Block retaining wall ; what are these plates?

[MackMan]

My garage lot is surrounded (all 4 sides, except an opening for the driveway) with a concrete block retaining wall. one side has these plates with large nuts, seem like some sort of reinforcing structure, but only on one side. Any idea what these are for?

 

[Stuart in MN]

Probably attached to some sort of deadman buried in the dirt behind the wall, to prevent the wall from tipping over. Go to this website and scroll down to the diagram: http://www.answers.com/topic/retaining-wall

 

[rsanter]

They are called earth anchors
They help hold the wall up.
Likly it was found or decided after the wall was installed that those were needed to prevent the wall from being pushed over from the weight of the dirt behind it

Bob

 

[MackMan]

Thanks that's what I thought. What's interesting is that a taller section of the wall (taller than me) does not have these, and IMO needs them as it is bulging... May have to look into that. But the other side of the wall is someone else's property so it's not something I can really do if it requires digging in their lawn..

 

[jesutton3]

Yes they're tiebacks or deadmen.

I'm a structural engineer and have to deal with failing walls all the time. If the other portion of the wall is failing there are methods to tie it back without digging up the soil behind it. This will stop it but not recover it.

Two styles would be helical anchors or duck bill anchors. But there is always more than one way to skin a cat.

 

[MackMan]

Yes they're tiebacks or deadmen.

I'm a structural engineer and have to deal with failing walls all the time. If the other portion of the wall is failing there are methods to tie it back without digging up the soil behind it. This will stop it but not recover it.

Two styles would be helical anchors or duck bill anchors. But there is always more than one way to skin a cat.

All I want to do is keep it from falling over.. I will look into those options.. thanks!

 

[Milton Shaw]

I had a wall start moving next to my drive way and I dug it out and installed dead-man anchors about 6 foot from the wall 300-400 lbs concrete with a 7/8 galvanized all thread back to the wall. The wall was solid with no cracks except it had moved about 2-3 inches out. Dug out the up side of the wall moved it back with the anchors and then put drainage and gravel into the void left by digging it out. I would think that any fix is going to have to involve your neighbor as that is where the work has to be done.

 

[Bondo]

All I want to do is keep it from falling over.. I will look into those options.. thanks!

Ayuh,.... Tie-backs will no doubt help to stabilize it,...

What's the Grades look like on the upper sides,...

Just like foundations, divertin' any, or all the water behind the wall is also very Important,...

Water is Heavy, 'n liquifies the back-fill,...

 

[James E]

Whose side of the property line is the wall on?

 

[MackMan]

Whose side of the property line is the wall on?

I'm fairly certain it is on my side but not 100% sure. According to the GIS maps the wall=property line so it's hard to tell who actually owns the wall itself. It would be strange if the wall were not on my property since it surrounds all sides, if it was on adjoining property the wall would have 5 owners.

Here's an aerial view (GoogleEarth) and a Google Street view showing the layout. They really liked these walls in this development you can see from the aerial. Almost every property is divided off by walls like this. Building with red X is my garage.

 

[volleyball]

First you need to determine ownership of the walls. It looks like a simple block straight wall that will always fail. Walls have to be wider. Fill, deadmans, drainage are all needed. And where are the fences? If they are yours and someone falls, especially behind the garage.
Walls are rarely put up on property lines. You have property description documents that tell you the size. Use them to do a casual measurement against to give you an idea.

 

[MackMan]

Here is the county GIS showing the property line, which as you can see basically follows the wall all the way around. Interestingly my driveway is not on my property, it is a deeded easement.

This was all built in the late 80's. I'm still not sure how it was allowed to be built as it is zoned residential, and you cannot build a garage with no house in a residential zone, yet here it is. There is a standing letter from the city allowing a business to operate out of the garage, but nobody can explain how it got there in the first place.

It was clearly all developed by the same organization though, as similar block walls separate almost every property in the area.

 

[sberry]

I dug behind the wall some and then dug a pit 20 ft back, drilled hole thru wall and drove 20 ft of rod to the pit where we put big dead head. I sharp the rod and weld a bead back on it like dog dik to enlarge the hole to reduce side friction.

 

[volleyball]

It looks like the tall wall behind you and the wall to the right is yours. So the bulge is your problem. It might be time to talk to the neighbor. They might be motivated to have it fixed before it fails. A few drainage holes near the bottom may be all you need to put off a major repair.
I wonder if your shop was the original builders shop that they later sold.
I live on a short street that is R-1 with several multi-family homes. A gas station on both ends, a storage facility and a contractors lot.

 

[MackMan]

What about putting up some sort of butress reinforcement on my side of the wall?

 

[volleyball]

Bandaid at best. How many feet can you lose back there? I assume you still want to have a vehicle easily pass.
If the wall is bulged or leaning towards you, it is only a matter of time.
What is the soil made of?

 

[kbs2244]

Do you have any lakes around you?
Seawall guys run into this all the time.
They should be able to give you some options.

If it is a common problem maybe you can set up a community contract?

 

[MackMan]

a vehicle cannot pass between the wall and the garage. Well at least not easily, it's 6' at best, and the heat pump is back there as well. Space there is of no use to me, just collects leaves.

Most of our soil in the area is red clay.

i doubt there's any chance at community contract type thing, it's an extremely low income area (houses are in the $20-50k range in the neighborhood)

 

[volleyball]

With clay, drain holes will give you the biggest bang for the buck. You could remove the bulge area if there is only 1 or 2 and rebuild without doing the whole wall.Walls are suppose to deal with drainage especially when yo have clay that won't easily allow the water to pass.
You could put in a footer and build a whole new wall properly with drainage a foot closer to your garage. First poke several holes in the block. Build footer and wall. Fill cavity with stone like rip rap. It would give you a solid attractive wall but way too much work and expense for that area.
I'd fence that tall wall before someone falls and then owns your business.

 

[MackMan]

Where and how would you put drain holes?

Hadn't thought of a fence... garage has been there since the late 80's with no history of problems yet. The section where the property line goes around the wall there is actually probably a 5'x5' drainage basin with no grate or anything either, might be good to have some sort of fence around that too.

Now that you mention it I'm surprised the city has never said anything.. It's changed hands maybe 3 times since 2010 and the city does an occupancy inspection of the grounds and building each time. But here in NC that kind of thing never seems to come up. I remember my parents built a house in VA and the front porch that was just a few feet off the ground had to have a railing. Not so here.

And there's no business to own, that's personal but possibly more concerning because of that.. at least the garage is just in my name where the house is in wife and my name.

 

[volleyball]

Could be as simple as drilling 1" holes through the block every 6- 8' to let the water out. Make sure you have a hole where the block seems to bulge.