Concrete retaining walls in Northport AL - a wall that holds your slope and drains
Is your yard sliding, washing out or crowding the house? We pour walls with a drainage plan behind them so the ground stays put.
- Licensed and fully insured.
- Free in-person estimates.
- We respond within 1 business day.
Do you need a poured retaining wall, or will something simpler do?
A concrete retaining wall is a wall poured in place that holds back the push of the soil and water behind it, and in Northport, AL we build them where a slope is washing out, creeping toward the driveway or eating up yard you'd rather use.
Most calls start with a bank that sheds mud onto the driveway after every storm, or a yard that drops off too close to the house. The price moves mostly with how tall and long the wall is, how much drainage goes behind it, whether poured concrete is even the right call for your slope, and how easy it is to get a truck and forms to the spot. The schedule turns on the permit, the weather on pour day and the cure, which is the wait while the concrete gains strength before we put dirt back against it. If you need a way up the slope, concrete steps can be part of the same job. The written estimate lists what's included, so your own figure is on paper before anything starts.
How can you tell a slope needs a retaining wall?
Mud washing onto pavement
After every hard rain you're shoveling dirt off the driveway or the walk. That usually means the bank is too steep to hold itself, and each storm cuts it back a little closer to whatever sits at the top.
An old wall leaning out
A wall that's tipping forward, bulging or cracking in a stair-step line is losing to the pressure behind it. Waiting usually turns a rebuild into a teardown plus a cleanup once it finally lets go.
Soggy ground at the bottom
A wet strip, moss or a dark stain along the foot of a slope or wall means water is working through the ground there. Left alone, it softens the soil a wall sits on and can find its way toward your foundation.
How we build a concrete retaining wall
First I figure out whether your slope really needs poured concrete or whether a block wall would do the job for less, and if block will do, I'll say so. If it's poured, the plan for getting water out from behind the wall comes before anything else, and that usually means gravel behind it, a drain pipe along the bottom and weep holes, small openings through the face that let water out. Then our crew digs out and packs the base so the footing, the wide bottom the wall stands on, sits on firm ground, and we set the forms and the rebar, steel bars that tie the wall to its footing and keep it from cracking under the load. We pour, let the concrete cure and backfill once it's strong enough to take the push. The drainage is the part you never see once the dirt's back, and it's the first thing people want to trim from the budget, but it decides whether the wall still stands straight years from now, so it's the last place I'd cut.
Walls often come with other work. Cutting a flat spot into a hill for a shed or workshop usually means a wall on the uphill side and concrete floor installation inside it, and we can plan both from one visit. A pool on sloped ground often needs a wall to hold the bank so the concrete pool deck beside it has steady ground under it.
Poured concrete wall
A wall formed and poured in place, with steel inside and drainage behind it. It suits bigger grade changes, tight spots with no room for a wide wall, and walls that hold up a driveway or patio edge, and it costs more than block.
Stacked block wall
Manufactured concrete blocks stacked without mortar that hold the soil mostly by their own weight. It suits shorter yard and garden walls where there's room for it, and it's the option I'll point you to when it'll do the job.
Get a written estimate for your retaining wall
Send the form and we'll reply within one business day to set a time. I come out, measure the slope and look at the ground, then you get a free written estimate with no obligation.
(205) 756-6874- Based in
- Northport, AL 35476
- Hours
- Mon–Fri: 7 AM–10 PM, Sat–Sun: 6 AM–11 PM
What happens when you call about a retaining wall in Northport?
Here's how a wall job runs from your first call to the final walk-through, and who you'll deal with at each step.
Call or send the form
I come out to measure, look at the ground and talk through what you want the wall to do. Show me where the water runs when it rains, since that shapes the drainage plan.
Get your written estimate
The estimate is written out so you can see what's included, from digging and drainage to the pour and cleanup. You know the number and what it covers before you decide anything.
Set a date and permit
Once you say go, we set a date and take care of the permit side. Rain on pour day can push the date, since we don't pour into a storm.
Pour, clean up, walk through
Our crew forms and pours the wall, and once it has cured and the forms come off, we backfill and clean up. Then we walk the finished wall with you.
