Natural Stone Retaining Walls

Natural rock retaining walls come in all shapes, sizes, colors & styles. The specificities of your project will play a large role in determining the style and type of retaining wall that will fit your specific needs.

Each project is unique in its own way; every wall comes with its own unique set of variables such as heights, widths, slopes, styles, setbacks, engineering requirements just to name a few.

We pride ourselves on taking our time with each individual client to ensure we’re delivering the exact fit, function & esthetic they’re looking for.

Below we’ve put together a variety of options that we offer in regard to retaining wall styles, types & a few additional natural stone features we offer in addition to our natural stone services.

Should you have any questions or concerns, or if you would like to schedule a free consultation & quote please don't hesitate to contact us at 250 215-0218

Stepped Retaining Walls

Just as it sounds, stepped retaining walls abide by height restrictions designated by municipal building codes which state just how high they can be constructed before they must be set back prior to the next row being added. Stepped retaining walls are a cost effective alternative to costly engineered walls as they don’t require explensive planning rather just following basic city guidelines. Should you be looking for a retaining wall greater than the municipal bylaws, which typically are in the range of about 4 feet height, then you will need to have your wall professionally engineered.

Another consideration to account for when building a stacked retaining wall is that each level of the wall will need to be properly packed & tested by a licenced geotec in accordance with the municipal bylaws prior to adding each additional layer of the wall. Depending on how high you’re planning on building your wall, this can marginally affect price and timeline of your specific project.

As of the time this article was written, retaining walls in Kelowna, according to the city website are currently sitting at 1.2 meters of setback for every 1.2 meters vertical. That being said, just 1 km outside of Kelowna city center, West Kelowna's municipality has different retaining wall specifications & variances to please be sure to either contact us for a consultation or check with you specific municipality before beginning your project.

Vertical Retaining Walls

Vertical retaining walls or “engineered retaining walls” (in excess of municipal height restrictions) , are often used to maximise the properties surface while maintaining a great aesthetics. Vertical retaining walls, beit natural stone or block that have been professionally engineered and are not limited to the municipal bylaws such as stepped retaining walls as they must be professionally developed by third party firms in order to safely retain the specific loads they were designed for.

For example. In the Kelowna area any retaining wall that exceeds 1.2 meters in height, as stated in the municipal bylaws, must be an engineered vertical retaining wall to account for the excessive loads & stresses that accompany the larger walls. This is applicable to natural stone retaining walls, Allan Block, Basalite, etc.

Quality

While we recommend 99% of the time grade A retaining walls, there are certain situations where aesthetics are not as important and general function & a more cost effective solution is called for. We often come across properties that for instance back on the mountainside, or down an embankment where spending the time and money required in developing an aesthetically perfect natural stone wall would be wasted. We do offer solutions by means of different grades of retaining walls at different price points. If you’re looking for a simple pile of rocks to retain some dirt, protect / break a shoreline, etc - we can do that as cost effectively as possible for you.

Class A Stone Walls.

The highest standard of walls we offer, utilizing hand picked natural stones, size, fit, color, size all accounted for, every last gap & opening filled with custom made shims to achieve a superb, aesthetically pleasing & extremely durable final product.

Class B Stone Walls.

Still great looking walls with hand picked stones, only without taking the time to shim up every nook & cranny, This can be a cost saving option if you’re looking to save a few bucks as many homeowners will also like the rewards of placing the last final shims/touches on the end product as well.

Class C Stone Walls.

Hand picked stones are not so much of an option with Class C walls. Placement is still important however many jobs requiring these specific walls such as breakwaters and such can often do benefit from the jagged misshapen edges & layouts the random selection of rocks provides.

Rock Types

Blue Granite

By far the most popular & durable natural stone chosen by our customers. Depending on the size of your retaining wall, if it’s small enough we can sometimes even choose a select shade of rock from the same cut to get you an extremely uniform & aesthetically pleasing look & feel. Even though it’s called “Blue Granite” it often comes in varying shades such as blues, browns, marbled & brindle. Blue granite is readily available in a variety of sizes from 2 foot, 3 foot & 4 foot stone slabs at the same price point.

Mountain Ash

Mountain ash is the second most popular stone used in our retaining walls throughout the Okanagan. Lighter in color than granite, with a light brown almost blonde color profile. Our clients often find Mountain Ash an aesthetically superior option opposed to granite. Just like Granite, Mountain Ash is readily available in a variety of sizes from 2 foot, 3 foot & 4 foot stone slabs at the same price point.

Additional Features

While we specialize in natural stone retaining walls we do offer several additional services then lend themselves to the natural stone themes of our walls.

Stone & Concrete Stairs

We offer Natural stone staircases as well or concrete to cater to our most popular requests. Cornered, embedded, detached, we’re capable of developing any number of customized staircase solutions to fit your needs. While concrete staircases are self explanatory natural stone staircases are typically created using the Granite stones due to their strength & durability.

Natural stone firepits.

Another popular feature we often find ourselves constructing is natural stone fireplaces to match one of our newly constructed retaining walls. We’ve done some amazing work with our clients in designing eye-catching fire pits for entertaining large & small crowds alike.

Once again not unlike the natural stone stairs, we do recommend using the granite stones when building a natural stone fireplace as mountain ash can tend to crack easier due to the constand heating and cooling of running the fire pit.

Natural Stone Benches

Looking for something unique that will undoubtedly catch the eye of even the most discerning guests? A 5,000 lb handcrafted stone bench will most certainly make for an interesting conversation piece. Hand selected stones placed just right, both Granite and Mountain Ash are good choices for natural stone benches.

Natural stone Borders & edging

One of the most requested services of ours aside from retaining walls is borders & edging. Natural stones lend themselves perfectly to nature and achieve a high end look & feel either stand-alone or when tying into your existing retaining wall.

Driveway edging is popular especially prior to the pour so that the driveway itself conforms around the natural stones to create a seamless look.

Garden beds, walkways and paths are other great uses of natural stones. Pathways themselves constructed out of flat stones or both the edging and the path make for a great presentation.