Retaining walls cracking and crumbling

Hello

I am hoping to get some advice on an investment property I own in Brisbane that has given us a fair bit of grief over the last few weeks.

As you can see from the photos, there were palm trees in the retaining walls / fence and it has apparently disturbed the retaining wall leading to massive cracking and a smallish brick wall (which was poorly built in the first instance) to fall down. A builder has quoted $12K to knock down the whole thing and build it again. The palm trees have now been removed and I will look at grinding the stumps down at some stage.

I am hoping for some advice from the PC community about what I can do as spending $12K on it seems excessive. The B & P report when I bought the IP in 2016 mentioned that there was only minor cracking and nothing immediate needed to be done. The property manager, at this stage has organised quotes and is not in a position to offer any advice apart from organising the work order should I choose to go ahead.

I am really hoping to get the cracks repaired and painted. Not sure if that is feasible. I am also unclear if I can put in a fence of some sort where the exposed brick wall currently is; to the best of my knowledge it is not ‘retaining’ anything. If that is the case, why bother with a retaining wall and have problems in 10 years again. The tenants have a dog which makes it important to have some sort of a closed enclosure.

Happy to answer any further questions. Any advice will be greatly appreciated. I don't live in Brisbane and unsure as to how best to proceed. Thank you.

 

Those walls have sheared, and the crack cannot realistically be repaired and painted unfortunately.

If it were me, I would remove everything, and just make it a low garden bed. Far cheaper.

 

I can't tell for sure, but I would not be blaming the palms in the first instance. Many palms have quite a small root ball. What type of palms did you have there?
The brickwork looks quite shoddy (esp. the brick wall in the first photo.

 

Totally agree.

That wall would hold back a fart, let along dirt and water .

I am not a construction expert but one would hope the besser blocks are core-filled.

 

It's a staggeringly ugly and poorly built structure. Get rid of it and put a fence there.

 

$12k? A bricklayer might be $500 a day. A couple of hundred to drop waste at land fill.
Me I would be looking for a few more quotes with a break down of cost/work done.

 

Thanks everyone.

My first instinct was to get rid of the whole thing. But I am not sure if the retaining wall appears to be holding anything up, like a garden bed or god knows what. I bought the house using a buyers agent and have never been to it myself.

Will look at getting rid of it once and for all and put in a simple fence if it is possible.

 

I hope in future you could

Cheers,
Oracle.

 

Looks like a standard front fence IMHO. No provision for drainage so it becomes a swimming pool holding back many m3 of water & dirt. Of course it is going to fail.

When you remove the dirt behind the fence, you'll find that the next ones behind will also fail if they haven't been build correctly with proper drainage behind them.

 

Drafting, engineering, building licence, surveying, concrete footings, plasterer, painter.

Retaining walls aren't just a bricklayer for a couple of days.

 

2018 How Much Does a Retaining Wall Cost?
Cost of Building a Retaining Wall - ServiceSeeking Price Guide
Retaining Walls - Pricing - Australian Retaining Walls

$70 to $700 per square meter

 

$70 per sqm?

 

approx 14/lm at $700sqm for painted render on brickwork at average of 1m high comes to $9800.

Put 20% on that for the builders margin and $12k.

 

1.Remove the roots probably requires hiring a Stump grinder. Maybe $500

2. Make sure drainage is working ie repair Ag piping & rock. Replace soil.

3. Render up the cracks and unsightly wall at the back. Hire a renderer/ handyman or diy.

Probably under 2k total ( presuming not diy) and be looking good.

 

Thanks @magpieseason, DYI is out- don’t live anywhere near Brisbane. Do you personally know of any tradies who do this in Brisbane?

 

I would remove the ugly brickwork on left, clean up any other that looks like this, find some very small shrubs to put there * just patch the cracks with a flexible colored joint.

It does not seem to match the house anyway. When going to sell, that is when I would re look at how to improve.

 

Get creative - remove the soil, install a bladder for rainwater storage & divert your stormwater system. Put a deck over the top of it. Bag the unsightly brickwork.

Note: these works won't make the wall stable so it will still be unsafe if the brickwork has failed

 

If you don't mind me asking, roughly where in Brisbane is the property located?

 

Hi Tom, it is in the Enoggerra (north west Brisbane - BCC) region.