Retaining Walls in Candler, NC
Hold the hill where it is.
Candler is Hominy Valley: flat farm bottom along the creek and hillsides climbing away from it on both sides. Most of the new lots are on those hillsides, and every one of them has a cut bank somewhere. McKinley builds the block, boulder and riprap walls that hold those banks up, with drainage behind them so they stay put.
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Retaining walls in Candler
Candler builds up the hill, and the hill pushes back
Candler is unincorporated Buncombe County, strung out along US-19/23 and Smokey Park Highway between Asheville and Canton, with NC 151 running south toward Mount Pisgah. The valley floor was farmed for generations. The subdivisions of the last twenty years went in on the slopes above it, because that is where the land was.
A house on a Candler hillside means a cut. The drive is benched into the slope, and the pad is cut on the uphill side and filled on the downhill side. The bank left standing is where the wall work comes from. Some of those banks were never held at all. Others got a timber wall from the builder that is now leaning.
The bank beside the drive
The most common call is a cut bank along a gravel drive that keeps shedding dirt and rock onto it. Every hard rain brings a little more down, the ditch fills, and the drive narrows a foot a year. A wall at the toe of that bank stops it, and the drive gets its ditch back.
On a bank like that McKinley usually builds in boulders or stacked block, depending on how tall it is and what the slope above it is doing. Riprap armouring works where the bank is long and low and the problem is washing rather than slumping. He looks at the bank and says which.
Mobile home pads and the wall behind them
A lot of Candler housing is manufactured homes set on cut pads. The bank behind a pad like that is often close to the house and steep, and it has had years for water to work on it. When it starts to slump, the dirt ends up against the skirting and the water follows it under the home.
The fix is a wall with room to drain behind it: stone, perforated pipe and an outlet that carries water past the pad instead of into it. If the ground under the home is already wet, that gets handled in the same visit. See yard drainage in Candler for how that side of it works.
Drainage is most of why a wall lasts
Walls in the mountains rarely fail because the block was wrong. They fail because water built up behind them and pushed. Rain soaks in uphill, moves down through the soil, meets the wall and has nowhere to go. In winter it freezes and shoves harder.
So every wall M&S builds gets a drainage layer behind it, pipe at the base and an outlet that daylights somewhere below. That is standard, not an upgrade. A leaning wall that someone else built can often be taken out and rebuilt the same way, on the same line. If an old shed or slab is sitting in the way, demolition in Candler clears it first.
Permits, engineering and NC811
Candler is outside any town limits, so Buncombe County Planning & Development is the office to ask. The county's erosion control program covers land disturbance of an acre or more, and in a hillside subdivision that threshold drops to a quarter acre. Walls above a certain height need an engineer's design and a permit, and McKinley tells you when yours is one. Our retaining wall permit guide covers the rest.
Before any digging, NC811 asks for three working days to get member utilities marked. A well line, a septic line or a private water line is not on that locate, so show him where they run.
What a wall costs in Candler
The price is set by the length and height of the wall, the material and how much of the bank has to come out first. How close a machine can get matters too. A boulder wall beside a wide gravel drive is one job. A block wall tucked behind a house on a narrow lot is another, and the mini excavator does most of that work.
McKinley walks the bank with you, free, and gives one figure that includes the drainage behind the wall and hauling off what comes out. The retaining wall cost guide explains what moves the number. The main retaining wall page shows how the walls go together.
Retaining Walls
Block, boulder and riprap walls that hold a cut bank up, with drainage behind them so they stay.
See the serviceTalk to McKinley(828) 540-6856
Call or text McKinley with where the bank is, roughly how tall it is and what it is doing. He comes out and looks before he prices it.
Call nowWhat that covers
- Block walls. Segmental block for cut banks beside drives, pads and houses, with stone and pipe behind.
- Boulder walls. Stacked stone for taller banks and long runs along a drive.
