Top Retaining Walls Christchurch builds low garden retaining walls all over Christchurch. These are the small jobs, usually 300mm to 900mm high, that turn a sloping lawn into two flat usable levels or hold a raised bed in place. They are quick, they do not need consent when there is nothing loading them from above, and they change how a back yard works more than people expect.
Sleepers give you the cleanest lines and suit a modern garden. Pole and rail costs least per metre and suits longer runs. Keystone block gives you curves, because segmental blocks step around a radius in a way straight timber cannot. Schist or basalt costs the most and looks like it grew there.
On a small wall the material choice is mostly about looks, since almost anything will hold 600mm of soil. That changes the moment the wall goes over a metre.
| Typical height | 300mm to 900mm |
|---|---|
| Materials | Sleepers, pole and rail, Keystone block, schist or basalt |
| Consent | Not needed under 1.5m with no surcharge above |
| Drainage | Metal, coil and geotextile, same as a full height wall |
| Build time | One to two days on most garden runs |
| Curves | Segmental block or stone, not straight timber |
People are often surprised we put a drain coil behind a knee high wall. Wet soil weighs roughly twice what dry soil weighs, and a garden bed you water all summer stays wet. That water has to go somewhere, and if it cannot get out through the back of the wall it pushes on the face and soaks the timber.
Drainage on a small wall costs very little because the trench is short. Rebuilding a rotted wall in eight years costs the whole job again.
The most frequent one is a back lawn that falls away by half a metre. One wall across the middle gives you a flat lawn and a planted bank, and it usually takes a day.
Second most common is the strip beside a driveway where the neighbour's lawn sits higher. Those need care, because a car parked on the driveway near the top of the wall counts as a surcharge and changes what the wall has to do.
Every wall we build gets drainage. At least 300mm of clean free draining metal, a perforated coil at the base running to a real outlet, and geotextile over the top so silt cannot block it. It is not an optional line on our quotes.
Yes. A lot of our work is 6m to 12m of low wall. Small jobs get the same drainage detail as big ones, which is the part that decides whether it is still straight in ten years.
Segmental block like Keystone steps around a curve neatly, and so does stone. Straight timber rails cannot, though we can build a curve as a series of short straight facets.
Around New Zealand, low timber walls commonly sit between 300 and 500 dollars a lineal metre installed, with block higher. Access, digging conditions and how far we cart spoil all move that, so we price it properly on site.
Our old wall was rotten right through and leaning into the neighbour's place. They pulled the lot out, put proper drainage behind the new one and had it finished in three days. Swept the site clean every afternoon before they left too. Tidiest crew we have ever had here by a long way.
They sorted the consent, which was the bit I was dreading. Dealt with the council so I never had to, and kept me in the loop the whole way through. The driveway sits right above it and has not shifted a millimetre.
Steep section, shocking access, and they still made it look easy. They suggested two smaller walls instead of one big one, which saved us thousands in engineering fees. The terrace in between is now my favourite part of the whole garden.
Call [PHONE] or answer three quick questions. The site visit and the written quote cost you nothing.
