The most common question waterfront home and business owners have in common is “Can you repair and save my failing vinyl seawall?”. Lately, we have been receiving a high number of inquiries for vinyl seawall repair. It seems there are a lot of poorly installed vinyl walls which are leaning out toward the water due to insufficient tiebacks, lack of anchoring, and more. Never fear, Seaside Seawalls is here to repair! One indicator of a poorly installed vinyl seawall is when the bottom of your wall kicks out at the bottom. This tells you that the pilings were not installed deep enough into the ground and your wall is on its way to being compromised. Another thing to look for is the top of your wall gradually leaning farther and farther out into the water. Usually this is due to lack of proper tiebacks and more times than not a contractor trying to cut corners to save himself cost. If your vinyl seawall is failing, or in drastic need of repair, use the contact form on our home page for a free estimate. Mention this blog and receive $100 off your repair costs. Currently we are working with a new client in Sylvan Lake, Mi. The homeowner lives along a canal and has a 5-year old “NEW” vinyl seawall. Because it is on a canal, the soil is softer than normally found on your typical shoreline. A few years after the seawall was installed it began to move forward and is now sitting over 12” from its original installation point into the water. The tieback system used by the contractor to hold the wall was made of wood and most likely was not a good fit for the site conditions. While the anchors gave way so did the pilings as they moved in turn into the water. This is a great example of “short sheeting” and the devastating effects it can have on your wall. As it stands the homeowner has asked for a quote to repair their current vinyl seawall as well as a quote for a new galvanized steel seawall. The repair quote will include recapping the entire seawall, hand digging the rear of the wall to a 42” depth, adding threaded rod tiebacks with structural I-beam anchors, and physically maneuvering the wall back to where it was. Even with this solution, we will not be able to guarantee future movement due to the vinyl pilings being “short sheeted” under the canal bed. The cost of the repair quote is exceptionally high due to the conditions presented currently on-site. The second quote we presented the homeowner is for a brand new galvanized, full sheeted, steel seawall. The existing vinyl seawall will be pulled out so that the new wall can be installed flush into both adjacent neighboring walls. Seaside Seawalls will use threaded rod tiebacks with solid steel I-beam anchors to guarantee a solid and non moving wall. The pilings will be 12 to 13 foot length, 8-guage galvanized steel and will create a wall just about 3 feet in height. Once the seawall is in place galvanized angle iron will be welded to each piling to cap or “wale” the wall. In our opinion this is the definitive answer to ensure a long lasting and beautiful seawall. We are now waiting to see which quote the homeowner will opt for. Feel free to leave you comments below as the client will be reading! We will let you know when the decision has been made and keep you up to date with our construction progress! Remember, its not just a seawall, it’s a Seaside seawall!