When a wall tilts, bulges, or shifts, the visible problem is not the real problem. Water trapped behind the wall, a failed or missing drainage pipe, or a footing that was never deep enough is what's actually happening. We diagnose the root cause first, then repair it. Some walls can be fixed in place; others need partial reconstruction; a few should be replaced entirely. Every assessment is free and comes with a written quote.
A tilting retaining wall is almost always a water problem. The drainage stone behind the wall has become clogged with silt and clay, the drainage pipe has collapsed or was never installed, the soil is now waterlogged, and hydrostatic pressure is pushing the wall outward. Rebuilding the wall without fixing the drainage is a temporary fix that guarantees the same lean returns within a few years.
Our first step on every wall repair is to understand what is happening (is it leaning, bulging, settling, or shifting), what caused it (drainage failure, inadequate footing, design flaw), and what the honest fix is (repair in place, partial rebuild, or full replacement). Sometimes the right answer is a new block retaining wall or poured concrete wall built with proper drainage and footing from the start.
This root-cause-first method applies across all our retaining wall work and extends to our foundation repair service, where the same principle holds: fix what is causing the failure, not just what you can see.
Recent work
The repair sequence
How Detroit Concrete Repairs Retaining Walls
Measure and assess the wall
We quantify how much the wall is leaning or bulging, examine the slope it is holding, look for visible cracks or displacement, and determine whether the issue is localized or affects the entire wall.
Excavate and inspect the back
We dig behind the wall to see what drainage exists (or doesn't), check the condition of the drainage stone and pipe, inspect the back face of the wall for damage, and measure the footing depth to see if it meets code.
Rebuild drainage and reset blocks
We remove clogged or failed drainage material, install new drainage stone and a new perforated pipe routed to daylight, and reset any block sections that have shifted. Poured walls that have moved are assessed for repair or replacement.
Backfill and verify
The excavated area is backfilled with the drainage path intact, the wall is monitored after heavy rain or snowmelt to confirm the lean has stopped, and we provide guidance on long-term monitoring.
Repair vs replacement
Not Every Wall Can Be Repaired Honestly
Repair works when the wall structure is fundamentally sound and the cause (usually drainage) can be fixed without rebuilding the entire wall. It fails when the wall was undersized from the beginning, when the footing is inadequate across its length, or when the lean has exceeded what a repair can correct.
On every wall repair visit we tell you which category your wall falls into. If repair is just postponing failure, our quote will recommend building a new block wall or poured wall instead, engineered and drained correctly from the ground up.
Leaning walls, drainage systems, repair versus replacement, and how we diagnose the problem.
Sometimes. If the lean is moderate, the wall structure is sound, and the cause is correctable drainage, repair can stop the lean and prevent it from getting worse. If the lean is severe, the structure is failing, or the cause is not correctable, replacement is the honest answer.
Because trapped water is almost always the root cause of wall failure. Re-stacking the visible part of the wall without fixing the drainage just buys a few years before the same lean returns. Fix the drainage first; the wall stays.
We measure the lean, inspect the back of the wall (excavating where needed), check the existing drainage, check the footing depth, and identify whether the cause is one issue or several. The repair quote follows the diagnosis.
Some excavation behind the wall is required to fix drainage, which means the yard above the wall gets disrupted. We restore the landscape after the repair, but expect a working zone of a few feet behind the wall during the project.
From a few days for a simple drainage rebuild to a few weeks for a partial wall reset. Diagnosis is usually a half-day; the repair scope drives the schedule, and the full timeline is in the written quote.
Three contractors quoted to rebuild the wall. Detroit Concrete diagnosed it as a drainage failure, fixed the drainage, reset two block sections, and the wall has stayed put for two years. Fraction of the rebuild price.
X. T.
Detroit
★★★★★
Honest that our wall was past repair and a new one was the right call. Could have charged us for a repair that was going to fail. New wall is bombproof. Trust earned.
Z. J.
Warren
★★★★★
Drainage pipe behind our poured wall had collapsed years ago. They excavated, replaced it, monitored the wall through spring. No more bulging. Cause was the answer.
Y. M.
Ann Arbor
★★★★★
Diagnosis was free and detailed. Showed me exactly what was happening and what the options were. Picked the partial rebuild, exactly as quoted, exactly to schedule.
W. T.
Sterling Heights
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Tell us what the wall is doing, leaning, bulging, shifting, or settling, and we will diagnose the cause free and provide repair or replacement options in a written quote.
