I agree with Patricia.

Retaining walls are nothing you should mess with on your own. People always think they're purely for aesthetic purposes but altering them in any way, or ignoring when they're damaged, can be a costly mistake.

Bring in a professional to look at this and redo it.

If it's not in the budget to replace, then I suppose you could camouflage the patches with large (very large) pots/planters.

This is a tough one....on the one hand the "wall" right now is decayed and crumbling yet a complete do-over is cost-prohibitive. Perhaps a landscape architect could suggest a fix that is somewhere in the middle....not a complete do-over but some other remedy? Best of luck.

A retaining wall is there to protect your home from water runoff and mudslides which can be real problems when your neighbor is so much higher. While it is very important to protect your property, it's also a good idea to talk to your upper neighbor and find out if they have addressed the issue by installing a drain or drainage tile to direct their runoff to the street. This is always a possible problem in hillside communities. If you are higher than your other neighbor, you need to consider the same issue.

The story of the little boy who stuck is finger in a hole in the dyke comes to mind. You have rotting ties, probably because this wasn’t designed properly to begin with because i think you have water that isn’t being directed away from the wall. I think i see evidence of that in the pavers discoloration, etc. So, what to do? Hide the visual unpleasantness? Wait and see? Or get it fixed properly? You may have no choice but a big cost if it fails totally. Waiting to do the right thing rarely is cheaper. Act quickly and you will save money in the long run.

Who's the best pro to ask about retaining walls? We need one (not nearly that high) and so far it seems like it is too small a job for some folks and the folks who do smaller jobs fencing jobs and the like have no idea about adding retaining walls. (Up hill neighbor has a brand new fence they build recently - which is horribly ugly but not much we can do about it - so I really don't want to risk it coming down or needing repair on our dime.)

How many 3x3 or 4x4’s already pre-treated do you need to purchase and have the landscaper install it for you

Put in an interlocking block corner, leaving the rest of the wall untouched.

I appreciate the responses and advice from all of you.
Happy Holidays

We recently replaced a 50x12 foot (12 ft at its highest point) retaining wall using versa lock - our borough code would not permit a wall that high to be of landscape ties.

We received 3 estimates and 1 was incredibly higher than the other two.

We are very pleased with the wall and it was definitely worth it because we love the house and its location. Funny thing is - we don't even see the wall because we have a corner lot a the top of a hill....our neighbors now have something much better to look at. Good luck with the job - talk to the experts for sure!

Happy Holidays

Hi Maria

I haven't heard of Versa lock. Could you post a picture?

Thank you
Laura

Just do a google search for Versa Lock. Simple.

Here’s a photo of the verse lock:

That looks like what we have for retaining walls in front and it's holding up nicely. (Previous owners installed it.)

My first thought was Gabion, this Houzz article or enter Gabion retaining wall in the Houzz searhbar for photos.
https://www.houzz.com/magazine/gabion-wall-stsetivw-vs~2292682

Start collecting flat rocks to build a wall, they are awesome with the brick.

Golly, I feel your pain. My parents had a railroad tie wall in their backyard that was about 50' long. It was built into the hill. They had bees nests, wasps and big black ants. Not all at once but through the years. When they went off to Assisted Living it HAD to be replaced. When it rained it was like Niagara Falls and when the snow melted it was worse. So I contacted a Landscape Designer and he did a interlocking brick wall for me. It cost me 11,ooo. But......really made a difference when I sold the house. One of the best things I've done!

You should really contact a landscape designer to come out, assess what's happening, and discuss options with you. In the meantime, don't waste any more money jamming concrete in the gaps. It'll probably all be on your patio after the winter anyhow, and you'd get as much structural benefit from a can of expanding foam.

I would probably dig a test hole inside that raised planter that's falling apart to see if the big wall behind it extends all the way to the ground. If it does, and I didn't have the budget for a complete tearout and redo (you're easily $20-30k around here), I'd consult with a structural engineer and see if removing the planter and building a new wall in front of the existing was an option. It may not be an option given the severity of the slope above the wall (that adds extra forces on the wall) but it's worth a look.

The reason why I recommend starting with a landscape designer vs a structural engineer is that I know that personally, I hate how much walls cost and do everything I can to minimize them. A landscape designer may be able to reconfigure your backyard to give you more usable patio space while minimizing the height and number of walls needed.

No matter what, PLEASE keep in mind that even if your locality doesn't require it, a structural engineer should be involved in the design of 1) any segmental retaining wall (versa-lok, etc) over 3-4 ft, 2) any concrete, CMU, or timber wall over 5 ft, and 3) any wall that has a steep slope directly above it and/or houses/neighboring properties directly above it. A cool design still has to obey the laws of physics.