Hello all,

Over the past few years, our retainer wall surrounding out patio is starting to lean. I want to repair this section, but would like some guidance of how to tackle this project. There are many tutorials online about installing new retainer walls and the appropriate steps to take, however, I found very little in terms of the steps to take to repair an existing retainer wall.

I attached some pictures of our leaning wall, so if anyone has any suggestions or where I can find a good tutorial I would appreciate it!

~Mike

It could look like that for the next 50 years! Why do you want to tackle fixing it right now? I would just leave it be. It isn't ugly or a danger to anyone.

I actually had to do that this spring. Mine was leaning in, not out. Basically we took out all the blocks, leveled the base (make sure to use sand and get it really level), and laid the first row (usually you want three bottom row to be 1/3-1/2 of each block to be underground). Then offset the second layer. Repeat. Make sure to backfill into the cracks as much as possible (sand almost works better to fit into the spaces between cracks as it acts like a barrier to keep dirt from turning into mud and washing out in a heavy rain). If you need pictures, I can try and go get a few to show what I mean.

I'm late to this conversation, but for future projects retaining walls generally lean outward due to groundwater pressure behind the wall. It is always important to consider how water behind a wall will be drained. As @ceckery noted, the foundation is also very important. Most retaining walls (that are not designed by civil engineers) lean into the slope. Typically, the retaining wall blocks are designed so that each row of blocks is set back slightly from the one below (referred to as batter).

This thread is a couple of years old - but I would call the "retaining wall" in question more of a "raised bed edging."