Concrete retaining walls in Redwood City CA - a wall that holds the slope and drains
Slope creeping onto your patio or an old wall leaning out? We build poured concrete walls on a solid footing with a drain behind them.
- Licensed and fully insured.
- Free quotes on site.
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What does it take to build a retaining wall in Redwood City?
A concrete retaining wall holds back a slope so you get level ground you can use. In Redwood City we build them as steel-reinforced concrete on a buried footing, the wide concrete base under the wall, with a drain behind it to let water out.
At Elite Redwood City Concrete we build these walls for homeowners in Redwood City and the cities around it, often to make room for a patio or to stop a backyard slope from creeping downhill. The price turns on the wall's height and length, how much digging it takes, what the ground is like and whether a driveway or building sits near the top. The schedule turns on the dig, any design or permit work, and the wait while the concrete gains strength before soil goes back behind it. Your own number comes from the estimate, after I've seen the slope.
How do you know your slope needs a retaining wall?
Wall leaning at the top
If an old wall is tipping out at the top or bowing in the middle, it usually means the footing is too small or the soil behind it is pushing harder than the wall can take. Walls rarely straighten themselves out, and one that lets go in a wet winter takes the fence, the planting and sometimes part of the yard with it.
Wet face after rain
Water seeping through the face, dark streaks or a white crust after a storm usually mean water is trapped behind the wall with nowhere to drain. Left alone, it keeps pressing on the wall every wet season, and fixing a drain later means digging out everything behind it.
Mud on the patio
Dirt washing off a slope onto your patio, path or driveway after rain usually means that slope needs holding back. Every storm carries more of it down, and soil washing out from under a slab edge turns a wall job into a wall and concrete repair job.
How we build concrete retaining walls
We dig down to firm ground first, then form and pour the footing with rebar, the steel that lets concrete take bending without snapping, tied in so it carries up into the wall. Then we form the wall itself and pour it. The drain behind the wall matters as much as the wall, so we take real care with the gravel, the filter fabric that keeps dirt from clogging it and the outlets that let the water out. Once the concrete has gained strength, we put the soil back a bit at a time so we don't shove on a young wall. If the budget gets tight, I'll cut the fancy face before I cut the footing or the drain, because a nice-looking wall that tips over is just expensive rubble.
A wall usually comes with flat work on one side of it. If you're cutting into a hillside to make room for a pool, we can pour the concrete pool deck on the level ground the wall creates, and if the wall backs up to a new garage or backyard office, we handle the concrete floor installation inside it too.
Plain formed face
Most backyard walls get a clean, plain face straight off the forms, which suits a wall that's mainly there to hold a slope. It keeps more of the budget in the footing and the drain, where the work actually happens.
Textured or colored face
If the wall is the view from your patio, we can add texture or color to the face, the same kind of decorative concrete work we do on flatwork. It costs more and changes nothing about how well the wall holds, so it suits walls you'll look at every day.
Get a free estimate for your retaining wall
Send the form and you'll hear back from me within one business day to set a time. I'll come out, look at the slope, and write up a free estimate with no obligation.
(650) 587-4028- Based in
- Redwood City, CA 94063
- Hours
- Mon–Fri: 7 AM–11 PM, Sat–Sun: 6 AM–10 PM
What happens after you call about a retaining wall?
Here's how a retaining wall job runs from your first call to the walk-through, and who you'll be dealing with at each step.
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Call or send the form
Call (650) 587-4028 or use the form, and I'll get back to you to set a time to come out and see the slope.
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I walk the slope with you
I come out myself, look at the ground, where the water runs and what sits above the slope, and ask a lot of questions. You get a written estimate with the price for your wall and what it covers, so you know what you're paying for before anything starts.
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Our crew builds the wall
Our own crew does the work, I check it as it goes, and expect some quiet days in the middle while the concrete gains strength before the soil goes back. When it's done we walk it with you and show you where the drain outlets are, so you know where the water should come out after rain.
