Warning Signs of a Leaning Retaining Wall in Frisco
Signs of retaining wall trouble include:
- leaning or bowing;
- leaking or seeping;
- cracking;
- efflorescence;
- foundation shifting.
Look at anything the wall holds up, too. Frisco’s wooden-fence rule says fence posts attached to or supported by a retaining wall must have foundation and anchorage to prevent movement of the wall. If your fence leans along with the wall, tell us when you call.
If you see one or more of these signs, call us now or send the form. We answer Mon–Sat 8–6.
Why Retaining Walls in Frisco Lean
Water and weak structure can each make a wall fail.
Water. Without drainage, hydrostatic pressure builds behind a wall and can make it bow, crack or collapse. Basic drainage is a perforated pipe at the base of the wall, gravel backfill and weep holes. Criblock designs are another option.
Structure. Footings that lack strength, and missing rebar, can make a wall fail early.
Which of these is behind your wall is what we look for on site. Call or send the form.
North Texas Clay and Rain Around Frisco
Houston Black clay is the largest soil mapped in Collin County, about 37% of its mapped acres. It has high shrink-swell potential. In dry periods it cracks 1/2 to 4 inches wide at a foot deep, and those cracks stay open 90 to 150 cumulative days in most years. Water enters it rapidly when it is dry and cracked, and very slowly when it is moist.
In Denton County, the largest mapped soil components are Sanger, Somervell, Callisburg, Gasil and Ponder.
Walls built on clay often need extra reinforcement, and clay-heavy soil can raise excavation labor by up to 50%.
May and October are the wettest months at DFW Airport, at 4.78 and 4.37 inches. A 100-year storm at Frisco is estimated at 3.57 inches in a single hour.
The free on-site estimate checks the soil along the wall. Call or send the form to book it.
What Happens If a Leaning Wall Is Left Alone
Water pressure behind a wall with no drainage can end in collapse, and a wall with weak footings or missing rebar can fail early.
At the two ends of the price scale, a typical repair runs $250 to $1,250 per job, while a full remove and rebuild runs $6,000 to $14,500.
Until the wall has been looked at, treat the ground below it and the edge above it as off-limits. Then call or send the form to book the free on-site estimate.
Repair or Replace a Leaning Retaining Wall in Frisco
The answer comes from the wall itself. Here are the options and what each one runs.
Repair the wall. $250 to $1,250 per job. The retaining wall repair page covers the kinds of repair.
Add drainage behind it. Fixing a wall that does not drain runs $60 to $70 per linear foot, done by excavating behind the wall. The retaining wall drainage page shows what goes in.
Take it out and build new. Demolition runs $15 to $30 per linear foot. The new wall is then priced by type: block at $15 to $50 per square foot of wall face, natural stone at $20 to $100, poured concrete at $20 to $40 and timber at $13 to $30. The retaining wall cost page breaks these down.
Engineering, if the wall needs it. $500 to $750 per wall.
At the free on-site estimate we look at the wall’s height, the slope, the drainage, access for equipment, the soil, and what removing the old wall involves. Your price is set at the free on-site estimate.
Frisco Rules When a Leaning Wall Is Rebuilt
Frisco’s code defines a retaining wall as “a wall not laterally supported at the top that resists lateral soil loads and other imposed loads.” Its permit and engineering heights for those walls appear in the permit line further down this page. A few more of the city’s rules matter once a leaning wall is coming down:
- The permit fee is doubled when work starts before the permit is obtained.
- No part of the new wall may interfere with or alter a drainage swale between lots.
- Where the wall raises a fence, fence height is measured from the ground at the highest point.
- The office to ask is Development Services, Building Inspections.
During the estimate we measure the height those rules turn on. Call or send the form.
What to Do Today About a Leaning Wall
- Keep people and cars clear. Stay off the top edge, keep children out of the area below the wall, and don’t park vehicles above or beside it.
- Send water away. Point downspouts away from the wall.
- Don’t start digging. Frisco doubles the permit fee when work starts before the permit is obtained, so check with the city before anyone rebuilds.
- Call us. We answer Mon–Sat 8–6 and set up a free on-site estimate. You can also send the form any time.