Water trapped behind a retaining wall is the silent killer. When drainage fails, the slab shifts, blocks tilt, and the whole structure starts to fail. We don't just re-stack the visible part. We excavate, find what broke, rebuild the drainage system, and stop the problem at its source.
Behind every tilting retaining wall is a drainage failure. The stone has compacted and clogged, the pipe has cracked or was never there, and water is now pressing against the back face with force. The wall leans because it has to. Stacking the blocks back up without fixing the water problem is like bailing out a boat with a hole in it.
Our repair process starts with excavation and inspection. We expose the back of the wall, measure how much it has moved, check the footing depth, and trace the drainage path. Once we know what failed, we know what to fix. Sometimes it is a new drainage pipe and stone. Sometimes the footing has heaved and needs underpinning. Sometimes the wall is too far gone and a fresh poured retaining wall or block retaining wall is the honest answer.
We document how much the wall is leaning, bulging, or settling, then excavate behind it to see what the drainage situation actually is. Photos and measurements go into the diagnosis report.
Expose the back face and footing
Digging behind the wall shows us whether the drainage stone is clogged, whether the pipe is broken or missing, and whether the footing is at the right depth or has heaved. This is where the real story comes out.
Remove failed drainage and reset blocks
Old stone and pipe come out, new drainage stone and a new perforated pipe go in, routed to daylight or a sump. Any block sections that have tilted get reset plumb. Poured walls get assessed for repair or replacement.
Backfill and verify the fix
The excavation is backfilled with the drainage path intact. We monitor the wall after rain or snowmelt to confirm the lean has stopped and the drainage is working. Landscape restoration follows.
Repair or replace
Not Every Wall Can Be Repaired Honestly
Repair works when the wall structure is sound, the footing is adequate, and the cause (drainage) can be fixed without tearing the whole thing down. It fails when the wall was undersized from the start, when the footing is wrong across the entire length, or when the lean is so severe that pulling it back would break it.
On every site visit we tell you which category your wall is in. If repair is just postponing failure, we recommend a new poured wall or block wall built to code with proper drainage and footing depth. The written quote includes both options and the cost difference.
Leaning walls, drainage systems, repair versus replacement, and what the diagnosis process looks like.
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.
Homeowner reviews
What Oshawa Homeowners Say About Their Wall Repairs
Three contractors quoted to rebuild the wall. Oshawa 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.
Oshawa
★★★★★
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.
Toronto
★★★★★
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.
Brampton
★★★★★
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.
Mississauga
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Describe 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.
