natural stone retaining wall
When a wall sits where people see it - along a front walk, holding a terrace beside the drive, framing an entry - the material is doing two jobs. Cut and dry-laid stone gives you a wall that reads as masonry rather than as a product, which matters on older housing stock where a block wall would look grafted on. It is slower work and it costs more than block. It is worth it in the places where it shows.
When a wall sits along a front walk, beside the drive, or framing an entry, it is doing two jobs at once. Cut and dry-laid stone gives you a wall that reads as masonry rather than as a manufactured product, which matters a great deal on the older housing stock in this region, where a modern block wall in front of a century-old house looks grafted on.
It is slower work than block and it costs more for the same run. The value is in the places where the wall is part of how the house presents itself.
Many properties here already have historic stone, and the question is usually whether new work can sit beside it. We select stone to work with what exists rather than promising an exact match, because century-old stone from a quarry that closed decades ago generally cannot be matched exactly, and it is better to hear that at the estimate.
Behind the face, a stone wall wants what every wall wants: drainage. Where the wall is out of sight, block will do the same structural job for less, and on rugged ground boulder is more appropriate. Existing stone that has bulged is often a reset rather than a rebuild.
Stone is most in demand in Sewickley and Mt. Lebanon, and on established properties in Fox Chapel, Pittsburgh, Shaler and Bethel Park.
How long does it take? Slower than block for the same run - the work is in the fitting.
These usually come up on the same job, and we can handle them in the same visit:
Large-stone walls set into the slope. Natural on a wooded lot, and forgiving of irregular grades.
Learn More →Engineered block systems, geogrid reinforcement and a drainage course built in behind. The workhorse residential wall.
Learn More →Leaning, cracked, bulging or sliding walls. We find out why it moved before we price the fix.
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.