Your sloped yard is washing away every time it rains. The hillside is eroding, taking your landscaping investment with it. Half your backyard is unusable slope that just keeps getting worse.
Professional retaining wall installation for Dayton, Ohio—engineered solutions that stop erosion, create usable space, and protect your property for decades.
Create usable, level spaces on steep or sloping properties.
Prevent soil erosion and protect your landscape investment.
Elevated garden beds for better drainage and visual interest.
Multi-level outdoor living spaces on challenging terrain.
Structural support for driveways on sloped properties.
Level ground for pools, patios, and outdoor entertainment.
Engineered modular blocks designed for strength and durability. Available in multiple colors and textures.
Timeless beauty with natural stone—limestone, sandstone, or fieldstone for a rustic, custom look.
0:00 [Music]
0:04 What's up, guys? I'm Abner Cable with Cable Bros Outdoors, and we're here doing an install project in the back, putting a wall and some steps in and a pathway. So, yeah, I wanted to show it to you.
0:19 So, this retaining wall is needed for that sidewalk. I don't know if you can see, there's a sidewalk up there and then a bed. And with as steep of a slope here, if it was just a sharp, steep slope, all this stuff would just eventually erode away and just end up down there. And then you'd lose your sidewalk, and the next thing you know, it's eroding up to the house.
0:39 They originally had a retaining wall here with a hot tub pad, and that wasn't installed properly. I don't know how many years ago that was installed. So we tore that out and then put in these limestone boulders.
0:46 You ready to break up the first portion of the wall? Pretty much, I am. Okay, start at it.
1:11 How does that make you feel? What? How does that make you feel?
1:15 Satisfied. This thing was installed wrong, so we're going to do it right. That's right. Let's do it.
1:25 Malachi, what's this?
1:27 Wire. It came to the old hot tub here, I'm guessing. Yeah. Yeah, I hit it with the excavator.
1:34 I thought we had an agreement: we don't hit stuff.
1:38 Well, I didn't sign that agreement, did I?
1:46 We got our No. 2s and No. 57s backfilled in here. The 57s will help keep dirt from coming in, and the 2s will help with drainage and to fill any gaps in. So we got our second layer coming in up here.
2:04 We ended up doing one step-up right here because our bottom layer was getting completely buried. So it didn't make sense to keep burying it up there with our grade change. So then we just started with the second layer. So we're going to get this layer in today. Right, Malachi?
2:20 That's right. And start on the third layer. Looking forward to it. All right, let's do it.
2:33 Okay, guys. See our scary setup here.
2:38 Got a path here that's barely wide enough for the skid loader to fit down. But yeah, we have to put dirt behind this wall.
2:53 Barely can turn around, but we can do it.
3:08 A lot of times you see natural stone walls, and a lot of boulders will be cockeyed, not level and whatever. And so I'd say the most unique thing about this one is how we have everything level so that it's appealing to the eye.
3:24 What we want the customer to see when this project is complete is a clean, tidy wall that still looks natural and matches the stone on the house as much as possible.
3:33 So this will be mulched a certain width out, and then the woods will grow back in, because originally the woods were already up close to the wall. We just had to tear it out to get this in.
3:49 Then a clean landscape up above where they can use it, plant any plants they want, and not just have a bare slope around their house that they can't mow or landscape.
3:59 Okay, I'm going to make Malachi talk on this one.
4:02 Well, so what are we doing down this hillside? So, as you can see, someone decided to go the non-natural route and put in railroad ties.
4:10 Well, is that going to last very long? No, of course not. I mean, not as long as steps should, anyway. So we are going to put in natural stone steppers.
4:25 They're out there. You can't really see them because they're out there a ways, but limestone steps all the way down to this fireplace down there. I don't know, is there 40, 43 steps? Something like that.
4:37 So, yeah, I guess we'll get to it.
4:54 [Music]
5:02 Hey, guys, look at this animal that I've seen on our job site. See, you can kind of see it through the leaves there.
5:10 Go see if we can't get closer before it runs away here.
5:22 Oh no, this is scary.
5:24 It's a constant hill going up, but there's not enough to just do steps the whole way. So we did two steps with No. 8s in between. We have fabric going underneath this stuff.
5:32 And then up there, we jumped up to doing four steps because our grade was changing fast enough.
5:44 I like to keep things as even as possible, as far as consistent with the grade. So there's an area somewhere up in here where we could have used three steps; I have two. I want to keep two as long as possible because when people are walking up steps, not paying attention to steps, I don't want them to trip and fall.
6:01 So we end up just using boulders. That one still needs leveled off yet, but we just use boulders to help retain soil so we can change the grade, so we can keep it as consistent as possible.
6:15 You can see for yourself that the wall is just beautiful. The old retaining wall was actually leaning so bad that it was going to fail at any minute.
6:22 And they had this idea about putting these big limestone boulders. And at first I was a little skeptical and not so sure what that would look like.
6:33 But after seeing it, it's just beautiful. So natural, and they don't wobble at all.
6:42 I've walked across the top of the wall, and they're locked in pretty well.
6:47 Our goal with these projects is connecting busy clients with the outdoors, a way to get away from just wasting time on your phone, your screens.
6:56 Enjoy being able to spend family time with their families outside, where they can hang out in a peaceful environment.
7:10 [Music]
7:17 They communicate well. They do what they say they're going to do.
7:21 And that's kind of rare in this business.
0:00 [Music]
0:04 No retaining wall and steps going in. Few other things, you know, we're going to focus on retaining wall and steps. Replace this retaining wall. Put three natural stone Indiana limestone steps.
