Concrete Retaining Wall Contractors in Fayetteville, NC

What sand does to a slope, and why the build has to answer it

Cumberland County's big soils are sandy, and sand fails a slope its own way. The NRCS series descriptions for Lakeland and Wagram describe deep sand and loamy sand that drains fast. Water runs through instead of sitting, carries fine sand with it and undercuts whatever stands in the way. A concrete retaining wall in Fayetteville has to hold the slope and keep the sand where it is.

The rain comes hard, too. The airport's 1991 to 2020 normals show 44.58 inches a year, with August the wettest month at 5.36 inches, and 11.3 days a year with an inch or more. A structure that works on a dry Tuesday has to work on one of those days.

So we start every job with two questions: what's the slope holding, and where does the water go when it rains an inch? The pieces below answer them for this ground.

Poured, block or big precast: picking the build

Concrete retaining walls in Fayetteville come in two builds on a house lot, and we price both. A poured concrete one is formed on site with steel inside, cast along its whole run, and it gives a clean face you can leave plain, stain or cap. A block one is stacked from concrete masonry units with steel and grout in the cores, or from segmental blocks that interlock without mortar. It goes up in courses, curves more easily and can take a veneer. Our standard pricing covers either build up to about 4 feet of face. Anything taller is engineered and priced per design.

Shopping for large concrete retaining wall blocks? Then you've seen the big precast ones, sometimes sold as ecology blocks. Those stack quickly with a loader and suit bins, lot lines and utility yards. They're a different animal from a finished face beside a patio or a driveway, and the right pick depends on height, looks and what sits above. Tell us what you're holding back and we'll say which build we'd price.

A seat wall at the edge of a patio is a short one with a cap, priced the same way by the square foot of face. If it will hold a driveway or a slab, we want to know before we set steel, because the load behind the face decides the design.

Tiered walls for a steep lot

A steep bank is sometimes better held by two or three shorter walls than one tall one. Tiered walls leave planting terraces between the steps and keep each wall's face low, which spreads the load down the slope. We build tiers in poured or block, price each one by its square feet of face, and plan the drain behind every tier so the upper wall's water has somewhere to go. Bring your planting plan to the visit and we'll set the terrace widths to fit it. Whether stacked tiers count as one wall for review is a question for the permit desk, so we ask before we quote.

Drainage behind the face: stone, pipe and a place for water to go

The job isn't done until the water has a way out. Behind every one we build goes a layer of washed stone, filter fabric and perforated pipe that runs to daylight or a safe outlet. Weep holes through the face give a second path. The fabric keeps sand from washing into the stone and clogging it, which is the problem in this ground.

Where the pipe lets go matters as much as the pipe. The City's stormwater code lets some small projects skip stormwater control, but the exemption still says work may not divert water onto a neighboring property to cause damage. A wall that sends your runoff onto the lot next door shows the flaw the first time it rains, and that's a poor way to meet the neighbors.

Downspouts count too. If your roof water lands at the top of the slope, it goes behind the face and not past it. We mark where gutters empty on the walk-through and tell you whether to extend a downspout or send it to a separate outlet. Set up right, the wall solves a drainage problem instead of making one: a drain behind, a swale in front, and the water goes where you want it.

Footings in sand: depth, width and the 12-inch frost line

Everything stands on its footing. The NC Residential Code lists a 12-inch frost line for the state, and its footing rule puts footings below that line and no less than 12 inches below finished grade (Table R301.2(1) and R403.1.4). We use that as our floor, then go deeper where the grade slopes away at the toe, because the footing needs soil in front of it.

Fayetteville averages 46.9 days a year at or below 32 F, so frost isn't a deep problem, but it exists. Compaction under the footing is the bigger issue. Loose sand under a footing settles. We dig to firm ground, compact the bed, and set steel on chairs so it ends up in the middle of the concrete and not on the dirt.

Width follows height. A 3-foot stem wants a footing wider than itself, with steel tied from footing to stem. The engineer's design or our standard detail sets the exact size, and we write it in the estimate. If your site sits on fill, say so when you call the permit desk. Before we dig a footing trench, grading counts as excavation under NC law and the 811 call goes in at least three working days ahead.

