I'm still trying to make a decision regarding my concrete retaining wall.
The wall is around 40 inches high and around 35 feet long. The wall is
actually made of cinder blocks and the wall is around 10 inches thick. The
wall has a horizontal crack around 6 inches from the bottom of the wall.
The crack extends throughout most of the wall's horizontal length. The wall
above the crack has shifted outward along the length of the horizontal
crack. After measuring this with a tape measure, I've determined that, at
the location where it has shifted the most, it has shifted no more than an
inch. The wall is leaning outward slightly as indicated via a level, but it
does not appear to be leaning too much in my opinion. My opinion is that
the lean is hardly noticeable unless you're looking at it carefully.

Replacing the wall and replacing it with a more modern interlocking block
wall (Alan Blocks) will cost around $4300 for ripping down the old wall and
putting up the new wall.

My thoughts are not to replace the wall yet, since it may last a few years
or more before falling. If there are potentially a few or more years of
life left in the wall I'd rather not rush into putting up a new one. Do you
think, based on what I just described, that it sounds I'm making the right
decision in waiting to replace the wall, or does it sound to you like my
wall is in dire need of replacement?

BTW, I had another mason look at the wall and he offered to do the
following for $495: 1) repair the outer surface of the wall with concrete so
that the surface is even (since some of the concrete surface has chipped off
below the horizontal crack, and since there are other small cracks in the
surface) and 2) paint the repaired surface with a drylock masonry paint.

Also, the mason pointed out that, toward the middle of the wall, the ground
is sloped toward the wall. His recommendation is that I install a drain
pipe along side the wall and then put gravel on top, and then put some soil
on top of that, so that the ground alongside the wall would be level and so
that water will drain through the pipe. Granted, I realize this isn't ideal
because the drain pipe won't be at the very bottom of the wall, but it may
still help direct water away from the wall. He offered to do this for an
additional $195.

At this time, I'm leaning toward hiring this mason to do both jobs. Both
jobs will cost a total of $690. Granted, I realize the resurfacing portion
of the work won't do anything toward preventing any further shifting of the
wall but could at least protect the outer surface itself from exposure to
elements, and it would improve the appearance. The drain pipe portion of
the work might help prevent shifting if it helps direct the water away from
the wall.

Do you think having any of this repair work done sounds reasonable, or would
I be better off simply not having any work done until it's actually time for
a new wall?

Thanks.

Jeff

"jeff" wrote in message
.net...
I'm still trying to make a decision regarding my concrete retaining wall.
The wall is around 40 inches high and around 35 feet long. The wall is
actually made of cinder blocks and the wall is around 10 inches thick.
The
(snip)

As an earlier poster suggested, it depends- if replacement now is a
financial strech, the logical criteria to decide how to proceed is 'will the
wall cause any damage and/or trap the cars when it collapses?' If no, and if
the appearance isn't too awful, just let it ride till you can afford the
replacement. Every dollar you spend making the existing doomed wall pretty
is a dollar you don't have to spend on the replacement. And if they dig out
behind to add a drain tile, IMHO it is silly to not just replace the wall at
the same time. If wall is sound below the split, and has a footer that goes
back far enough to prevent tipping, maybe they can just rebuild from there
up.

But you are the one that has to look at it every day- only you can decide.

aem sends....