Boulder Retaining Walls on a Minnesota Lake Property

Lakefront properties in Minnesota deal with a specific set of challenges that most contractors aren't equipped to handle. Erosion, unstable slopes, crumbling shorelines, and slippery paths down to the dock - all of it adds up fast. This property needed a complete ground-up solution on both sides of the yard, and that's exactly what we built.

On both the left and right sides of the backyard, we constructed cubic limestone boulder retaining walls using locally sourced limestone cubes. Every wall starts with 8 inches of 3/4" clear crushed limestone over geotextile fabric, followed by a full drainage layer and 4" drain tile at the base, then two rows of geogrid reinforcement extending 3 feet behind the face of the wall. That system is what keeps a wall like this standing for decades instead of shifting and settling after a couple of freeze-thaw cycles.

Getting down to the dock safely was another priority. We built a new set of natural stone steps using 36"x18" Kasota MN Buff Steps - a Minnesota-quarried stone that holds up well in wet, high-traffic conditions. The steps sit on a 3/4" keystone base with non-woven underlayment fabric underneath, so they're not going anywhere. Clean, functional, and built to last.

On the right side of the property, we also extended the rip rap shoreline using river rock boulders, leveling and filling the shoreline edge with non-woven boulder fabric installed underneath for retention. It's a detail that a lot of people skip, but it's what separates a shoreline that holds from one that washes out in a few seasons.

The finished result is a property that's fully protected from slope movement and shoreline erosion, with safe access to the water and walls that actually belong on a lake lot. This is the kind of work that pays for itself over time - both in protecting the property and in the everyday usability of the space.