As a Landscape Architect this is going to be very pricey and must be designed/ constructed by people who know how to handle that sort of thing. Something this big will require structural input. Not saying it can’t be done but it will be very expensive
I'd be freaking out about drainage and wash. But I had a hill like this behind my house, one day an oak tree slid down it. No real damage, but it was scary
I've seen yards left a flooded mess after hacks landscaped it
this is actually common. if theres trees on a hill and it gets to wet then theyll just give up and slide down the hill. it happens mostly during flooding though, typically a normal rainstorm or thunderstorm wouldnt do that unless the tree was weak.
Would it be better if they do multiple small retaining walls?
As someone with a 6’ tall leaning retaining wall and a $150k quote to replace it I 100% do not recommend large retaining walls. Sadly I have no choice.
I'd uh... get more quotes. I have quite a long 6' retaining wall and got quotes for like 25-30k and im in quite a high col area. Of course this is still insanely expensive but planning on tackling it myself.
I plan to get more, but that’s good to know. There are other challenges unfortunately. The other side of that wall is my neighbors property, and maybe 10’ away is her in ground pool.
I'm not a structural engineer but I've done an exhaustive amount of research, and while a pool is a massive surcharge(excess load on the top of the ground being retained), I think the premise is still similar. My neighbors property is also going to be retained and so it's hard for me to imagine how to terminate my wall, I'd definitely talk to a civil engineer for your county/city when you're ready. Like I said, I'm planning on doing the most expensive stylized wall I can imagine, and in a high cost of living. I cannot imagine that price difference is indicative of the difference in strength, and more the contractor was giving you a fuck you price. Let me know how it goes, though, I'm in the planning phase currently, and while I'm not holding up a pool, it's a few extra feet of soil and a large concrete patio.
Do you mind sharing the length of your retaining wall? I’m in the Bay Area too and mid-remodel so your quote sadly sounds on par with the price of everything around here.
I’m not sure how long it is, I would guess the relevant part is 50’- 60’. The wall is a lot longer then that but it also starts at like 3’ in my front yard and is fine in the side yard but once it hits the back yard it gets larger and that part is leaning and needs replacing. I don’t think the front would be replaced.
It's clear a lot of people in this thread think it's a simple matter of cutting out a chunk of soil and stacking some landscape blocks in front. The sheer amount of excavating, hundreds of tons of drainage gravel, dozens of layers of geogrid split between each of the terraces, leveling and stacking wall blocks, backfilling, concrete work for the stairs, permitting, inspections... It makes my back and my wallet hurt just thinking about it.
Yep. They say anything above 4’ should need structural design. If you terrace, im not sure at what point it becomes a new wall and just a continuation of the same.
This is an extremely important point. If you don’t consider drainage and the structure of retaining walls, you could end up with a landslide taking the hillside. It’s not a trivial problem.
Retaining walls need permits in many areas, and the original builders hopefully had their designs and foundation work engineered and approved.
I lived in California and saw this happen more than once after heavy rains. You’ll need a competent engineer and landscape architect to make things safe. If I lived there, I’d hire one just to make sure the existing home was ok with zero work on the hillside.
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u/LAjones29 4d ago
As a Landscape Architect this is going to be very pricey and must be designed/ constructed by people who know how to handle that sort of thing. Something this big will require structural input. Not saying it can’t be done but it will be very expensive