Highland Indiana Retaining Walls – Short Ranch Lot

A lot of people hear retaining wall and picture a tall wall on a slope. That picture misses most ranch lots in Highland, Indiana. The ground looks level from the street. Then you stand at the drive and see the lawn a few inches above the concrete. Retaining Walls in Highland often start with that small drop between the lawn and the walk.

So the wall stays short. Because the lawn sits higher than the pavement, rain can carry soil onto the concrete. After a wet week, dirt settles on the drive and the grass edge thins. People have called us about that. People have added mulch. They have reset loose brick edging. But people still find soil on the pavement after the next rain.

Retaining Walls in Highland for a Lawn Above the Walk

When you walk the lot, the lawn often sits above the public walk or the drive. At the pavement, you can see a step of a few inches. After rain, that step is where the dirt shows up. Mulch and soil have nothing solid to stop against.

We’ve pulled timber edging that had gone soft where it met the soil. The boards had started to fail. Then they tipped, and soil moved toward the pavement. A short concrete wall holds the soil at that edge. Retaining Walls in Highland stay low on these lots, because the grade change is small.

So even on a flat Highland lot, we build a low concrete wall for that small drop. The wall holds the soil so it doesn’t wash onto the pavement. After that, we measure the drop before we talk about height. When the lawn is only a few inches up, we keep the wall low. We dig a trench for the base and set forms for the face. Then we pour concrete that can hold the soil behind it. When water would sit behind that face, we leave a path for it to drain. Trapped water pushes on the wall.

When winter temperatures drop in Highland, wet soil can freeze and press on a weak edge. We’ve seen timber and thin block shift after those freezes. So a solid base and a drain path matter on these short walls. We talk through the layout with you so the face fits the yard.

Forms and Footings for Retaining Walls in Highland

For example, a cracked service walk can sit right against the new wall. When the driveway edge has settled, it can meet the new wall too. On the same visit we can replace that walk or a short curb where it meets the wall. You can see other finished concrete in our Photo Gallery.

For the wall itself, we form the face to the drop and to the look you want. We can leave the concrete gray so it matches an older walk. Colored concrete is an option when you want the wall nearer the house. Then we work through those ideas with you before the pour. Low walls like this sit with the rest of our retaining walls work.

Cabe’s Concrete is a family owned company, and our doors opened in 2006. More of that history sits on our About Us page. We build Retaining Walls in Highland as part of the residential work on these flat lots. Our crews handle the small grade changes on ranch yards in Highland, Indiana. We write each quote out line by line.

We source the concrete and the related products so we know what goes in the ground. Because they do it often, they can describe the finished face before the forms come off. After the pour, we strip the forms and clean up so the job looks finished when we leave.

Before we come out, note how high the lawn sits above the walk. Check whether soil reaches the pavement after rain. A soft or tipped timber edge matters too. So those notes tell us the run and the face height. Retaining Walls in Highland on ranch lots often follow the front walk or the drive edge.