Concrete block walls in College Station TX - a wall built for the job it has to do

Most folks call me with one of two problems, a yard that's open to the street or a slope that keeps creeping toward the house, and which one you've got moves the price and the schedule more than anything else. A wall that holds back soil needs an engineer's design before we build, plus more steel and grout, so it costs more and takes longer to get going, while a freestanding wall mostly comes down to its length, its height and how it's finished on top. Taller walls also bring a city permit, and we sort that out before we start so it's part of the plan. Your written estimate spells out the work and the materials, so you can see what's driving your number.

The first thing I ask is whether the wall will hold back soil, because that answer changes who designs it and how we grout and reinforce it. Once the layout is set, our crew digs and pours the footing, lays the block in mortar and stands steel in the cores wherever the plan calls for it. The block industry's grouting guide says a wall can be partially grouted, with grout only in the cores that hold steel, or solidly grouted with every core filled, and that when the steel is spaced close together, filling every core may be faster and more economical, so the steel layout shapes both the labor and the price. The same industry says exposed walls above ground typically need control joints, sealed vertical breaks that let the wall move as it shrinks, though walls with enough horizontal steel may not, and I'll tell you which way we're going on yours before we start. Then we cap the top of the wall.

Some jobs reach past a single wall. If the block is going below ground to carry a house or an addition, that's foundation block wall installation, with its own loads and its own plan, and if you're putting a grill and counters out back, we can build the block base and the brick or stone around it as outdoor kitchen masonry.

In College Station, the city issues building permits for retaining walls over two feet tall and for walls of brick, stone or concrete over six feet, and a retaining wall also has to be designed by a professional engineer, with the plans signed and sealed by an engineer registered in Texas. That design step goes into your budget and your schedule before any block shows up, because the engineer's plans set the wall's dimensions and how we build it. When the permit is ours to pull, we pull it and set up the inspections, and for a shorter wall I check what the city wants at your address before we dig rather than guess.

Most of the block walls we build around here are privacy walls along back lots that face a road, screen walls around patios and equipment, and short walls where a yard steps down. We get the same calls on jobs in Bryan and Navasota, and since each city has its own rules, I check them the same way.