The Gravity Conflict:
Why Standard Walls Lean

A retaining wall isn't just a vertical garden border. It is a structural dam holding back thousands of tons of wet Earth. Most Richmond retaining walls fail because they were built as cosmetic items rather than engineered structures.

When Richmond's clay soil becomes saturated, it exerts Hydrostatic Pressure—water weight that pushes outward with immense force. If your wall doesn't have a specific drainage chimney, that pressure will eventually rotate the wall face forward. Our engineering protocols are specifically designed to address Piedmont Clay dynamics.

The Evergreen Engineering Stack

We build walls that are physically incapable of failing. Our "Stack" includes:

• Integrated French Drains: Perforated PVC pipes at the heel of the wall to move water away before pressure builds.
• Biaxial Geogrid Reinforcement: For any wall over 36 inches, we install layers of high-tensile mesh that extend into the backfill, pinning the wall face to the mountain.
• Over-Sized Footings: We excavate deep trenches filled with 12 inches of compacted #57 stone to create a rigid foundation for the first course.

"Retaining walls are the most dangerous structures in residential construction. We treat every 4-foot wall like it's holding up the neighborhood."

Slope Mastery & Terracing

For properties with steep grades (15% to 45%), a single massive wall is often less effective than a Terraced System. We design multi-tier "steps" that transform unusable hillsides into functional outdoor rooms. This approach reduces the load on any single structure while maximizing your usable square footage.

Material Science: SRW vs Timber

Timber walls rot in the Richmond humidity within 10 years. Our Segmental Retaining Wall (SRW) systems use high-PSI concrete blocks that will last 100+ years. They are physically locked together with pins or mechanical lips, ensuring they never shift.