What was wrong
The back third of the lot dropped hard and nothing held it. Every thaw took soil down to the property line, and the owner had been getting notes about it.
What we did about it
Cut two low terraces in place of one tall wall. The load spreads, and both stay under the height where the town starts asking for an engineer.
Put drainage stone and a perforated pipe behind each wall. A retaining wall fails from water pressure, not from weight.
Planted the faces with deep-rooted natives that knit the bank together within two seasons.
Ran a stone-lined swale along the bottom terrace to take what does come down and carry it to the street side.
Left the top terrace flat and usable. They had chairs out on it by July.
- Town
- Allendale, New Jersey
- Year
- 2022
- Lot
- 0.44 acre
- House
- 1978 raised ranch
- On site
- 14 working days
- Work
- Hardscape, Drainage and grading, Planting
What went in the ground
- Little bluestem
- Switchgrass, Shenandoah
- Black-eyed Susan
- Aromatic aster
- Bayberry
Materials
- Techo-Bloc Mini-Creta, two courses
- Perforated pipe with sock
- 3/4 inch clean stone backfill
- River jack for the swale
No measurable soil loss in four spring thaws.
It held through last March, when half the street did not.
Tell us what the yard is doing.
Forty-five minutes on your property, a drawing you keep, and a number in writing. If we are the wrong company for the job we will say so on the first visit.