Retaining walls can be used to create outdoor living space on steep mountainous properties, as well as direct water runoff.
Living in Northern Arizona offers unmatched views and incredible landscapes, but building here presents a unique set of challenges. Across Prescott, Sedona, and Dewey, property owners frequently deal with sloped terrain, heavy monsoon runoff, and rocky soil.
Whether you are trying to carve out a flat, usable backyard, secure a property line, or lay the foundation for a heavy-duty detached garage, Concrete Masonry Unit (CMU) walls are the undisputed heavyweight champions of structural masonry.
However, a block wall is only as strong as the engineering behind it. Here is what you need to know about building CMU and retaining walls that won’t crack, lean, or fail under pressure.
CMU blocks (often referred to simply as cinder blocks or concrete blocks) are the standard for heavy-duty structural masonry. When reinforced properly with steel and concrete, they are virtually indestructible, fireproof, and rot-proof.
Retaining wall block is used with an interlocking “keystone” system that lock one block on top of another to hold them in place. These are more decorative, having split faces on the exterior or other specialty patterns.
Shown here is a retaining wall block.
There are three main uses for concrete block: retaining walls, boundary/privacy walls, and structural/load bearing walls.
Retaining Walls
Holding back soil to create level, usable land on sloped properties.
Requires intense structural engineering, deep footings, and aggressive drainage systems to manage hydrostatic pressure.
Boundary & Privacy Walls
Securing property lines for residential or commercial lots.
Provides ultimate privacy, noise reduction, and security. Highly customizable with gates and custom finishes.
Structural/Load-Bearing
Serving as the foundation or exterior walls for ADUs, workshops, and garages.
Built to bear immense vertical loads. Often core-filled solid with concrete to maximize sheer strength and insulation.
Both CMU block walls and retaining walls here in northern AZ require proper installation to last.
Retaining walls are built to hold back thousands of pounds of earth, as well as hydrostatic pressure from the heavy rains that infiltrate the soil. These must have proper drainage systems built in behind the wall to direct water away from the wall, preventing the excessive weight from damaging or collapsing the wall.
CMU walls require footers that are installed at the proper depth below the frost line, which varies depending on the elevation of your property. If these are not installed below the frost line, the contraction and expansion of the earth during freeze-thaw cycles will damage the footer and the wall. In addition, a CMU wall must be properly gridded with rebar and core-filled with concrete in order to provide effective structural strength.
Proper excavation, properly sized footers, and oftentimes an engineers stamp are required to make any block wall project a success.
At FinnBuilt, we specialize in high-end masonry and structural construction designed specifically for Northern Arizona. We don’t cut corners on the hidden prep work, meaning your CMU wall or retaining wall will look just as flawless after a decade of hard winters as it did on day one.
Ready to upgrade your property? Don’t guess on material costs or wait on unreliable contractors. Contact FinnBuilt today to schedule your free on-site masonry evaluation and design consultation.
If you are considering a project, contact us through the form here, give us a call at 928-460-3573, or email at john@finnbuilt.com and we’ll be happy to help!
Servicing the state of Arizona
928-460-3573
john@finnbuilt.com
paul@finnbuilt.com
