Drainage & Excavation · Nashville, TN
Retaining Walls & Erosion Control in Nashville
Holding a slope and draining behind it, because a retaining wall without drainage is a wall waiting to fail.
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Show us where the water goes
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Retaining Walls & Erosion Control in Nashville, Tennessee
Holding a slope and draining behind it, because a retaining wall without drainage is a wall waiting to fail.
Nashville's Drainage and Excavation does retaining walls & erosion control for homeowners across Middle Tennessee — licensed, insured, with the price in writing before the work starts. Drainage contractors who watch where the water goes before they dig, and give it somewhere to go.
Why homeowners call
Where the water usually gives itself away
- Standing water days after rain
- Water running toward the house
- Soggy patch that never dries out
- Crawl space or basement taking water
- Soil washing off a slope
- Downspouts dumping at the foundation
What is included
Pipe, stone and grade: what retaining walls & erosion control involves
- Drainage designed into the wall from the start
- Perforated pipe behind the base of the wall
- Free-draining backfill, not site soil
- Fabric separating backfill from native soil
- Weep holes or a drainage outlet provided
- Base course set below grade and compacted
- Geogrid on anything above a modest height
- Erosion control on the slope above
Retaining Walls & Erosion Control on the ground, from locates to backfill
A retaining wall holds back soil, but what actually pushes walls over is water. Saturated soil weighs far more and exerts hydrostatic pressure the wall was never designed for, which is why almost every failed wall has a drainage failure behind it.
The drainage goes in as the wall is built. It cannot be added afterwards without taking the wall apart, so a wall built without it is a wall with a fixed lifespan.
Free-draining backfill, not the clay that came out of the hole. Native soil packed behind a wall holds water against it exactly as the surrounding ground does.
Above a certain height a wall needs engineering and geogrid, and we will say so rather than building something taller than it should be.
Also available
More drainage and excavation work
French Drains
Perforated pipe in washed stone, wrapped and sloped properly, which is what separates a drain from a buried pipe.
Learn moreGrading & Regrading
Reshaping the ground so water leaves the house instead of collecting against it — usually the real fix.
Learn moreCatch Basins & Surface Drains
Collecting water where it pools and taking it somewhere it can actually go.
Learn moreDownspout & Gutter Drainage
Piping roof water well clear of the foundation, which is the single cheapest drainage improvement most houses can make.
Learn moreExcavation & Site Work
Footings, utility trenches, pads and site prep, with locates called before anything breaks ground.
Learn moreService area
Yards drained and graded across Middle Tennessee
We dig in Nashville and 64 more towns across 12 counties, and our equipment goes anywhere in Middle Tennessee that sits about an hour or closer to Nashville.
FAQ
Common questions about retaining walls & erosion control
Why do retaining walls fail, and what stops it?
Water behind the wall. Middle Tennessee clay holds it, it freezes and expands, and the pressure pushes the wall over. A wall built with drainage stone behind it, a perforated pipe at the base with somewhere to discharge, and weep holes or an outlet is a wall that stays standing. The drainage behind a retaining wall is not a detail; it is the wall.
How do you stop a slope from eroding?
Slow the water and hold the soil. A swale at the top to intercept runoff, terracing or a retaining wall where the slope is steep, erosion-control matting or blankets while vegetation establishes, and deep-rooted planting that holds the soil. Bare clay on a slope in a Tennessee thunderstorm moves; the fix is water management first and planting second.
Free estimate
Plan your retaining walls & erosion control with us
Show Nashville's Drainage and Excavation where the water collects after rain; our written estimate traces it to a discharge point and prices the fix.