Boundary Wall Unstable - HELP!

Herzlos

The only reason they haven't done the work or shared the survey with you is because it'll cost way too much to do and scare you off. That looks horrific to fix, and potentially if anything went wrong it'd take the house out with it.

Run away.

pinkshoes

moofookimbob said:

Hi all, first post!

My partner and I are in the process of buying a house, our offer has been accepted on the proviso that we fix the boundary wall between the property and the neighbours directly behind (jointly with said neighbour). Only problem is there is little info about the problem and we are concerned about costs, plus the wall is quite complex. There has been a survey which the current owner ordered which is what has highlighted this issue, but we are not able to see said survey.

RUN! Seriously - run a mile from this one!

If they're not willing to show you the survey then this is likely to be VERY expensive. Look at it! HUGE amounts of soil and therefore force behind this. If it slips then it could have an impact on the property foundations. This would would need to be done by a qualified structural engineer and preferably one with experience!!

Or at the very least, drop your offer by £100k to cover the costs of getting this done!

m0bov

Crazy, you should be insisting they fix it before you exchange. It's up to you if or how you fix it. I'd walk, it sounds like a nightmare.

Loza2016

Honestly I’ve bought uninhabitable houses before & wouldn’t touch this. Unless you have very very deep pockets & are happy to spend money you won’t get back in added value I would look for something else. 

MeteredOut

This sounds exactly like one of those problems shows like Grand Designs love, and which ends up costing the owners 10s of thousands of pounds. Run away or you'll be pregnant by Christmas!

shinytop

Setting aside the money, that wall looks dangerous and anyone underneath it if/when it collapses would likely not survive. 

tooldle

I’d explore this a little further before making any decision. From my own experience of fixing a failed retaining wall, could this be an access issue rather than a cost to you. Depending on which house is which in the photo, might the neighbours need access from your side to rebuild. I’d also be asking what the plan is. If the wall is not being ‘rebuilt’ and supported in another way (gabion baskets) then you may be ‘losing’ useable space. 

FlorayG

shinytop said:

Setting aside the money, that wall looks dangerous and anyone underneath it if/when it collapses would likely not survive. 

My friend said when hers collapsed it sounded like an explosion outside. She ran out to see chunks of stone and brick everywhere, some of them 20ft from the wall position. Absolutely if she had been standing near it when it happened she would have been killed

stuart45

An experienced builder could give you an idea of the cost, but it would need a design from a Structural Engineer before a builder could give you the actual cost. Designs for retaining walls are affected by ground conditions, so a retaining wall that works in one area might not in another. For example, a nine inch brick wall about 3ft high is fine in many conditions, but I priced one up last year that had failed. The cost was too much for the owners because of the traffic control needed.

daveyjp

I reported a heavily bulging wall, similar to the photo, but it was stone,  about 10m long and 2.5m high.  Adjacent to a footpath and a bus stop.

Unknown to me the land being retained was Council owned and within a few weeks it was being repaired.  Major job removing the old wall,  grading the soil behind it to give room to work, new foundations, timber shuttering system, rebar and concrete wall.  The new concrete was then faced in the old stone.  

Took about 2 months and cost will have been well into 5 figures.  It looks the job and won't be moving for decades!