A terraced wall is a series of two or more shorter retaining walls stepped up a slope with level planting or usable space between them, instead of one tall wall taking the full elevation change at once.
Breaking a slope into terraces spreads the total soil load across multiple shorter walls rather than concentrating it in one tall structure, which reduces the pressure any single wall has to resist and often keeps each wall below the height where engineering and reinforcement requirements get more demanding and more expensive. Terracing also opens up usable flat ground at multiple levels on a slope instead of just one strip at the bottom, which is often the more practical answer on a steep lot even before cost or engineering enters the picture at all.
A lot of the lots we work on around Fancy Gap and the steeper parts of Carroll County have enough grade change that one wall tall enough to hold it all would be impractical to build and awkward to live with day to day. Terracing those slopes into stepped walls, each with its own drainage and batter, usually gives a homeowner more usable yard, easier maintenance access, and a better-looking result than one massive wall trying to do the whole job at once, and it spreads the freeze-thaw exposure across walls that are each easier to maintain over time.
More masonry vocabulary from the glossary.
The services where this term comes up.
Chelo's Brick & Stone serves Hillsville, Galax, Wytheville, Fancy Gap, and Independence, VA. Call for a straight answer and a free on-site estimate.