0:16 [Music]
0:26 We generally start with half of the block underneath the soil to help for stability, but as you can see, as the grade changes, it ends up where the block ends up being mostly buried. And that just helps from the bottom ever kicking out.
0:44 And then these blocks are all filled with gravel. And then the cap is glued on. So everything's tied together so it's not going anywhere.
0:52 This wall we did not use geogrid because of how short it is. But if I would have gone one or two courses higher, I would have put geogrid to help keep the wall from falling out. But since it's this short, it's stable enough. It's not going to have a problem with that.
1:14 [Applause]
1:15 So three of the things that people tend to do wrong on retaining walls is base, drainage, and geogrid.
1:23 I usually like to aim for six to nine inches of base, one inch of nines, and then my block. And then as you can see, we have these drain guards here. There's another one down there and one down there.
1:46 So on the second layer, we have our drain going through because, of course, it wouldn't work on the bottom layer because there's no outlet. But on the second layer, we have it. And then we have our drain line going along the backside with slope going down to each one of those drains.
2:01 If any water builds up back there, it will flow out. And of course, the importance of packing your subgrade, subsoil, and your base is very important, and making sure you get the bottom layer level.
2:13 And then a step up here. There's two different step ups. I call this an underground step up where we have a bottom layer here, and then it disappears. What we do is we then build up our gravel and we run another course. This is our bottom course here.
2:32 And then you just keep doing that. Whenever your grade is really steep, you just keep stepping it up.
2:38 This is an outside step up. This is just to hold soil because if we would have done this layer all the way up there, the yard would have just covered it up and it wouldn't look right. So, did a second story.
2:53 All right, let's see if we can do this one-handed. Carry this back to the gas.
3:01 [Music]
3:06 So far, the water was turned right off of that. Who was on the excavator? It was me. Hey, hello me.
3:14 [Applause] [Music]
3:22 Okay, guys. I want to show you what it's like to put in a bottom step.
3:28 We put our pavers in here to hold our nines in because we're going to have a paver patio down here. And then we fill in with nines behind it. We'll put our first step in there.
3:37 That'll keep nines from falling out underneath the step when we go to put our paver patio in down here, but also be the right height for our step. So then we'll put our first step up here. Then we're good to go with the rest of our steps.
3:52 So I'll put it on time lapse so you can see how the process is done.
4:00 [Music]
4:03 There we have it. Three steps and the whole paver thing that I had mentioned earlier holds the nines in. Get you your spot to start.
4:14 So then we can come in here tomorrow, take down however far we need to for our nines, put our nines in, run with our pavers.
4:20 Okay. So on these steps, this is Indiana limestone steps. One thing I want to point out is when we're installing them, we put a paver layer underneath our bottom step so that when we go to put a patio in, you're not undermining the pavers or the steps to put your pavers in.
4:44 So then after you put your pavers in and your gravel behind that, then you put your next step. And then you go in and put gravel in for your next step up. Pack that, and you put that in. You just go on from there.
4:59 [Music]
We understand the anxiety of watching your yard erode season after season—and the uncertainty of trusting a contractor with structural engineering. We’ve designed and built hundreds of retaining walls across Dayton, and we understand the unique drainage and soil challenges Ohio terrain creates. Every wall we engineer includes structural calculations, proper drainage integration, and base preparation that ensures it lasts 50+ years instead of failing in five.
We evaluate your Dayton property's slope, drainage patterns, and soil composition—understanding what's causing the erosion and what the terrain demands structurally.
Custom wall design with structural load calculations, proper height/setback specs, and material selection—engineered for Ohio soil conditions, not guessed at.
Drainage systems are built into the wall structure—gravel backfill, weep holes, and french drains that prevent hydrostatic pressure from collapsing the wall in 5 years.
Professional construction with compacted base, geogrid reinforcement on tall walls, and quality materials—this is what separates walls that last 50+ years from ones that buckle.
Without a proper retaining wall, the problem accelerates every season—soil washes away faster, landscape beds collapse, drainage issues get worse, and water moves closer to your foundation. You lose thousands in landscaping that keeps eroding, half your yard becomes unusable slope, and structural damage to driveways, patios, and foundations can cost $20,000-$75,000+ to repair. A failing DIY wall or cheap contractor job makes it worse—buckling, shifting, and creating drainage nightmares you’ll pay to fix twice.
Residential retaining walls typically range from 2-6 feet. Walls over 4 feet usually require engineering and permits. We handle all necessary permitting and engineering for your project.
Properly installed segmental block walls can last 50-100 years. Natural stone walls can last even longer. The key is proper base preparation, drainage, and installation.
Yes! Proper drainage is critical. We install drainage pipe and gravel behind all retaining walls to prevent water pressure buildup that can cause failure.
Simple walls start around $6k-$10k. Mid-sized projects run $10k-$18k. Large or complex walls can range from $18k to $80k+ depending on height, length, and site conditions.
In some cases, yes. We assess the wall condition and determine if repair is viable or if replacement is the better option. However, a full rebuild is often the best way forward — once a wall begins to fail, it’s usually due to underlying issues with the drainage, foundation, or grading.
Your sloped backyard becomes a terraced entertaining space. The eroding hillside turns into a beautiful stone garden that neighbors stop to admire. The drainage problem is solved—permanently.
Your landscape investment is finally protected. You reclaim usable outdoor space your family can actually enjoy. The property that used to embarrass you becomes one you’re proud to show off.
This is what a professionally engineered retaining wall gives you—a yard that works with its terrain instead of against it, property value you can see, and the peace of mind that comes with a structure built to last 50+ years.
