Turning a Steep Backyard Into Space You Can Use

Plenty of backyards north of Boston have a piece nobody uses. A bank too steep to mow. A slope that drops away right where you would want a table and chairs. A hill that turns half the yard into scenery instead of space. A retaining wall is the usual answer, and it does two jobs at once. It holds the ground back, and it hands you level ground where there was none. Here is what that work involves, in plain terms, with real J&E projects as examples.

A retaining wall is structural work first

A retaining wall carries the weight of the ground behind it. That is real structural work, not decoration, which is why J&E has its own masons build them. Every course gets set to carry the load behind it and to stay true through freeze and thaw. A wall can look however you want it to look, but a wall that moves has failed at the only job that counts. Strong where it matters, clean where it shows.

The point is the level ground you get back

A steep or awkward grade does not have to go to waste. A well built wall levels the yard into terraces, garden beds, or a flat run for a patio, so land you had written off turns into the part of the property you use most.

In Woburn, the Central Residence project started as a steep, unsafe dirt and grass hill. Designed by Elizabeth Gourley Design and built by J&E, the finished yard carries a patio, retaining walls, a shed, and a pavilion where the hill used to be.

One wall or a set of terraces

A short slope often takes one wall. A longer or steeper one usually works better stepped down in tiers, with each tier holding its own space.

Forest Court in Winchester is the clearest example. Designed by Copper Beech Designs and built by J&E, it is a three level backyard: a paver basketball court on the lower level and a thermal bluestone terrace in the middle, all of it held by stone veneer retaining walls with bluestone caps, with a single piece granite staircase running between the levels.

Hillside Terrace in Woburn took the other route. That slope was steep enough to be a hazard, so J&E built four foot retaining walls and brought in fill to cut the grade down, then set a paver terrace on top with a wood burning fire pit. A granite staircase and walkway connect the driveway to the new space.

Water decides how long the wall lasts

Grading and drainage come first for a reason. Patios, walls, and lawns built on ground that drains hold their line for years, and the same work on ground that floods does not. Getting the excavation and the drainage right up front is what protects everything built on top of it. On a wall job that is the part nobody sees once the wall is up, and it is the part that decides whether the wall is still true years from now.

A wall that doubles as a feature

The right wall does more than hold soil. Seating walls, stone veneer faces, and steps built into the run turn a structural job into something the yard gets planned around.

At Willard Woods in Lexington, designed by Copper Beech Designs and built by J&E, natural stacked stone walls smooth out the yard and granite steps lead up to a bluestone terrace. That terrace has a custom seating wall that doubles as bench seating for the dining area, so the wall holding the grade is also the furniture.

What to settle before the build starts

Three questions do most of the work. What is the level ground for, since a dining terrace, a lawn for kids, and a garden bed are three different builds. How do people move from one level to the next, since steps belong in the plan rather than added after. And how should the wall face, in block, natural stone, or stone veneer, next to the house you already have.

If a designer or a landscape architect has drawn your plan, J&E builds to it. If you do not have a designer yet, J&E can match you with a design partner who fits the project. Either way, the wall, the steps, and the patio on top come from one crew.

Ready to reclaim the slope

Take a look at how J&E builds walls on the Retaining Walls page, and browse the wall and terrace projects in the portfolio. When you are ready, request your estimate or call J&E at 781-608-4425.