Block wall leaning or cracking

A lean and a crack are different problems. A lean says something about how the wall is held at the bottom, so get the footing looked at before anyone offers to patch it. A crack can be simple shrinkage or the first sign of movement, and nobody can tell you which from a website. If the wall could fall on someone, keep people clear and see the wind damage page.

What holds a freestanding wall up

The block industry's fence design note lists a cantilever on a continuous footing among the common designs, and for that kind of wall says "the footing holds the wall in position and resists overturning and sliding due to lateral loads." Dowels come up from the footing into the wall to anchor it, and should be at least equal in size and spacing to the wall's vertical steel. For cracks, it recommends horizontal reinforcement to control shrinkage, and control joints placed according to local practice.

That note is based on the 2003 and 2006 building codes, and the city lists the 2021 editions as adopted. Use it to know what to ask about. It is not a design for your wall.

What to look at before you call

• Does the whole run lean, or one section? Which way? Take a photo along the top from one end.
• Does the crack follow the mortar joints in steps, or run straight through the block? Mark the ends in pencil with the date and look again in a month.
• Is the cap still on? The note says copings protect against water getting in, and should stick out at least half an inch on both sides to make a drip edge.
• Does water sit at the base, from a sprinkler, a downspout or a low spot?
• Is the ground higher on one side? Then the wall is also holding back soil, which is a different job from standing up to wind. We could not verify a city rule for retaining walls, so ask the city.
• Has anything been added since it was built, like iron on top or a gate hung from it?

What the ground does here

We found no City of El Paso or extension fact sheet on soil and block walls. The closest official source is USDA's soil descriptions, which say what a soil type is like, not what is under your lot. A subdivision's fill can change the answer. All three of these were first described in El Paso County.

Caliche is the common name for that cemented layer. The best plain explanation we found is from University of Arizona Extension. It is about Arizona yards and planting, not El Paso walls, so take it as background. It says caliche ranges "from relatively loose to highly consolidated, solid rock-like conglomerations", from a few inches to several feet thick, that "Not all desert soils have caliche", and that tight layers hold water on top instead of letting it drain.

To see what is mapped for your area, USDA's Web Soil Survey lets you mark an area and read a soil report. For general questions, the AgriLife Extension office for El Paso County is at the Ascarate Annex, 301 Manny Martinez Sr. Dr., (915) 273-3502 (their number, not ours). Its page does not mention soil tests, so ask first.

Wind on a solid face

The weather service and UTEP paper says the prevailing wind shifts to west-southwest from March into early June, and that the strongest dust storms come with "strong gusty west to southwest winds." A long wall running north to south takes that broadside. The same paper says winds coming out of a mountain gap can run about 50 percent stronger, and that this has been seen on the lee side of the Franklin Mountains east of Transmountain Pass. If your lot is on that side, tell the company, and ask what wind load its design assumes. The note's design tables are tied to wind levels, so that is a fair question.

Water against a wall

El Paso gets little rain, about 24 centimeters a year, or 9 inches, and about half of it falls from July to mid-September. When it does come it can be a lot at once. On August 1, 2006, 3 to 10 inches fell across the area, and storms on August 4 sent water over three feet deep in parts of central El Paso. El Paso Water says the monsoon "can bring sudden, localized and intense rains".

A solid wall across the path that water takes can get pushed from behind, or send the water somewhere else. Texas law has something to say about the second one: Water Code section 11.086 bars diverting the natural flow of surface water in a way that damages someone else's property by overflow. Ask where the water goes before a new wall crosses a low spot. The shared fence page has more.

Repair or rebuild, and the permit

The city sheet says a building permit is required to "construct, enlarge, alter, repair, move, demolish" a structure, and lists masonry walls over 42 inches. Its no-permit list covers "ordinary, minor nonstructural repair(s)", like painting. Where re-pointing a crack stops being minor and rebuilding a section starts is a question for the One Stop Shop at (915) 212-0104.

In a historic district the rules are different again. The city's design guidelines say to replace only the deteriorated part, matching the original, and call cinder block a recent development that is not an appropriate fence material. See the city rules page.

What to ask about a leaning wall

• What do you think caused this, and how do you know?
• Will you dig at the footing to check before you quote a rebuild?
• Can you tell whether this wall has steel in it?
• How wide and deep is the new footing, and what steel goes in? Please put that in the quote.
• What changes if you hit caliche, and who pays for that change?
• Who calls 811 before you dig along it, and who hauls the old block?

The whole wall may also not be yours alone. If it sits on the line, read the shared fence page first.