Limestone Retaining Walls Perth

Limestone is the Perth wall. It suits the look of the northern suburbs, it's quarried here in WA, and a properly built limestone wall will outlast the house it's holding up. We build with both natural and reconstituted block, from a single garden terrace to a full boundary wall with a fence on top.

Natural or reconstituted limestone?

Both are limestone, they just behave differently.

• Natural limestone block is cut straight from a WA quarry. Every block is a little different: rough, pitted face, varied colour. The wall reads as part of the ground. It suits older homes, character streets and garden terracing, and most people reckon it looks better as it weathers.
• Reconstituted limestone block is limestone crushed and reformed into uniform blocks. Consistent colour and size, straight lines, clean joints. It's stronger and more predictable than natural block and can go higher, so it suits modern builds, long boundary runs and walls carrying a Colorbond fence that needs to sit dead level.

Which one suits your job is usually obvious once we've seen the house and the fall of the block, and we'll tell you at the measure.

What we build with limestone

• Garden and terraced walls that turn a sloping yard into flat, usable space
• Front yard and driveway walls, the most common limestone job in Perth's north
• Boundary retaining with a Colorbond fence on top, built as one job
• Pool surround retaining, coordinated with the pool barrier
• Low planter and feature walls
• Replacement of old limestone walls that have leaned or bellied out

What makes a limestone wall last

A limestone wall is only as good as what's under it and behind it, and neither shows on the day it's finished.

Footings to solid ground. Coastal sand doesn't carry weight at shallow depth, so the footing goes down until it finds something that does. In some pockets that means coring into the limestone shelf.

Drainage behind the wall. Perth sand lets water sheet straight through and stack up behind anything solid. An ag drain, clean aggregate backfill and an outlet to somewhere sensible take that pressure away. Water is what pushes limestone walls out at the belly.

Backfill in layers. Fill dumped in one go keeps settling for years and drags the top course with it. Placed and compacted in layers, it stays put.

Laid to a level. Blocks vary, so we work to a string line and level every course. Slower, but it's the difference between a wall that looks built and one that looks stacked.

What's in the price

Your written quote covers materials, height, length, drainage, excavation, demolition of any old wall, spoil removal and clean-up, with a start date. For rough Perth figures before the measure, see the retaining wall cost guide.