Retaining Walls - St. Charles County
O'Fallon grew quickly from the 1990s on, mostly by grading farmland into subdivisions. Much of the ground under those yards is placed fill, and fill that wasn't compacted well settles for years afterward, often right behind a wall. Segmental block walls along back lot lines and common ground are everywhere. St. Charles County is also karst country with mapped sinkholes, so a wall that keeps settling in one spot is worth a closer look.
O'Fallon was one of the fastest-growing cities in Missouri from the 1990s on, and most of that growth came from grading farmland into subdivisions. Hilltops were cut, low spots were filled, and lots were terraced with segmental block along back lot lines and around common ground. So a lot of O'Fallon yards sit on placed fill rather than the original loess-capped ridges.
Fill that was placed in thin, well-compacted layers behaves fine. Fill that was pushed in fast settles for years, and a wall sitting on it or holding it back is the first thing to show it.
We often hear from O'Fallon homeowners whose houses are only ten or fifteen years old and whose walls are already leaning. Usually it's settling fill, a drain built to the bare minimum, or both. Before we recommend a reset we dig in to see what the base is sitting on and whether the drain ever worked.
St. Charles County is also karst country, with sinkholes mapped across it. Settlement in fill is far more common. But if a low spot keeps coming back in the same place, we'll recommend a geotechnical engineer before any rebuild.
Most new terraces here are block. Tall lot-line walls sometimes call for concrete, and larger lots suit boulder or stone features. Fenced yards make access part of every new wall plan.
Also working nearby, across the City of St. Louis and St. Louis, St. Charles and Jefferson counties:
Free, No Obligation
Tell us what the wall is doing and where it is. A side-on photo helps us figure out the problem before we arrive.