boulder retaining wall
Boulder walls suit the kind of lot a lot of this area has: wooded, uneven, and falling away at an angle no block course wants to follow. Large stone is set into the slope rather than stacked on a strict line, which handles irregular grade changes gracefully and reads as part of the hillside instead of an object on it. They still need the same things underneath - a proper bearing surface and somewhere for water to go.
Plenty of lots in this area are wooded, uneven, and fall away at angles no straight block course wants to follow. Boulder walls suit that ground. Large stone is set into the slope rather than stacked to a strict line, which absorbs irregular grade changes and lets a wall read as part of the hillside instead of an object placed on it.
They also handle curves and stepped transitions gracefully, which is useful where a wall has to follow an existing drive or work around mature trees rather than cut through them.
Boulder walls are not exempt from the rules that govern every other wall. They need a prepared bearing surface, they need the stone keyed properly into the slope rather than resting on it, and they need water routed away from behind the face. A boulder wall that was simply placed will settle unevenly and open gaps.
Placement is equipment work, so access drives a great deal of the cost. On more formal frontages, cut stone is usually the better answer, and where the wall is purely functional, a built wall may cost less.
Most of our boulder work is in Fox Chapel and Sewickley, with wooded hillside jobs in Shaler, Pittsburgh, Upper St. Clair and Cranberry Township.
How long does it take? Depends heavily on stone size and how close equipment can get to the wall line.
These usually come up on the same job, and we can handle them in the same visit:
Cut and dry-laid stone for walls that are part of the front of the house rather than hidden behind it.
Learn More →Cut, fill, haul-off and site access on tight hillside lots where reaching the wall is half the job.
Learn More →Terracing a slope, levelling a yard, or holding a cut for a patio or driveway. Base and drainage quoted with the wall.
Learn More →Free - No Obligation
Send a few details and we'll come look at it. Photos help - a picture of a lean or a crack tells us more than a paragraph.