There are a number of reasons Big Bend Landscaping will build a retaining wall for one of our customers. The hilly landscape and the weather in the St. Louis area present problems easily solved by this useful outdoor feature.
If you came here because you are wondering whether you need a retaining wall, then chances are, the answer is yes. But let’s talk about some of the practical reasons we build these and why you should call us to build a retaining wall for you.
Flood Control
If you’ve lived in the St. Louis area any time at all, you’ve experienced the St. Louis rainy season. Our rainiest months typically begin in March and end in August. And those rains are sometimes accompanied by saturated earth, flooding, and small mudslides.
Whether you live at the bottom or top of a hill, you may face the risk of damage to your property or that of your neighbors’. Both are insurance nightmares. Carefully planned and built retaining walls can minimize these risks.
Big Bend Landscaping has over twenty-five years of experience in this field. And since we are located in the St. Louis area, we know the challenges homeowners here face. You can check out our before and after page on this site and see some of the retaining walls we’ve built.
Retaining Walls are Great Boundary Markers
Retaining walls are a great way to mark your property line. Neighbors don’t usually mean to encroach on one another’s property, but it happens. And sometimes you just don’t want a fence in a certain area of your yard—perhaps because it will impede your view of some attractive piece of landscape. Or maybe it just interrupts the flow of your carefully planned green space.
While you should check with your HOA about the requirements before you ask us to build a retaining wall, it can be a great solution to a ticklish problem. If you add cap lighting to the wall itself, it provides the additional benefit of lighting the darkest areas of your yard.
Better Erosion Control with a Retaining Wall
It is no fun to care for a yard that continuously presents you with the same problems—especially if those problems require ongoing expensive solutions. If your yard is sloped or you live on a hill, then you likely face the challenges of erosion control. Add neighbors who overwater to this mix, and your challenges increase. And the risks mentioned above increase tenfold with every passing year.
In this situation, your green space takes a beating with rain, snow, and the run-off from both. And chances are, at least once a year, you face bare spots in your lawn and topsoil washed away from tree roots. And no matter how high you mound that mulch every fall, you find decimated flower beds every spring. Roses don’t take kindly to having their roots exposed to the elements.
A well-built retaining wall is the best solution to this problem. Big Bend Landscaping builds retaining walls as high as twelve feet and as short as two. We can raise the slope of your yard to a height that stops erosion in its tracks. And we’ve built many attractive, long curving walls that extend along entire width of yard.
Retaining Walls Preventing Sinkholes
Retaining Wall in St. Louis
Sinkholes are created in part by the dissolving of soft bedrock. In the St. Louis area, years of heavy rains and constantly saturated soil due to poor drainage sometimes lead to a homeowner horror story. By the time one has appeared, the damage has been done. If you’re fortunate, it doesn’t appear near the foundations of your home or driveway or near your water or septic lines.
A well-built, carefully placed retaining wall, combined with a landscaping feature known as a dry creek bed, can go a long way toward preventing this homeowner’s nightmare from happening to you.
When Big Bend Landscaping builds retaining walls, we include drainage plates to direct run-off, making sure that unwanted water discharges harmlessly in a place where it can’t do any damage. When necessary, we include an attractive landscaping feature known as a dry creek bed to further help guide the water away from areas where it can do damage.
Better Use of Landscaping Space
Mowing and caring for a yard on a slope is not just challenging, it can be dangerous. Pushing or riding that lawnmower up and down that hill presents risks that sometimes require hiring a landscaping professional. And running a weed eater is difficult because using one on the uneven terrain can create unsightly bare spots.
Big Bend Landscaping can level out the slope or create a series of terraces with a set of attractive stairs built from pavers. If you choose the terraced approach, you can make each level a small green space that needs minimal mowing or weed eating. Or you can plant small shrubs or flowers or even vegetables.
Retaining Walls Add to Property Value
Retaining walls have proven to be an excellent addition to any landscape. And because of this, a professionally built wall will increase the value of the property. It tells prospective buyers that any problems the property might have had have been solved. They see that the drainage is already handled, potential for sinkholes eliminated, property line clearly marked, flower beds created, and slope eliminated or well-managed.
Big Bend Landscaping builds retaining walls that are made to last for many years to come. And we use only the best products on the market, such as Pavestone, Romanstone, and Belgard products. We know how important your home and yard are to you. So every job we do is our “best job ever.”
Conclusion
We’ve covered a number of practical reasons to build a retaining wall, but there are plenty more. If you live in the St. Louis area and your concern wasn’t covered by this blog, feel free to contact Big Bend Landscaping and ask. We are always happy to answer questions! Be sure and check out our retaining wall page for more information and ideas.
Big Bend Landscaping has a Level 1 Certification from the National Concrete and Masonry Association. We’ve taken extra steps to ensure that we are using up-to-date methods and materials. We are experts in our field. When we present you with your options, we will offer you the newest and best landscaping solutions.
We guarantee all our work for one year; this includes parts and labor. If for any reason you have a problem with something we’ve done, call us and we will make your satisfaction our priority.
Do you like what you’ve read here and want to know more? Give us a call or contact us for an online estimate!