Rebuilding a wall is mostly about what goes behind it. The blocks are the visible part and the easy part; the drainage stone, the separation from the soil and the outlet at the base are what decide whether the wall is still straight in ten years or leaning again in three.
A rebuild is a drainage job with blocks on the front
Saturated soil is roughly twice the load of dry soil, and in this climate it also freezes and expands.
A wall built with soil packed straight against the back of the blocks carries that load every wet autumn and takes that expansion every winter, which is why it leans within a decade no matter how neatly the courses were laid.
A rebuild puts clear stone the full height behind the face, wrapped so fines from the soil cannot migrate in and clog it, with an outlet at the base so water actually leaves rather than filling the stone up.
Add the correct setback per course, which leans the wall into the slope rather than away from it, and the blocks become the least interesting part of the job. Where the wall is above roughly a metre we ask for a drawing rather than guessing, because at that height it is an engineered structure.
A plumb line on the face tells us how far it has moved and whether the base slid or the top rotated, which are two different repairs.
Take down and clean
Blocks come off in courses and are cleaned as they go, because reusing them is most of the saving against building a new wall.
Drain the full height
Clear stone behind the face, separated from the soil, with an outlet at the base so water leaves rather than filling the stone.
Rebuild to setback
Courses rebuilt to line with the setback the block was designed for, then capped and adhered so the top course stops shifting.
Height And Drawings
When a wall stops being a landscaping job
Most municipalities set a threshold around a metre, above which a retaining wall becomes an engineered structure needing a drawing and often a permit. Rules vary and we do not guess at them: if your wall is near that height we say so and ask for the drawing rather than building to an assumption.
It is the one part of this work where being wrong is not just expensive. See what armour stone needs for the same reason, how a leaning wall is told from a bulging one, and what wall repair costs by face area.
No. The soil behind has already moved into the space the wall vacated. It has to come apart, the fill has to be corrected and it goes back up.
Usually most of them, and that is most of the saving against a new wall. Caps take the weather and are the ones most often replaced.
Around 300 millimetres of clear stone the full height, separated from the soil so fines cannot migrate in, with somewhere for the water to leave at the base.
Above roughly a metre, usually yes, and the threshold varies by municipality. We will tell you when your wall is near it rather than guessing.
Roughly $60 to $110 per face foot depending on height, access and whether the blocks can be reused. Armour stone prices differently because it needs equipment.
The soil comes back, the planting mostly does not, and we would rather say that plainly. Anything you want to keep is worth lifting and heeling in somewhere before we start. Established shrubs against a failing wall rarely survive the dismantling.
