When construction began on this Chicago-area residence in 2012, the homeowner knew that accommodations would have to be made for the steep grade change on the lot. Three separate stacked stone retaining walls, steps and decorative blocks were installed to make the space useable and family friendly.

Dimensional steps with a natural split stone texture were installed to provide safe access from the house to the lake. The four-man Terrain crew used JLG's Lull telehandler to move the stone during construction.

Making the most of a hilly lot was a top priority for this Chicago-area homeowner. In 2012, Dr. Patel began building a new home and wanted to create more usable space for a garage and for a yard for his kids to play.

"There was 12-15 feet of grade change between my driveway and the backyard, and to flatten the backyard, we needed retaining walls," Patel said. "Why have a house with a useless backyard?"

"Initially, we looked at traditional small block retaining walls, but it just wasn't what the owner was looking for," Tim Ascolani said. Ascolani owns Terrain Landscape Contractors of Hinsdale, Illinois, and led the design team and the installation.

Installation
The project required three separate walls – two near the house, and one down below near the lake.

The taller walls were located near the house and stood 12-feet-tall at the highest point. Since these walls were supporting the house, the large-scale Outcropping collection from Rosetta Hardscapes was a natural fit. The collection features multiple unique block sizes and textures, giving walls the look and feel of a natural stone wall, with the structural design of architectural-grade precast concrete.
"When you need a wall 12-feet-high and you need to bear the weight of a house, your options are limited," Ascolani said. "The stone really matched the look of the house "?u even the colors were a good match. Plus, it had the structural capacity to do what it needed to do on the lot."

The walls transition from large-scale Outcropping blocks to smaller Stonebridge blocks (Rosetta Hardscapes) within the design. To ease the changeover, the installation crew from the Hinsdale, Illinois-based design/build firm Terrain Landscape Contractors sawed and mortared some of the blocks together.

The project required 2,607 square feet of Outcropping stone and 2,052 square feet of Stonebridge blocks. Each block of the dry-cast wall system has three inches of chiseled relief on its face to create a natural appearance.

Two of the retaining walls were installed near the house to ease the grade change, standing 12 feet tall at the highest point. The third wall was installed near the lake, lower on the property. The Outcropping blocks in the retaining walls were reinforced with Paraweb strap and geogrid.

"My house is covered in natural stone from a quarry," Patel said. "The retaining walls are man-made blocks, but they look like they were custom made to match my house."

Near the house, the design actually transitioned from Outcropping blocks to smaller scale Stonebridge blocks, also from Rosetta. To create an aesthetic transition, the Terrain crew sawed blocks and mortared the blocks together.

"Average people can't tell that the blocks don't naturally fit together. It's pretty easy to merge the two," Ascolani said.

The Stonebridge collection is a dry-cast wall system that can be set by hand, and features the texture of natural stone on 24 unique stone faces. The precast cement bridges the gap between segmental retaining walls and natural stone with three inches of chiseled relief on each block. The interlocking rear lip on each 60-pound unit is designed for Stonebridge blocks to be laid by hand, without the use of equipment.

"Once the walls started going up, I kept adding more. We needed a wall to separate the lake from the backyard and we were thinking about using the big Outcropping stone there, but the cost wasn't justified because no one really sees that wall. The smaller Stonebridge walls saved us some money but still blend with the rest of the stone work and look great," Patel said.

Outcome
The project used 4,659.5 square feet of steps and stone in total, and was installed along with other landscaping over the course of six weeks.

"According to the homeowners' association president, I've got the best landscaping in the neighborhood," Dr. Patel said. "The neighborhood is pretty high end, but it's got all typical retaining walls. The walls I have are atypical; my house stands out and I love that! No one knows it's concrete and I'm not telling."

"Our company has actually been invited to bid on the landscaping for the owners' brother's new house because this project went so well," Ascolani added. "All in all, it was a great product for a great project."