The Texas Hill Country is named because of all the elevation changes that occur within it, especially along the minor and major rivers that run through it. These rolling hills and steep slopes make for beautiful scenery but they can be a challenge to navigate and inhabit. For this particular project the clients needed to create an easy way to use the space below their Guadalupe riverfront home so we decided to construct several walls in order to terrace the steep slope.
We used large dry-stack limestone blocks because of their individual bulk and weight, but since this is an area that is prone to flooding we used mortar instead of just dry stacking as an added measure of stability for the walls. We poured deep concrete footings and added dead men to tie back into the side of the slope to act as extra anchors for the wall. We offset each of the courses of block slightly which makes for a stronger more stable wall.
There were several large pecan trees on site that we had to include in the terracing. The trees suffer when backfilled with too much soil so in order to prevent smothering any roots we created planters around them using the same limestone block. Once the planters were finished it became easy to see how they added not only to the aesthetics of the project but also functionality since they can be used for extra seating or to hold drinks, and yard art.
Once the walls on each level were completed, we backfilled them with soil and then topped them with decomposed granite. Three large, flat areas were created for various types of outdoor living and all are easy to reach via newly enlarged flagstone steps leading from the house to the river.
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