Concrete retaining walls in Williston ND - a wall that drains and stays put

Most people call when a slope keeps creeping toward the driveway or an old wall has started to tip, and they want to know what a proper one takes. The price moves with the wall's height and length, how involved the design is, how easy it is to get a truck to the spot and whether an old wall has to come out first. The schedule turns on the weather, the permit side and the wait after the pour before soil goes back in, and I'll put your own number on it at the estimate.

We start by looking at where your water goes, because that decides as much about the wall as the slope does. Then we dig out for the footing, the wide base the wall stands on, set forms and rebar, the steel inside that keeps the concrete from cracking apart when the soil pushes, and pour. Behind the wall goes drainage gravel, a filter fabric that keeps dirt out of that gravel and a perforated drain pipe with outlets, and the finished ground gets shaped so water runs away from the wall. That drainage gets as much of our attention as the concrete, and it's written into the bid so it never shows up later as an extra. The concrete also has to cure, which is the wait while it gains strength, before any soil goes back in, and I tell you about that wait up front so you can plan the yard work around it.

A wall usually isn't the whole project, because it's there to make a flat spot and that spot tends to become something. On a terraced yard it might be a concrete pool deck, and in a walkout or a shop cut into a hill it's often a slab from our concrete floor installation work. Doing them together means one plan for where the water goes instead of two that argue with each other.

Who handles the permit depends on where the wall sits. If your property is inside Williston city limits, the City of Williston takes building permit applications and plans by email at buildingapps@ci.williston.nd.us, because the county only inspects property outside a city's limits. Out in the county, Williams County lists retaining walls under 4 feet, measured from the bottom of the footing to the top of the wall, among its building permit exemptions, unless the wall is holding up a surcharge, which is extra weight like a driveway or parked cars above it. The county also requires a permit before any grading or drainage work, and a wall job usually involves some of both. Before work starts, we work out with you whether the city or the county covers your address and take care of the permit paperwork when the job calls for one.

On jobs around Williston, the walls we're asked about usually hold a yard back from a driveway, a walkout or a patio, and the trouble tends to start where roof water lands right behind them. So we look at the downspouts and the way the yard drains before we talk about the wall itself.