retaining wall repair
A wall almost never fails without warning. It leans at the top, then cracks in a stair-step, then bellies in the middle, and each of those names a different cause. Before we price anything we look at the drainage, the base and the slope above, because rebuilding on the same failed drainage buys you the same failure a few winters later. Sometimes the honest answer is that a section can be reset. Sometimes it is a rebuild. You'll get told which.
A retaining wall rarely fails all at once, and the way it moves points at the cause. A top course that has walked outward usually means water pressure behind a wall with no working outlet. Stair-step cracking means the base has shifted. A belly in the middle of the face means the reinforcement tying the wall back into the hill has failed, or was never installed.
That distinction matters because it decides what the fix actually is. Repointing the face of a bulging wall changes nothing. Rebuilding on the same blocked drainage buys you a few winters.
Where the base is sound and the wall has only leaned, a section can often be taken down and reset with proper stone and an outlet behind it. Once the base has moved or the face has bellied, a rebuild is usually the honest answer. We look at where the water goes before pricing either.
If the wall is coming out anyway, that is the moment to reconsider the material. A failing timber or dry-laid wall is often best replaced with segmental block, and a tall one close to a driveway may point toward reinforced concrete.
Wall repair is the bulk of what we do in the older housing stock: Pittsburgh proper, Mt. Lebanon and Bethel Park, and the hillside lots of Shaler Township, Sewickley and Upper St. Clair.
How long does it take? A partial reset can run a day or two. A full rebuild depends on length, height and how hard the wall is to reach.
These usually come up on the same job, and we can handle them in the same visit:
French drains, wall drains, downspout routing, swales and regrading. Often the actual fix when a wall is only the symptom.
Learn More →Engineered block systems, geogrid reinforcement and a drainage course built in behind. The workhorse residential wall.
Learn More →Terracing a slope, levelling a yard, or holding a cut for a patio or driveway. Base and drainage quoted with the wall.
Learn More →Free - No Obligation
Send a few details and we'll come look at it. Photos help - a picture of a lean or a crack tells us more than a paragraph.