Brick wall moving away from structure

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Mr_Pear

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Jul 23, 2022
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I have this brick wall that is on the left side of my house that is moving away from the structure. I live in Dallas, Texas and it moves more when it is hot. I do have soaker hoses that water twice a day around the house but this gap keeps getting larger. What can I do to tilt it back toward the house to close the gap? It has been repaired before along this seam with mortar, but I need to tilt it back toward the house first.

Thoughts?
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Welcome.
Well, from the photo, it appears that the corner post is leaning, as well. So, you can address the masonry between that post and the house, by rebuilding it, and separating it from the post, so that the post heading south, won't pull that section with it.

And yes there may eventually show a gap between the rebuilt section, and the corner post, which can cosmetically be hidden.
 
My take is that the house has a proper foundation under it, but that section of wall does not.

That wall isn't going to get pushed back level. Only thing I can think of is to put a decorative piece of trim over the crack.
Maybe put a piece of PVC trim board over the crack, and then jog the downspout over it, so that it rather looks like the board is serving as a mount for the downspout.
 
I can't predict if the corner pillar is done leaning - or if it will end up on the driveway. I do foresee a masonry contractor in your future.
 
From what I gathered by your posts is the wall is leaning and the soil underneath is giving out. I need to dig it out, and reinforce it and jack it back into place.

thanks for yalla posts.
 
I need to dig it out, and reinforce it and jack it back into place.
That will be tricky at best since it means digging out foundation support that is already inadequate. If I were to try that I would first build a wood support structure to prevent further movement when digging. I would dig out under the foundation on the side of the lean, only about 6 inches wide. The hole needs to be deep enough to put in a sacrificial bottle jack and deeper if necessary to reach firm soil that won't compact under the load on the jack. I would use some kind of steel plate to distribute the jack load across the width of the foundation. With luck, jacking will lift the pillar back into place without snapping the foundation. If that works, I would fill the hole with concrete, leaving the jack in place and trying to work the concrete into the void under the foundation, which would require the concrete to be wider than the foundation and to extend above the foundation bottom.
 
IMO if it were my wall I would do one of two things.



I would likely take it down and not care if I had an accent wall like that.



Or if I really wanted to correct it I would take the wall down to the footing. Then remove the failing footing and replace it with a proper footing then build the wall back up.



I think any other solutions of lifting and pushing the wall back will not completely work or be more expensive than doing it over from scratch.
 
I like tomtheelders' approach but as others have said, jacking it back into position might be hit or miss.

I would dig under the wall while also supporting the weight then pouring additional concrete to prevent further movement then simply remortar the gap.
 
Bud, your recommendations make sense only for someone who wants to have confidence the solution will work. As I said, a fix will be tricky at best. If the OP tries and fails, it will be a valuable lesson.
 
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