Hi All-
We are thinking of buying a house that has a terraced yard both front and back. Our problem is we have a young child and we are worried the terraced back yard might be dangerous for her. My question is...How hard would it be to level off a couple of the terraces? Or could you even do that? Right now there are 4 terraces each about 3 feet high, about 4 feet wide and about 20 feet long. I LOVE this house but the yard at this point is not practical.

If you did do a cut-and-fill job on two of the terraces, you would probably need two retaining walls each about 6 feet high, and that's in the range where a structural engineer of an architect is required to design them. Then you'd need to install fence above each, because you don't want your child falling 6 feet. I don't think the 3-foot terraces are as dangerous as you suggest.

Before you buy the house, though, find out what kind of retaining walls support the terraces, if any. You don't want to buy something that will fail in a few years, such as railroad ties or similar timber. If they are any kind of concrete or masonry, make sure they have weep holes. Same if they are stone. Precast concrete retaining wall blocks are OK for anything less than 5 feet height without engineering, and are reliable if installed correctly.