TL;DR
Retaining wall batter is the deliberate backward lean built into a wall's face—commonly 1 inch of setback per foot of height, or about 5 to 10 degrees—so the structure leans into the soil it retains. Segmental block systems create it automatically through lips or pins that step each course back, while dry-stacked stone walls are battered by tapering the section.
What it means
Retaining wall batter is the deliberate backward lean built into a wall's face—commonly 1 inch of setback per foot of height, or about 5 to 10 degrees—so the structure leans into the soil it retains. Segmental block systems create it automatically through lips or pins that step each course back, while dry-stacked stone walls are battered by tapering the section. The lean shifts the resultant force favorably and provides visual confirmation that courses were laid to plan.
Where it sits in the glossary
Retaining wall batter is part of the Trade jargon group inside the ProFix Directory glossary. Browse every term in this category from the glossary index.
Why Ohio homeowners should know it
This is a term Ohio homeowners encounter when reading contractor quotes, hiring paperwork, or inspection reports. Understanding it well enough to ask one good follow-up question is usually all the protection a homeowner needs.
ProFix Directory keeps definitions short on the index page and saves the longer context — Ohio-specific rules, where the term comes from, and which ProFix tools touch it — for these per-term pages so the term is easy to cite and easy to share.
ProFix tools that touch this term
See also
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