Retaining Walls in Dana, NC.
Dana is high, well drained loam with steeper stony ground mixed in. About 23% of it is at a 15% slope or steeper, and on the Ashe soil rock sits about 30 inches down.
We'll reach out within 24 hours to schedule your free on-site estimate. Prefer to talk now? Call (828) 702-7125.
- We confirm the details and book a time
- We walk the site and talk through the slope, soil, and access
- You get a clear, written, line-item scope
Runoff more than height. Within a mile and a half of Dana the USDA soil survey maps nearly half the ground as Hayesville loam, 30% on 7 to 15 percent slopes and 18% on 2 to 7 percent, and it puts 52% of the ground in the slower-draining hydrologic groups. In a hard storm, rain that cannot soak in runs across a slope and arrives at the top of a wall on the surface. So a wall in Dana needs a swale or a graded cap above it as much as a drain behind it.
Hayesville loam with Edneyville and Ashe above
Dana sits at 2,275 feet, drained by Devils Fork, Henderson Creek and Dunn Creek. The gentle ground is Hayesville loam. The steeper ground is Edneyville fine sandy loam on 15 to 25 percent slopes and Ashe stony sandy loam on 25 to 45 percent, each 9% of the area. On a 20 percent grade, 20 feet of level yard takes 4 feet of wall. On 35 percent it takes 7. The survey puts bedrock about 30 inches down on the Ashe soil and within 40 inches under 9% of all the ground. About 39% of the ground is under an 8% slope.
Block walls, stone and boulder retaining walls in Dana
The median lot is 0.96 acres, so access for a mini excavator and a load of stone is seldom a problem. On the 12 percent Hayesville ground a wall of about 2.4 feet levels 20 feet of yard, and dry-laid stone or a low boulder retaining wall fits. On the stony Ashe slopes boulders make sense twice: the stone is at hand, and a gravity wall sits well on rock. Where a wall carries a driveway or stands over 4 feet, we build segmental block with geogrid. Block runs $30 to $60 per square foot of wall face in Western NC and stone or boulder $35 to $90.
Retaining wall repair in Dana
The nearest NOAA station, 3.7 miles away, averages 62 inches of precipitation a year. When that rain runs over the top of a wall instead of soaking in behind it, it washes soil out from under the cap and down the face. The first sign is a gully at one end or soil stains below the top course. We rebuild what has been undercut, then deal with the cause: a regraded strip and a shallow swale above the wall to turn the water. Typical residential wall projects in Western NC run $4,000 to $25,000.
See the full service on our retaining walls page, and the wider Dana service area.
USDA soil survey, USGS and NOAA figures for the ground within 1.5 miles of Dana.
Photos from recent jobs
The soils mapped around Dana.
What the USDA soil survey maps inside a circle of 1.5 miles around Dana: 23 soil map units over about 4,500 acres. These are the largest, with the slope and water figures behind the work on lots around Dana.
| Soil map unit | Share of ground | Slope | Drainage class | On the map | What it means |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hayesville loam, 7 to 15 percent slopes | 30% | 12% | Well drained | no flooding, shallow rock or shallow water on the map | Surface grade |
| Hayesville loam, 2 to 7 percent slopes | 18% | 5% | Well drained | no flooding, shallow rock or shallow water on the map | Surface grade |
| Edneyville (edneytown) fine sandy loam, 15 to 25 percent slopes | 9% | 20% | Well drained | no flooding, shallow rock or shallow water on the map | Wall / slope work |
| Ashe stony sandy loam, 25 to 45 percent slopes | 9% | 35% | Somewhat excessively drained | bedrock about 30 in down | Wall / slope work |
| Tate fine sandy loam, 2 to 7 percent slopes | 6% | 5% | Well drained | no flooding, shallow rock or shallow water on the map | Surface grade |
| Delanco (dillard) loam, 2 to 7 percent slopes | 5% | 5% | Moderately well drained | flooding: occasional; water table about 36 in down | Drain + grade |
Across the whole circle: 23% of the ground is mapped at a 15% slope or steeper, 12% as moderately well to very poorly drained soil, and 9% with bedrock within about 40 inches. The town point sits in the USGS watershed unit "Upper Mud Creek". Nearest NOAA rainfall normal: 62 inches a year (East Flat Rock 0.5 NNE, 3.7 miles off). Pulled 2026-11-09 from USDA-NRCS Soil Data Access, the USGS hydrography datasets and NOAA 1991–2020 normals. A soil map is not a site test: we confirm your Dana lot on the free site walk.
What a retaining wall costs in Dana, NC
These are typical Western North Carolina market ranges, not a Maidenhair Landscaping quote. North Carolina construction runs about 12% below the national average, but our mountain terrain — 15–40%+ slopes, weathered bedrock and saprolite, clay, and tight access — pushes most jobs toward the high end of every range. A flat infill lot sits low; a steep escarpment lot sits at or above the top. Your exact price comes from a free on-site estimate.
| Item | Typical WNC range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Segmental block wall (SRW), installed | $30–$60/sq ft face | interlocking concrete block; geogrid + drainage on taller walls |
| Natural stone / boulder wall, installed | $35–$90/sq ft face | labor- and stone-heavy; mountain access pushes the high end |
| Timber / treated-tie wall | $16–$35/sq ft face | lowest up-front, shortest life on a WNC slope |
| Typical residential wall project | $4,000–$25,000 | small garden wall to a tall engineered slope wall |
What drives it: wall height (over ~4 ft usually needs engineering), wall type (boulder/stone vs block vs timber), drainage and geogrid behind the wall, slope and equipment access, stone haul distance, and whether a failing wall has to be torn out first.
Source: published WNC/NC market ranges via homeguide.com and angi.com . Exact pricing on your lot comes from a free on-site estimate — call (828) 702-7125.
How we do it in Dana.
Read the slope & soil
We check the grade and the drainage class on your Dana lot, and find where rock or saprolite starts.
Set drainage & base
We build the drainage and the base first — the part that decides whether the work lasts on a slope.
Build it
Wall, driveway, or grade built to the slope, with the right batter, footing, and outlet.
Prove & clean
We confirm it sheds water and holds, then restore the surface clean.
Retaining Walls in Dana: common questions
Why is water running over the top of my wall?
Will a wall footing hit rock in Dana?
Do you need an engineer for a retaining wall in Dana?
Are you local to Dana, and are you insured?
Retaining Walls near Dana.
We work Dana and the towns around it. Same service, local detail for each:
Other services we do in Dana.
Need retaining walls in Dana?
Tell us what you're dealing with — we'll walk the lot, read the soil and grade, and put a real number in writing, free.
We'll reach out within 24 hours to schedule your free on-site estimate. Prefer to talk now? Call (828) 702-7125.
- We confirm the details and book a time
- We walk the site and talk through the slope, soil, and access
- You get a clear, written, line-item scope