Retaining Wall Contractor in Golden, CO: Where the Wall Fits in the Whole Design
Design is where a retaining wall stops being a repair and starts being an asset. Plenty of homeowners call a retaining wall contractor in Golden, CO because something is sliding, and the wall that results holds the grade and nothing more.
The same money, spent with the whole property drawn first, usually returns a terrace, a level lawn or a patio that was not there before.
Duke’s Landscape Company has been providing award-winning landscape design and construction for 20 years, serving the Front Range, Foothills and Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Walls come into our projects as a structural means to a spatial end.
Related: What to Know Before Starting Landscape Design and Retaining Wall Projects in Broomfield, CO
What Does the Design Phase Settle Before a Retaining Wall Is Drawn?
The design phase settles where the flat ground needs to be and how much of it the property needs.
Once you know that a family wants a level lawn of a certain size and a dining terrace off the kitchen, the wall positions and heights largely fall out of the arithmetic.
Working the other way around, by siting a wall and seeing what is left over, tends to produce space in the wrong shape.
How Does Front Range Ground Change the Retaining Wall Approach?
Front Range ground calls for wall details matched to each part of the property, because slope here is rarely gentle and soils vary sharply over short distances. The same wall detail rarely repeats across a whole lot.
Runoff arrives fast during summer storms, and snowmelt loads the ground for weeks in spring. A design that intercepts and routes water above the wall does more for the wall’s life than anything in the face of it.
Should a Steep Lot’s Grade Be Held by One Retaining Wall or Several?
On a steep lot, several retaining walls usually hold the grade better than one. Terracing breaks a tall face into shorter structures, keeps the scale domestic rather than institutional, and produces planted ledges instead of one blank elevation. It costs footprint, which is the trade to weigh against how much level ground the property actually needs.
On our retaining walls, terrace spacing is set by what each level is for, so a planted ledge and a walkable terrace are dimensioned differently rather than repeated at a uniform interval.
What Has to Be Coordinated With a Retaining Wall Build?
Irrigation lines, lighting sleeves, drainage runs and any access path all have to be coordinated with a retaining wall, because each one crosses the wall line at some point. Each is trivial to install while the excavation is open and awkward afterward.
Sequencing them into the wall build is a scheduling decision made at design, not a change order made in week three.
Related: Build a Backyard That Lasts with a Retaining Wall & Fire Pit in Louisville, CO
How Should Retaining Wall Proposals Be Compared?
Compare retaining wall proposals on the parts nobody sees: excavation depth, base preparation, the drainage detail behind the wall, backfill material and compaction method. Those items account for most of the real cost difference between bids that look similar.
A proposal that describes the face in detail and the base in a sentence is telling you where its attention went.
What Should a Finished Retaining Wall Give Back to the Property?
A finished retaining wall should give back usable ground. A wall that holds a slope and leaves the property functioning exactly as it did has solved an engineering problem without solving the one the family had.
The measure worth applying at the design stage is simple: how many more square feet of the property can be walked on, planted or furnished when the work is done.
Plan the Whole Property With a Retaining Wall Contractor in Golden, CO
If part of the lot is unusable because of grade, the conversation worth having is about what that ground should become. Duke’s Landscape Company designs and builds retaining walls as part of full landscape design and construction projects across Golden, Evergreen, Arvada and the wider Front Range.
In Summary
Can a retaining wall be built on a steep mountain lot in Golden, CO?
Duke’s Landscape Company regularly builds retaining walls on steep mountain lots in Golden, CO, where access and staging usually drive the schedule more than the wall itself. Getting equipment and material to the work face is planned before the design is finalized, because it can change where a wall is practical to build.
When is retaining wall work usually scheduled on the Front Range?
Retaining wall work on the Front Range is usually scheduled in summer and the shoulder seasons, when stable ground makes for better excavation and compaction. Spring snowmelt saturates soils for weeks, which is worth planning around rather than working through.
Does a retaining wall need to be replaced or can it be rebuilt in sections?
A retaining wall with localized settlement can sometimes be rebuilt in sections, but a wall leaning along its length usually needs a full rebuild. Leaning or water pushing through the face usually means the drainage behind the wall was never resolved.
Related: How a Retaining Wall on the Front Range Creates Space Where the Grade Said There Was None