Why Northport homeowners call Northport Concrete for retaining walls
I write every estimate myself
I come out to your house in Northport or nearby, look at the slope and write the estimate myself, and our own crew does the forming, pouring and finishing with me on site for the pours. You deal with the same people from the first visit to the last load of gravel.
Building for lived-in homes since 2017
I learned concrete on new-construction crews and started this business in 2017 to work on homes people already live in. That means planning around your driveway, your plants and your neighbors, and leaving the yard the way we found it.
Insured for digging near your house
We're licensed and fully insured. A wall job means heavy digging and forms close to your house and your property line, so that coverage matters here more than on most jobs.
On a wall, what's behind it and under it counts more than the face you see. Tell us about your slope and I'll come out and take a look. Your satisfaction, guaranteed.
Planning a retaining wall with the City of Northport
With a few exceptions, Northport requires a permit for all new construction and alterations inside the city limits or its police jurisdiction, and the city's Chief Building Official handles them. The city's zoning ordinance defines a structure in a way that leaves out retaining walls and terrace walls, but that doesn't settle whether your wall needs a permit, so call the Chief Building Official at 205-333-3027 if you want it answered for your address. We check which office covers your property, and when the job needs a permit, we handle the paperwork and set up the inspections.
If you're thinking about building it yourself, Alabama's home builders law exempts homeowners working on their own home for their own use, but claiming that puts at risk your rights under the law, including filing a consumer complaint and getting paid from the Homeowners' Recovery Fund. We're based in Northport and see the same calls on jobs in Tuscaloosa and McCalla, mostly sloped lots where a driveway or patio was cut into the hill and the bank behind it keeps creeping down.
Questions about retaining walls in Northport
How much does a concrete retaining wall cost in Northport, AL?
A poured concrete retaining wall in the Tuscaloosa area usually costs about $27 to $39 per square foot of wall face, installed. That's the going rate around here, not our price, and wall face means the side of the wall you see. Taller walls, more drainage and hard-to-reach spots push it up, and our written estimate gives you your own number.
How do I know if my retaining wall needs an engineer?
Height is usually what decides it. One Illinois extension author writes that a landscape contractor can build most walls under four feet tall, while taller walls often need an engineer to look at the site. If yours will run taller than that, budget for the engineer's review, and I'll tell you on the estimate visit if I think it needs one.
What causes a retaining wall to fail?
Water, most of the time. Most retaining walls fail because water or moisture builds up in the soil behind them and pushes on the wall until it leans, bulges or cracks. That's why the drainage plan comes first on every poured wall we build.
Do weep holes in a retaining wall get clogged?
They can. Researchers found that traditional weep holes are likely to clog over the life of a wall, and that drains built to be cleaned out work more reliably. Ask any contractor how you'd clear the drain behind your wall, and we'll talk through the options when I come out.
What should a concrete retaining wall sit on?
Firm, packed ground. A wall is only as good as what's under it, so it should sit on sound, compacted base, such as leveled and packed earth or gravel fill. Where the ground won't hold or keeps settling, the wall may need piles, posts driven down to firmer ground, or work to improve the soil, and piles add a lot to the cost.
How tall can a block retaining wall be?
There's no set number. One block maker's technical note says stacked block walls that hold by their weight don't have a typical maximum height, because the limit depends on each site's soil and the shape of the slope. That's one more reason I look at your ground before saying whether block or poured concrete fits.
Related concrete work around a new wall
Concrete floor installation
A level slab for a workshop, storage building or added room, poured on a base we dig out and pack so it stays flat.
Concrete pool decks
Worth adding when your pool sits near a slope, so the deck around it gets firm, level ground and sheds water where you want it.
Service areas for concrete retaining walls
Northport Concrete is based in Northport, Alabama, and builds retaining walls in Tuscaloosa and McCalla too. Those are the 3 cities with their own page here, and we work in other cities around them as well.
Northport, AL
Get your retaining wall estimate started
Call (205) 756-6874 or use the form with the wall's rough length and height and a few photos of the slope, and the first visit goes quicker.