- Riprap banks. Armoured slopes where the problem is washing, not slumping.
- Failing walls rebuilt. Leaning timber and block walls taken out and built again with drainage.
Candler, NC
West of Asheville along US-19/23 and Smokey Park Highway, mostly unincorporated Buncombe County with farms, mobile homes and new subdivisions on the hillsides.
Town pageAlso in CandlerDemolition in Candler, NC
See the pageAlso in CandlerYard Drainage & French Drains in Candler, NC
See the pageThe serviceRetaining Walls
Block, boulder and riprap walls that hold a cut bank up, with drainage behind them so they stay.
Main service pageCandler and the towns nearby
Candler is handled from Asheville, which is fifteen minutes east on US-19/23. McKinley builds walls on the same kind of cut banks in Asheville and on the mountain lots north of town around Weaverville, and he works west along the valley toward Canton as well. The Asheville service area page lists everything M&S does around Candler, from drives and pads to drainage and clearing, and the full service area page covers the rest of Western North Carolina and the Upstate.
You get McKinley. Not a crew he sent.
You call
You call or text. McKinley comes out and looks at the job with you, on the ground, rather than pricing it off a photograph.
A number first
You get one figure before anything starts, with the hauling and the finish grading in it.
He runs the machine
Then he shows up and runs the machine himself.
Ground left usable
Voids get filled, water is given a way out, and the ground is left so you can build, pour or seed.
Photos of his work.
These are photographs from actual jobs. See more recent work. Or read about the full retaining walls service.
Questions people ask
Not seeing yours? Call (828) 540-6856 and ask McKinley, or read the guides.
Do I need a permit for a retaining wall in Candler?
It depends on the height and what the wall holds up. Candler is unincorporated, so Buncombe County Planning & Development is the office. Walls above a certain height need an engineer's drawings and a permit, and McKinley tells you when yours is one. Smaller walls on a lot that is not being otherwise disturbed usually do not.
Can you replace a leaning timber wall?
Yes. Builder timber walls from the 1990s and 2000s are a common call in Candler. The old wall comes out, the bank behind it is cut back, and a block or boulder wall goes in on the same line with a drainage layer and pipe behind it.
What kind of wall is best for a bank beside a gravel drive?
Usually boulders or stacked block, depending on height. Riprap suits a long, low bank that washes rather than slumps. The slope above the bank and the room left on the drive decide it, and you get a recommendation on the site visit.
Does the wall need drainage behind it?
On a Candler hillside, always. Water moving down through the slope builds up behind a wall and pushes. Every wall M&S builds gets stone, perforated pipe and an outlet below, as part of the job rather than an extra.
How much does a retaining wall cost in Candler?
Length, height, material, how much bank has to come out and how close a machine can get set the price. The estimate is free and on site, and you get one figure with drainage and hauling in it.
Other work he takes on
Most jobs end up being two or three of these at once, and they get quoted together.
Retaining Walls in other towns
Gravel Driveways
A new drive cut into the hill, based in lifts and crowned to shed water.
Learn moreDriveway Repair & Grading
Washouts, ruts and potholes fixed at the cause, not just regraded.
Learn moreDrainage & Erosion Control
French drains, catch basins, culverts and riprap so the property sheds water.
Learn moreRetaining Walls
Block, boulder and riprap walls that hold a cut bank up.
Learn moreLand Clearing
Lots, building sites and overgrown acreage cleared, stumps and root mat out.
Learn moreHouse Pads & Site Prep
Pads cut, filled and compacted on ground that started at anything but level.
Learn moreFree estimate in Candler.
Where it is, how long the drive is, how steep it gets and what it is doing now. We come out, walk it, and give you a real number.
- Free on-site estimates across WNC and the Upstate
- One crew from clearing through to the last load of stone
- Drainage designed in, not sold to you afterwards
Need retaining wall work in Candler?
Call or text McKinley. He walks the ground before he gives you a price.