Highland Park / Retaining Walls

Retaining Walls in Highland Park

Retaining and seat walls for Highland Park and University Park lots, matched to the home and built with real drainage.

Highland Park and University Park backyards are mature and close-set, with old trees, established homes, and grade that tends to fall toward Turtle Creek or a low back corner. A retaining wall here is usually holding a slope so the yard sits level and water moves away from the house, or it is a seat wall or raised planter that has to read as part of an older property, not a new add-on. We build both into existing Highland Park yards and match the stone to what is already there.

Drainage is what makes or breaks a wall, and on the lots near Turtle Creek it matters even more, because a hard storm sends real runoff through these yards. North Texas clay swells when it gets wet and pushes against anything in its way, and the soil behind a wall holds rain and gets heavy. We build every wall to move that water out: clean gravel backfill behind it, weep holes or a perforated drain pipe at the base, and filter fabric so the soil does not clog the gravel over time. A wall without that drainage takes the full pressure and eventually leans, bows, or cracks.

Most of this work runs through a designer or landscape architect, and we build from their drawings while handling the structural and drainage side they rely on us for. On materials, natural stone, dry-stacked or mortared, is the usual choice in the Park Cities because it suits the older homes and ties into the limestone already on the property. Segmental block is the value option where the wall is doing heavy structural work and the face is hidden or screened. For the tallest load-bearing walls we pour concrete and finish it with a stone veneer so a structural wall looks like the rest of the yard. We bring samples and match the face to the home.

Height decides how involved the build is. Short walls under a few feet are straightforward. Past about 4 feet of retained grade, Highland Park and University Park want an engineered design and a permit before the wall goes in, because the soil load gets serious at that point. We flag where your wall falls, handle the engineering and permit coordination, and build to the stamped drawing. On the steeper lots we often terrace the slope into two or three shorter walls, which reads better on a traditional property and can keep each wall under the threshold.

Not every wall is structural. A low seat wall around a patio or a fire feature, usually 18 to 24 inches, adds built-in seating that matches the rest of the stone. Raised planter beds and short borders define a space without holding back much soil. Those are decorative, and they are a different build from an engineered wall keeping a slope off the house. We do both, and we will tell you which one the grade actually calls for instead of selling you the wrong wall.

Walls usually go in with other work. Building one alongside a pool tile replacement or an outdoor kitchen keeps the stone consistent and one crew on the job. For the full range of walls, walkways, and stone, see our stonework work, or compare retaining walls in Southlake. Fill out the form for a free on-site estimate. We measure it, we quote it.