Creek lots: Johnston soil, the floodplain and Cape Fear high water

Cross Creek runs through Fayetteville, and creek bottoms are where the soil changes. The county soil survey maps Johnston loam as a very poorly drained soil that floods frequently, and it sits in creek and river bottoms. Anything built there stands in wet ground after a storm.

The Cape Fear River at Fayetteville rose to about 61.5 feet in September 2018 during Hurricane Florence, about 2.6 feet above its 2016 crest from Hurricane Matthew, per ABC11's report of National Weather Service figures. Not every lot sees water like that, but one near a creek or river can.

Fill and grading inside the 100-year floodplain take a permit. The city issues a Floodplain Development Permit for that work. In unincorporated Cumberland County, the county's floodplain page says Inspections won't issue a building permit in a Special Flood Hazard Area until Planning and Inspections issues a Floodplain Development Permit. Look up your parcel on the state's flood risk lookup before you call. If you're in the flood zone, tell us at the first visit so the design and the permit order match.

Height, engineers and who reviews the job

Height is the line everything turns on for a concrete retaining wall in Fayetteville. Our standard jobs run to about 4 feet of face. Taller ones, ones that hold a driveway or a building and ones with a steep bank above are engineered, and we price them per design after the drawings exist. We build from stamped plans. We don't guess the steel on a tall one.

Who reviews it depends on where the lot is. The City's Permitting and Inspections office answers permit questions inside Fayetteville, and its Construction Liaison handles pre-permit questions. Outside city limits the town or county office decides, and those desks differ: Hope Mills, Spring Lake, Cumberland County, Hoke County and the rest each run their own counter. Our permit guide lines them up.

Call before you build and bring three things: the length, the height at the tallest point and what sits above, whether that's lawn, a driveway or a patio. Those answers are what any reviewer asks first, and they decide whether a stamped drawing comes first. We'd rather learn that on a phone call than after the forms are set.

Beside driveways, curb cuts and property lines

Anything next to a driveway has two audiences. One is the soil. The other is whoever reviews the curb cut. NCDOT's driveway permit FAQ says the plans for a driveway on a state road must show retaining walls, drainage and pavement that affect its location. So if yours is beside an NCDOT-maintained road, it goes on the drawing, not after it.

The City says its streets are either City-maintained or NCDOT-maintained, so ask which one maintains yours before you pour an apron or widen a curb cut. A cut into the bank beside a new driveway has to leave room for the apron and the 20-foot radius the City asks on commercial driveway plans.

Property lines are your job to know. Bring your survey to the estimate, and we'll show where the footing, the face and the back land compared with the line. If your house sits in a local historic overlay, the City's Historic Preservation page says exterior changes visible from a public street, including site features, need a Certificate of Appropriateness. Match the job to a new driveway and bid them together, so the grade and the apron agree.

Block retaining walls in Sanford and Lillington: where the clay starts

Sand isn't the whole story as you leave the Sandhills. The soil survey data shows Harnett and Lee counties picking up pockets of finer, clayier Piedmont-type soils such as Gilead, Cecil and Mayodan, while Hoke County runs sandier or wetter. Clay holds water against a face instead of letting it run through, so for a block build in Sanford or Lillington we plan a bigger drain and outlet than for the same job in sand.

Each of those places has its own permit desk. Sanford sits under the City of Sanford and Lee County Inspections division, which takes applications through Central Intake and an online portal, per its inspections page. The Town of Lillington's own inspectors cover lots inside town limits and its ETJ, and Harnett County Central Permitting, in the same town, takes county applications such as Environmental Health and E911 addressing. None of those desks answers to Fayetteville's office, so a concrete retaining wall in Sanford or Lillington follows that desk's rules, and we start by finding out which one reviews it.

We cover those towns and the rest of the area on separate pages. Start from the town where your slope sits and we'll go through what changes.

Getting a price on concrete retaining walls in Fayetteville

You can get a first number from a few facts. Send us:

• The length and the height at the tallest point, in feet.
• What sits above: lawn, driveway, patio or a building.
• Where roof and yard water run today.
• Photos of the slope and any washout.
• Your survey, and whether the lot is near a creek.
• Whether you want poured, block or a seat wall at a patio edge.

When you compare concrete retaining walls in Fayetteville between bids, ask each contractor for the drain details and the footing size in writing. Ours is a free written estimate before any work begins, and we're insured and locally owned. Call (910) 996-0343 or use the contact page. For flatwork pricing, see our cost guide.