Concrete retaining walls in Rialto CA - a wall that holds your slope and drains right

One comparison guide suggests block for most landscape grade changes, because it goes up faster with no forms and no curing time, and poured concrete when you want a solid one-piece face, a wall that takes up little room, a crisp formed line or a wall that also works as a foundation. A poured wall holds the soil either mostly by its own weight or, as a cantilever wall, with steel-reinforced concrete standing on a footing. I'll tell you plainly which one fits your slope when I'm out there.

Poor drainage is by far the most common reason retaining walls perform badly, and if nobody deals with it, that trouble can turn into a wall that fails outright. The other usual cause is the ground under the footing, since a wall can settle or tilt when that soil was poorly prepared or has layers of poor material in it. That's why it's worth asking every contractor who bids how they'll prepare it.

Poured concrete retaining wall construction in the San Bernardino area usually costs about $45 to $48 per square foot, which is the going rate around here and not our quote. Height, length, digging, drainage and permit work all move your number, and the estimate I write after seeing your slope lists what's included.

You apply through the city's Online Permit Center, and the Building Division checks through plan review and inspections that the wall follows California's building codes and the city's own rules. Grading work, the digging and reshaping of a slope, is permitted and inspected by the city's Engineering Department, and properties in mapped earthquake hazard zones for liquefaction or landslides may have to study and reduce that risk as part of permitting. Ask the city whether your wall needs a permit, and when we build it, we handle that part for you, here or in Fontana, Colton, San Bernardino and the other cities we work in.

A well-built retaining wall usually lasts decades, and one comparison guide says drainage decides its life more than whether it's poured or block. Drains that can be cleaned out tend to hold up better than weep holes, the small openings that let water seep through the face, because weep holes are likely to clog over the years. If yours has weep holes, have it checked when one runs much harder than the rest, since that can mean a leaking water line in the dirt behind the wall.

California has a concrete contractor license class that covers contractors who form, pour, place, finish and install concrete work, so that's the one to ask about before anyone pours your wall. We're licensed and fully insured, and I'm glad to go over that with you at the estimate.