Retaining wall failure assessment: is your wall failing?
NYC Retaining Walls built this retaining wall failure assessment to sort a wall into one of four levels — Monitor, Repair soon, Urgent, or Unsafe — from nine questions you can answer standing in front of it with a level. It also tells you when NYC's permit rule or Local Law 37 applies.
What the levels mean
- Monitor: Nothing you described points to active movement. Photograph the wall twice a year from the same spots, keep weep holes clear, and re-check with a level after big storms and each spring thaw.
- Repair soon: Cracking, seepage or a timber wall nearing the end of its life are cheapest to fix now — usually a repair or a drainage retrofit, not a rebuild.
- Urgent: Growing lean, offset cracks or a reported SREM condition mean the wall is working against its load. Stabilizing with anchors or rebuilding the failed run is likely, and the price of waiting goes up each freeze-thaw season.
- Unsafe — act today: Falling material, an Unsafe rating or a DOB violation is an emergency. Keep the area clear, call 311 if material threatens a sidewalk or public way, and get repairs scheduled — an Unsafe condition must be corrected within 90 days, and every month uncorrected carries a $1,000 penalty.
Signs that move a wall up a level — growing lean, offset cracks, water pushing through the face, material falling — are explained in is a leaning retaining wall dangerous and retaining wall weep holes. If a wall has already come down, follow what to do after a collapse.
Get your wall looked at
Tell us your result — we'll prioritize Urgent and Unsafe walls.
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Callback within 1 business hour. If it's urgent, call (718) 555-0100.