Retaining Walls in Platte City, MO

A retaining wall in Platte City holds when its footing sits on the firm glacial till the Northland uplands are built on, the base is sized for the soil load pushing behind it, and the ground is drained before water can add to that push. Where the high ground gives way to Platte River bottom soil, the footing has to reach through the soft material to bearing.

Platte City is the seat of Platte County, spread between the courthouse ridge and the lower ground that runs toward the Platte River, the Fairgrounds, and the neighborhoods around Riss Lake and Platte Falls. That spread means a concrete retaining wall here can bear on very different soil from one lot to the next, so the design starts with what’s actually under it.

Drop off the uplands toward Todd Creek, the Platte River bottoms, or the low edges of Riss Lake, and the ground turns softer and the water table climbs. A wall fronting saturated soil takes the full hydrostatic pressure of the water banked behind it — a load it was never drawn for and the reason most walls on wet ground fail. So on the low lots we build the back of the wall to move water: a column of clean drainage aggregate against the face, a perforated drain wrapped in filter fabric along the footing, and weep outlets that daylight the water away. Getting it out is half of what a lasting wall in Riverside-style bottom ground is built to do, and it ties into how we handle storm drainage across a lot.