Major cracks in party retaining wall

skycatcher

Some large bushes/shrubs were cut back by my neighbour revealing brickwork loose and cracked. I wonder if this is something serious or more cosmetic.

FreeBear

At a guess, I'd say the foundation has cracked, and the whole lot is sliding down the hill (or subsiding in to a sinkhole). That is indeed, a substantial crack, and you have one brick broken in half. Don't think helicoil is going to work in this situation.

skycatcher

At first glance i thought that perhaps the roots of the bushes had caused the problem but there is a change of slope where the problem is....

FreeBear

Could do with seeing what is the other side of the wall - There looks to be quite a drop off and a steep slope.

If that is the top of a retaining wall, you are going to need a structural engineer to advise on a suitable construction (I'm guessing it is a fair drop the other side). Depending on the height, it could be a serious construction project, and not one to trust to Bob the Builder.

skycatcher

this is the other side

stuart45

Is the wall only 4 inches wide?

daveyjp

Once retaining walls start failing they won't heal themselves.  Prepare for a dig out and replace operation.

skycatcher

stuart45 said:

Is the wall only 4 inches wide?

It appears to be a brick length wide but behind the bricks there are breeze blocks.

JohnJ76

Its not a failure of the wall as the retained height isnt that great if its more than 1skin thick, its a foundation problem for sure.    the crack has been there for a while by the looks of it.  could last like that for 6 months or 50 yrs if the foundations for the wall have stopped moving. Assuming the building in the background has its own deeper foundations then as long as they arent disturbed it should be a relatively straingforward job of rebuilding the failed section but the wall running parallel to the building will likely need rebuilding too along with better foundations.