Purchased a home, not long ago and have several other issues/large projects that also made pose further issues down the line if not addressed soon.
I’ve been brainstorming ideas for how to fix the problem without dropping 10 K plus to move tons of earth and rebuild the wall from scratch and I might have stumbled across away to keep the wall from moving well I’m by no means a professional and I’m looking forward to how many ways I’m wrong! 😆
The basic concept is to use the anchors normally used with guide wires on telephone poles and run that steel cable a few feet underground to an eye beam or two etc. to keep the remainder of the wall from moving so that more could be built on top/further in if needed.
Ps. I’m ready and willing to accept rewards for my clearly masterpiece level photo/description…
by xtra_lives
33 Comments
Just commenting to compliment your graphic rendition of your proposed project. Bravo lol
Cinder blocks as a retaining wall is in itself problematic IMO
Looks like supporting that hill might cost as much as a house in a better location.
I wonder how much an I beam that size would cost lol
It really needs to all be torn out and then terraced with multiple walls.
Those is going to be a profoundly expensive problem to fix. Thanks for posting though, it makes me feel better about my own hillside woes
Can’t give advice on the wall, but I’d at least be getting rid of all the trash, and planting stuff to retain the soil in the meantime
Good news is that it won’t cost $10,000 to fix that retaining wall.
Bad news is it won’t cost $20,000, either.
I’m betting that’s a $35-50k job depending on how intricate and long-lasting you want the retaining earthworks to be.
If you were able to spend only $10k to get that permanently fixed I’d be amazed…
I think you’re past the point of DIY hopes and dreams. I like the drawing and idea, but I’d be pretty worried about digging around and drilling into this failing wall. It might not need much help to totally collapse and maybe take most of your backyard with it. Call a pro.
Concrete Lego Blocks. 6x2x2 feet. About 4600 lbs each. Youll need an excavator and maybe a crane. They are about $80 each and dry stacked. They can be stacked pretty high. Google it. Will probably need 5-10 trips with a semi-sized flatbed for delivery in stages. Plus ground prep. Put in good aggregate for drainage to avoid hydrostatic loading. The ones in the link are different than what i used (only 2 pegs) and it was only two guys and they were neighbors. But it worked out. I tried to give them more but wouldnt accept.
https://share.google/lUWOhSoFiRcDQdtA0
just to confirm, the retaining wall is actually on your property right?
Not a wall. A slope. Fill to grade. Landscraper paper. Rip rap on top.
This is an idea for stability
Ye your best option is move elsewhere and rent a cheap home.
Second cheap option is move your seating area to the house. This doesn’t seem very safe.
Second remove all the trash and loose rocks etc.
See if you can level and partially terrace the area.
The retaining wall is basically trash. And hard to fix DIY. You’ll need a professional company to do so for probably thousands of dollars like the cost of a new car.
They’ll need to remove the old one and reshape the soil. Create an advanced drainage system. And install the retaining wall best suited for this.
If you’re absolutely broke and genuinely can’t afford anything. Your best effort which is still very iffy. Is to clean up every. And relevel the soil in terraces. And start figuring out how to put in a really good drainage. Then start planting trees with aggressive rootsystems to hold the soil and some shrubs and grasses to help smaller level of erosion.
If this was a different subreddit they’d recommend bringing in a building engineer I’d bet.
My good man – this is breaking the bank money.
Even if you could do all the work by hand, which you alone can’t,
this is money you need a bag for to get from the bank.
For one that size… I dont think theres any way to make it cheap.
I hope the person below this hill sees this and crap their pants. Bro, I’d hate to be your neighbor.
Is the wall even within your own property line? If not, it might not actually be your problem at all, at least on the payment side of things.
Probably a good idea to contact a local structural engineer
Please tell me they gave you 50k off for this fucking mess
Lots of money and lots of big rocks
I know others have said it, but I think you’re severely underestimating the severity of your situation. That is a significant retaining wall, and there’s houses below it. I guarantee you’ll need engineering approved plans to make any changes to that (legally), and you’re gonna be liable for anything that happens should a collapse involve your neighbors property. My guess is you’re missing zeros on your guess of how much it’ll cost.
This is Pittsburgh, isn’t it?
That gives me anxiety 😂
Hard to tell exactly how much you’re trying to tie back, but while your idea isn’t “wrong” you’re way underestimating the weight and forces involved. The existing wall isn’t well built enough to do that either.
Unfortunately this ain’t a cheap fix either, doing this work on such a steep grade can get pretty touchy too
Turning to landscapers when you need a structural engineer. Oof.
You’ll need a pneumatic drilling machine and soil nails to save that.
My dude, in order to spend less than 20k you’ll need to do this yourself and it will be an insane level of work. You should get an engineer to draw up plans then determine what is best from there.
Tie backs are insanely expensive. That’s after you pay an engineer to design a soldier pile wall, and then for a contractor to install the wall.
Not really. that needs to be completely redone. nothing about that is retaining anything at this point. that was done wrong from the start. It needs to be redone correctly.
This wall was fubar the day it was built
You’re gonna wanna call geek squad on this one