Leaning retaining wall! Help!!

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1sttimehomeowner

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I have a retaining wall between my house and garage and it is starting to tilt and bow out. I have att ached a picture and was hoping you could help with a best plan of action.

Thanks

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Generally, these style of landscape blocks not only interlock but are also drilled for dowels, and if not they can be drilled.

You're relegated to disassembling the deflecting section of wall, correct the slumping soil, and replacing the wall, with rebar dowels to stabilize the retaining coarses.
 
The wall was probably put in without a good base. Water and especially frost can eventually do this to a wall. The blocks were most likely dry laid, so the wall will come apart fairly easily and the blocks can be reused if they aren't damaged. It is labor intensive, but not rocket science. Looks like the blocks would benefit from a good power-wash. Once you have the wall dismantled and the blocks moved out of the way, dig a trench about 8"-12" deep where the wall will go and fill it with compacted stone. Then sart laying the blocks back in line. The first course should be about halfway below ground level.
Post a pic of the bottom of one of the blocks so we can see how they interlock with each other. And continue to ask questions as you go forward.
 
Sure looks like there's also no drainage behind that wall to relieve the hydro pressure.
That style hardscape has a raised strip on the bottom of the back side that causes the block to tip and leaves very little direct contact to hold the blocks in place.
If the block is slid back enough that raised area will stop the block from sliding forward, wall will look like it's stepped back from top to bottom but it works.
As mention without a proper base no wall will work.
https://www.google.com/search?q=ret...NAhUO3iYKHc3yA4UQsAQINQ#imgrc=9SfSsrVhBQuW_M:

https://www.google.com/search?q=ret...NAhUO3iYKHc3yA4UQsAQINQ#imgrc=9SfSsrVhBQuW_M:
 
To my knowledge, all of the major acceptable retaining wall units are laid with the tops level (side to side or end to end). Some have the raised lip on the front and some with a downward lip on the rear. This provides the shear resistance and the necessary geometry to have a built in setback. - This also can give a mechanism for the geo-grid to build higher walls up to 10' or 12' before going to a tiered system of multiple walls. I have seen tiered wall systems 200' to 500' long that used 4 different 10' high walls (those were along a highway in Spain).

Basically, all of the major systems (Anchor, Allan and Keystone) use the same engineering for higher structural walls. These are all proven and available internationally and provide engineering support.

Most other brands or systems are "knock-offs" or or units without some features. - For gravity walls up to 4' or 5' high they may be acceptable.

All these units were developed in MN and our plant made all of the units and lived with them to get engineering and governmental approvals years ago.

Dick
 
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