Why Redwood City homeowners call Elite Redwood City Concrete for retaining walls
If you've got a slope that's moving or a yard you want leveled, call (650) 587-4028 or request an estimate and I'll come take a look.
I come out, our crew builds
I look at every job myself, and our own crew does the work instead of a sub you've never met. The person who asked about your slope is the one who answers for how the wall gets built.
In business since 2013
We've been building flatwork, walls and foundations for 13 years, and I ran crews and pours for another contractor for years before that. Getting the ground and the base right before the concrete shows up is what we're known for.
Licensed, insured, happy to show it
We're licensed and fully insured, and we'll show you the paperwork at the estimate if you ask. In California, the state licensing board treats forming, pouring and finishing concrete as contractor work, so it's a fair question to ask anyone who bids your wall.
Retaining walls and the yard work around them in Redwood City
Before we dig, it's worth checking whether your lot sits in a mapped earthquake hazard zone. The California Geological Survey maps areas where the ground may liquefy, losing its strength and acting like a liquid in a strong earthquake, and you can look up whether your lot falls in one. Under the state's seismic hazard zone program, a property in a mapped zone may need that hazard investigated and reduced as part of getting a permit. Whether your wall needs a permit is up to your city or the county, and if it does, I'll tell you at the estimate and we'll handle the paperwork and inspections.
A lot of the walls we build sit at the back of a sloped yard or right beside a driveway, often with a tight side yard that means more hand digging. We see the same kind of hillside lots on jobs in San Carlos and Belmont, so we plan the access and where the dug-out dirt goes before the crew shows up.
Questions about retaining walls in Redwood City
How much does a concrete retaining wall cost in Redwood City?
Retaining walls in San Francisco usually cost about $20 to $60 per square foot, and that's a market range for walls in general, not our price. Where your wall falls depends on the height, length, digging, ground and drainage it needs, and you'll get our number for your wall at the estimate.
Should I build a poured concrete or block retaining wall?
Either can do the job, because both stand on a concrete footing with steel in them, so the footing under the wall matters as much as the face you see. A poured wall holds the slope through its own weight, the soil sitting on its footing and its stiffness against bending, while a block wall runs steel upright through the hollow cores and relies on the footing to keep it from tipping or sliding. I'll tell you which one fits your slope and budget at the estimate.
What causes a retaining wall to fail?
Poor drainage is by far the most common reason walls that hold back soil don't perform the way they should. Water piling up behind a wall can add a lot of load and push through as leaks, and later changes like new backfill or a driveway near the top can undo what the wall was designed for, even when the concrete is sound.
Does the soil change the cost of a retaining wall?
It can, by a lot. Poured walls do best on firm soil that bears weight well, and weak or settling ground may need piles, columns sunk down to firmer soil, or other work to improve the ground, which raises the cost significantly. That's one reason I look hard at the ground at the estimate.
How do I know what size footing my retaining wall needs?
The footing size, steel, depth and drainage should come from the project's design or a code that applies to it, because the wall's height alone isn't enough to size it. Groundwater, a driveway or building near the top, the slope above and earthquake shaking all push on a wall, so two walls the same height can need very different footings.
How do I keep my retaining wall draining?
Keep the weep holes and drain outlets clear, and keep surface water running away from the top of the wall. Weep holes, the small openings that let water out through the face, often stop working when they clog with poor backfill, plants, animals or trash.
Other concrete work that goes with a wall
A new floor slab for a garage, basement or outbuilding, poured on a dug-out, packed base instead of raked dirt that settles later.
Decking around the pool with a textured top for bare feet and a slope that carries splash and rain water off, not toward the house.
Cities we serve for retaining walls
Elite Redwood City Concrete is based in Redwood City, CA, and builds retaining walls up and down the Peninsula and into the South Bay. The 12 cities below have their own pages, from Menlo Park to Mountain View, and they're not the only places we work.
Get your retaining wall estimate started
Have the wall's rough length and height, a few photos of the slope and a note about any driveway or building near the top, and I'll come out knowing what to look for.
Redwood City, CA