Soil sliding into your yard or an old wall starting to lean? We build a poured wall designed for your site, with drainage planned behind it.
A concrete retaining wall in Lake Charles is a poured wall that holds back soil and the weight sitting on top of it, so a sloping yard stops slumping toward your patio, driveway or house.
People usually call us when a slope slumps a little more after every hard rain, when an old wall has started to lean, or when the yard falls away right where they'd like a level spot for a patio. The price mostly turns on the wall's length and height, what the design calls for under and behind it, how firm your ground is, and whether an old wall has to come out first. The schedule turns on checking what permit your address needs, rain around pour day, and curing, the wait while fresh concrete gains strength before we backfill against it. Your own figure comes from the estimate, where I measure the slope and write down everything that's included.
I come out to your house, walk the slope, measure and write up what's included before you decide. Once the job starts, our own crew does the work and I'm on site while it's going on, so the person who quoted your wall is the one watching it go in.
I started this business in 2021 to work on homes people already live in. We set forms around fences and flower beds, and before we start we settle who hauls the old pieces, where you'll park and how we'll get equipment to the slope.
We're licensed and fully insured, and every quote spells out the design, the drainage and the cleanup, so you can hold it next to anyone else's. Your satisfaction, guaranteed. Call (337) 549-5674 or use the form below to set up a visit.
Send your address, the wall's rough length and height and a few photos of the slope through the form, by email at sales@lakecharlesconcretecompany.com or by calling (337) 549-5674, and we'll reply within one business day. I'll come out to look and measure, then write up what's included, free and with no obligation to book.
Depending on your address, the permit question goes either to the city's Permit Center, which reviews plans for new construction and alterations and issues building permits, or to Calcasieu Parish, which requires permits before any type of construction. Very little of the parish sits outside the 100 or 500-year flood plain, and the parish requires a permit before work starts in any Special Flood Hazard Area. Whether your wall needs a permit isn't something I'd guess at, so the Permit Center at 337-491-1294 is the place to ask which office covers your address. We check with that office before work starts, and when a permit's needed we handle the paperwork or walk you through it.
The ground is the other thing that changes a wall here. South Louisiana soils can cause foundations to settle, which is why the parish strongly recommends a geotechnical engineer for soils testing and a structural engineer or architect for foundation design. One state highway manual on wall design says a poured cantilever wall, the kind with a footing that reaches out under the soil, suits ground that carries weight well, and where the ground settles it may need piles or other foundation work, which raise the cost a lot. Around Lake Charles we usually see low, flat yards that hold water after a heavy rain, so I look at where your water goes before anything else. We work the same way in the cities around it, including Sulphur and Moss Bluff, and over the line in Orange, TX, and if your city isn't listed on the site, ask us.
A 3 ft. high poured concrete retaining wall in Lake Charles, including excavation, backfill and reinforcement, usually costs about $35 to $38 per square foot. That's the going rate around here, not our price, and it leaves out removing an old wall, curved walls, stamped or colored concrete, brick, walls taller than 3 ft and yards with challenging soil. I'll measure your wall and write up what yours includes.
Compare the design behind each quote, not just the wall's height. The footing, the steel, how deep the wall sits in the ground and the drainage all come from a design for your site, so two quotes for the same height can describe very different walls. Ask each contractor what's included under and behind the wall, and where the drain outlets will exit.
Water pressure behind the wall is a big one, because it can greatly increase the load on the wall and cause leakage. Changes made later, like swapping out the backfill, adding a driveway near the wall or letting water build up behind it, can undo the design even when the concrete itself is strong.
The state licensing board says home improvement projects over $7,500 must be bid or performed by a registered home improvement contractor or a licensed contractor. Projects of $50,000 or more, or projects with any structural work, must be bid and performed by a licensed Residential Building Contractor. It's fair to ask any contractor which one they hold before you sign.
Yes, we can take out an old wall and build a new one from a design for your site. The parish advises checking with the building official and floodplain administrator before repairs, rebuilding or demolition, since each locality has different requirements, so that's part of the permit check we do first.
