Ogden Dunes Indiana Retaining Walls for Dune Lots

Retaining Walls in Ogden Dunes hold the sand and the grade on a lot cut into the dune. That keeps the slope from sliding toward the house. If the pad sits below a cut face, the wall stands between loose sand and the siding.

Ogden Dunes, Indiana sits on dune sand, with the lake on one side and the park around the town. Builders cut lots so a house could sit level. When the cut is steep, loose sand moves downhill. After a hard rain, we have cleared fans of sand stacked against foundation walls. On a lake wind, more of that fine grain settles in the same low corners.

A timber wall or a short run of block can hold for a while. Then sand works through a gap, and the grade behind it drops. People call us when the soil line at the back of the house sits higher than it used to. A walk can tilt after the sand under it shifts. For this kind of lot, we pour a concrete wall.

Retaining Walls in Ogden Dunes and the Cut Behind the House

We start by reading the cut. Then we measure the height from the pad to the top of the dune. After that we see where roof water lands. So the new wall follows the grade you need to keep. If an old wall already leans, we note that before we dig.

Retaining Walls in Ogden Dunes go in after we dig the loose sand out of the cut. Then we look for a bottom that will carry a footing. Because dune sand can keep falling in while we dig, we brace the cut as we go. So we do not leave an open face overnight when the house sits close. After that we set forms and tie the steel before we pour.

That is the work we do as a retaining-wall contractor on these lots. So we hold the sand and the grade, and the house stays on the pad cut for it. When the same visit can cover a service walk that meets the wall, we form that with the pour. If an old wall has to come out first, the tear-out is part of the job.

Footings and Backfill for Retaining Walls in Ogden Dunes

The footing has to sit on sand that will not keep moving under the load. So we dig until the bottom of the cut is firm under a shovel. After we see the lot, we mark the depth on the quote.

Water is the other part of the job. But a wall with no outlet can still take a push from wet sand. So we leave a drain behind the wall, usually a pipe in washed stone. We run it to an open outlet or to a lower spot away from the house. Then we backfill in lifts and we do not dump all the sand against the wall at once.

Retaining Walls in Ogden Dunes also have to meet the rest of the lot. A service walk from the drive may land at the base of the wall. An upper walk along the top of the cut may need a small slab so sand does not track inside. When the grades work, we pour those walks with the wall.

You can look through our photo gallery of finished concrete work. The wall work is part of our concrete services for walls and flatwork. Cabe’s Concrete is a family owned and operated company. Since 2006 we have been pouring in northwest Indiana.

On a quote we write the wall out line by line. The lines cover footing size, wall height, the drain run, and how we backfill. So we do not inflate the material price to make a few extra dollars.

We have pulled out block walls in Ogden Dunes after the face tipped. Sand had sat against the siding. For that kind of failure, Retaining Walls in Ogden Dunes get a new footing and a new pour. We haul the old block off so the new pour has a clean cut.