Retaining walls built for Johnson City's hills and clay

How it works

1. Call or send a request

   Tell us the address and what the wall or slope is doing.

2. We connect you

   We pass it to an independent retaining wall builder that covers your part of Washington or Carter County.

3. They call you back

   The builder visits, measures and quotes you directly.

Who calls us?

Homeowners, landlords and small property managers in Johnson City, Elizabethton, Jonesborough, Gray and the farm roads in between. Johnson City had 71,046 residents at the 2020 census and sits at about 1,634 feet in an Appalachian valley, with Buffalo Mountain rising on the south side of town. Between the ridges, a lot of yards slope toward a creek or the street, and plenty of driveways were cut into a bank that something now has to hold.

What makes walls here different?

Northeast Tennessee sits in the Valley and Ridge region, and much of the bedrock under the Johnson City area is limestone and dolomite of the Knox Group. That rock weathers unevenly. An engineering paper on the city's Watauga River water intake described digging for bedrock and finding irregular, weathered limestone boulders sitting in residual soil instead. For a homeowner, that means two practical things:

• Dig-outs can surprise you. A footing trench may hit a boulder at one end and soft clay at the other, and a good builder adjusts the base rather than setting block on whatever is there.
• Clay holds water. The red and tan clay common in the valley drains slowly and gets heavy when it's soaked. Johnson City averages about 45 inches of precipitation a year, with summer usually the wettest season, so the soil behind a wall spends a lot of time wet.

Which wall types do builders use here?

• Segmental concrete block. Interlocking units stacked dry, with geogrid layered into the backfill once walls get taller. The everyday choice for backyards, driveway edges and patios. More on block walls.
• Natural stone. Dry-laid limestone or fieldstone, or a stone face over a block or concrete core. It suits older homes in the Tree Streets and around Jonesborough. More on stone walls.
• Poured concrete. Reinforced, usually engineered, and used where a wall carries real weight such as a parking pad or a garage.
• Treated timber and railroad ties. Common on older houses and subdivisions. Many of those walls are now rotting and leaning, and most owners replace them with block or stone. More on replacing timber walls.

Why do retaining walls fail around Johnson City?

• Water with nowhere to go. No gravel behind the wall, no perforated drain at the base, or a drain that's been crushed or silted shut. Wet clay pushes much harder than dry soil.
• A footing that was never right. Block set on loose fill or too little compacted stone settles unevenly, and the wall starts to tip.
• Too tall for what was built. A wall stacked higher than its block system allows without geogrid, or a timber wall without deadmen tying it back into the slope.
• Weight on top. Cars parked near the edge, a shed, a hot tub or fill added later.
• Age. Treated timbers lose strength as they rot, usually from the back and the bottom, where you can't see it.

Read more about repairing a failing wall.

What are the warning signs?

• The top of the wall leaning out past the bottom
• A bulge or belly partway along the face
• Blocks sliding forward, caps popping loose, or stones falling out
• Timbers that are soft, split, or have a gap opening behind them
• Muddy water or soil washing out of the joints or from under the base
• Cracks or a dip in the lawn, driveway or patio just above the wall

What did Helene change?

In late September 2024 the remains of Hurricane Helene put 7.56 inches of rain on Elizabethton, and on September 27 the Nolichucky River crested at 19.56 feet at Embreeville while the Watauga and Doe rivers rose through Elizabethton, according to National Weather Service figures reported by the Knoxville News Sentinel. Washington and Carter counties were both declared eligible for FEMA aid. If a wall or bank on your property was undercut or shifted in that storm, have it checked even if it looks stable now, because damaged footings tend to show up a season or two later.

Do I need a permit or an engineer?

Sometimes. Johnson City has adopted the 2018 International Residential Code, and that model code normally exempts retaining walls up to 4 feet tall, measured from the bottom of the footing, unless the wall holds back a surcharge such as a driveway, a building or a slope above it. Taller walls and loaded walls generally need a permit and an engineered design. Jonesborough, Elizabethton and the unincorporated parts of each county have their own offices, so confirm with the one that covers your address. The Johnson City retaining wall guide walks through the details.

Are you a retaining wall company?

No. Johnson City Retaining Walls is a referral service. We connect you with an independent builder that works in your area, and that builder designs, prices, builds and stands behind the job. Before you sign anything, read our tips for hiring a wall builder.

Areas we cover

• Johnson City
• Elizabethton
• Jonesborough
• Gray

Planning ahead? Read our Johnson City retaining wall guide.