Retaining Wall Projects in Moraga
Wood Retaining Walls with Concrete Stairs - Campolindo Neighborhood
This Moraga hillside property in the Campolindo neighborhood needed terraced retaining walls to create usable backyard space on a steep slope. We built six tiers of wood retaining walls ranging from 2 to 4 feet tall, each with steel I-beam posts for structural support.
The challenge: The property had significant elevation change from the house down to the lower yard. The homeowners wanted terraced planting areas but also needed safe, durable stairs to navigate between levels.
Why wood and concrete together: We used treated wood with steel I-beams for the retaining walls because it's cost-effective for residential terracing and gives a natural look that works well in Moraga's wooded hillside setting. For the stairs, we went with poured concrete instead of wood for three reasons: less maintenance, better aesthetics when combined with the wood walls, and concrete lasts longer in a high-traffic area where people are walking daily.
Drainage and timeline: As with most of our projects, we installed French drains behind each tier to handle water runoff. Without proper drainage, these terraced walls would fail within a few years as water pressure builds up behind them during winter rains. The entire project took two weeks from start to finish.
The combination of materials gave the homeowners exactly what they needed - functional terraced walls that hold the hillside and stairs that will last decades with minimal upkeep.