continue the gravel and stop so you can cover the gravel with filter fabric and then soil to reach the final height needed to install your plants and grass.

These are the basic guidelines and there are many other items to consider, based on your project.  Building a retainer wall that can stand up to the Hill Country Terrain may be best left up to the professionals.

Brent D. Wiltshire

Owner & Senior Designer

Perfect Lawns and Landworks of Austin