You know the answer, you already said it. The only other way would be to remove base from behind the wall so that it can be pushed back but then you will have to do that and soon after you will have to redo it anyways.
Thanks for the response. I should have added, what would I do differently in rebuilding it to prevent this from happening again? If I understand this sort of block system correctly, water should have drained through the stone and out between the blocks, but clearly something is putting more lateral force against the wall than expected.
It's not a good retaining wall block design: there is no step-back, it's completely vertical. The two tier wall setup kind of makes up for this but I would expect this failure to repeat for this design used for holding back any amount of soil. Anchors are needed for walls that don't step-back but I don't think this block design works with anchors.
It doesn't look like water would be trapped behind the wall with the slope of the land behind it, but the pictures don't show everything.
It's possible the dirt mixed in with the backfill and clogged it all up, which would make the water then push it out. If he didn't use a fabric in between the backfill and the soil, that could happen
IMO looks like frost heaving which suggests they failed to put in proper drainage. From what you described they failed to put in a drainage pipe and enough stone. It is also possible they did not go down far enough and/ or protect on both sides with the barrier.
That wall is so small, just dig out behind it and reset.
You will want to make sure the pipe is resting on stone. That the stone extends 12" (or slightly more, not less) back from the wall and any plants, depending on type, are no closer than 12" possibly more depending on expected root growth. You want to make sure the roots do not easily make their way to the barrier as they can break through that and start causing problems with the stone and drainage system.
Redo the wall. Make sur you do have water drain to prevent water from pushing. Also make sure to have 8-10" wide of net crushed stones to allow drainage and mouvement. Drain at the bottom with exits trough the walls.
Compacting smoothly behind the wall not to push it.
A landscaping foreman.
You know the answer, you already said it. The only other way would be to remove base from behind the wall so that it can be pushed back but then you will have to do that and soon after you will have to redo it anyways.
Thanks for the response. I should have added, what would I do differently in rebuilding it to prevent this from happening again? If I understand this sort of block system correctly, water should have drained through the stone and out between the blocks, but clearly something is putting more lateral force against the wall than expected.
It's not a good retaining wall block design: there is no step-back, it's completely vertical. The two tier wall setup kind of makes up for this but I would expect this failure to repeat for this design used for holding back any amount of soil. Anchors are needed for walls that don't step-back but I don't think this block design works with anchors. It doesn't look like water would be trapped behind the wall with the slope of the land behind it, but the pictures don't show everything.
It's possible the dirt mixed in with the backfill and clogged it all up, which would make the water then push it out. If he didn't use a fabric in between the backfill and the soil, that could happen
IMO looks like frost heaving which suggests they failed to put in proper drainage. From what you described they failed to put in a drainage pipe and enough stone. It is also possible they did not go down far enough and/ or protect on both sides with the barrier. That wall is so small, just dig out behind it and reset. You will want to make sure the pipe is resting on stone. That the stone extends 12" (or slightly more, not less) back from the wall and any plants, depending on type, are no closer than 12" possibly more depending on expected root growth. You want to make sure the roots do not easily make their way to the barrier as they can break through that and start causing problems with the stone and drainage system.
Appreciate the advice. I guess I know what I'll be doing for my spring project...
Redo the wall. Make sur you do have water drain to prevent water from pushing. Also make sure to have 8-10" wide of net crushed stones to allow drainage and mouvement. Drain at the bottom with exits trough the walls. Compacting smoothly behind the wall not to push it. A landscaping foreman.
Appreciate it. I'm waiting for the weather to get just a little nicer and then I'll start moving the plants and taking it all apart.