Continue to Site

Eng-Tips is the largest engineering community on the Internet

Intelligent Work Forums for Engineering Professionals

  • Congratulations GregLocock on being selected by the Eng-Tips community for having the most helpful posts in the forums last week. Way to Go!

retaining wall base exposed

Status
Not open for further replies.

Dave2007

Computer
Jul 29, 2007
1
I'm not sure what to do here- I have a decent size retaining wall next to my house. its composed of 3footx3footx3foot concrete blocks with a few 4'x4'x3's also tossed in. it was made to 'flatten' my yard from its previous slope, so the wall at one end is 3 feet tall and as it progresses it gets to 15' about 52' farther down the yard. The Base blocks were all sunk about 2 feet below the surface on compacted soil and 'steps' down as the wall increases in height to compensate for the slope. This has been an excellent wall with no problems for 11 years.

I come home from work at 11pm yesterday and my wife tells me the neighbor has been out there with his tractor digging. I go out to check and find that at the start of the wall where its 15' tall he has dug down about 1 foot below the bottom of the base blocks, perfectly flush with edge of the blocks, it looks like its now built on earthen blocks for the base. this is for about a 20-25 foot long section.- the weight of each of these blocks is apx 2 ton for a 3x3x3 and 4 tons for a 4x4x3 then stack those up to 5 high, then add the weight of the earth behind them... the wall is right on the property line.

What can/should I do?? the neighbor is one of those that is 100% unapproachable.
Who should I contact?
Who is responsible for the walls integrity now?
what if he 'fixes' it by just tossing some dirt back against the wall? My thought is once its compromised it needs to be fixed better than that doesnt it?
Isnt there something about needing 45 degree slope away from the base to be stable? ( maybe I made that up, I'm not sure)
Where can I go to research what laws may apply to this situation?

sorry so many questions, but right now I am scared the wall may fall.(or am I worried about nothing?)
 
Replies continue below

Recommended for you

Good thing to worry over! Get a geotech engineer to make a report of existing wall conditions with pictures and measurements. Have your attorney write a letter to the neighbor explaining that cost to repair any wall failure caused by his construction activity will be billed to him and sued for if not paid.
 
It's your neighbor's responsibility to control any damages from happening to adjacent property. I'm not saying you can stop him, he just needs to be put on notice as civilperson says.

f-d

¡papá gordo ain’t no madre flaca!
 
Not so fast guys.

I've been in court on some cases where you can do anything you want inside your lot, even if it affects the soil below the neighboring lot.

I'd check the state laws on this one before suing. However, the advice to the neighbor can't hurt, but it may not be enforceable, legally.

By the way, is this wall tilted back at least some, rather than being vertical on the front face?
 
If you want to take the most agressive option, contact your lawyer and get an injunciton stopping the work on the basis that it poses a public safety hazard, which it undoubtedly does. Someone could be seriously hurt by you neighbors reckless actions.
 
I'm not sure I agree with the premise that you can "do anything you want" There are numerous instances where you cannot do things which will create a hazard or harm adjacent property owners. Given an agressive attorney, I believe you could win this case if you can clearly show that your neighbors actions harmed you. Talk with your neighbor asap and ask him what he plans to do when your yard slides into his. If he doesn't know, then ask him for a copy of his grading permit. If he doesn't have one, go down to the building department and report it and ask for an inspection / red tag the project.
 
agreed with above comments. discuss with neighbor then get on paper in the event worst case scenario happens.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Part and Inventory Search

Sponsor