A retaining wall should solve a problem—without creating a new one In Munster and across Northwest Indiana, retaining walls often do double duty: they manage grade changes and water flow while also defining outdoor living spaces. The catch is that walls fail most often for the same reason homeowners request them in the first place—water and soil pressure. If you’re comparing retaining wall builders, focus on construction details (base prep, drainage, reinforcement, and freeze-thaw resilience) as much as you focus on the block style. What a retaining wall is really doing (and why it matters) A retaining wall isn’t just “stacked block.” It’s a soil-support system that resists lateral pressure from backfill, surface water, groundwater, and seasonal freeze-thaw movement. The wall may also support extra loads (a driveway, patio, fence, hot tub, or slope staircase). Those forces determine whether your wall needs reinforcement like geogrid, a larger base, better drainage, […]