Saving a Shearing Wall from Total Collapse in Cincinnati, OH

Friday, November 7th, 2025 by Jack Purdon

Challenge

In this Cincinnati, Ohio basement, one foundation wall had reached an advanced stage of failure known as bottom shearing. The wall had shifted nearly four inches inward near the center, putting it dangerously close to complete collapse. The homeowner first noticed stair-step cracking along the mortar joints - stemming from all four corners of the wall, but what appeared to be a small issue quickly developed into a serious structural problem.

Shearing occurs when the bottom course of a block wall is held in place behind the basement floor slab. Because that bottom row of block can’t move, all the blocks above it begin to slide over top of the bottom block under pressure. Over time, the soil outside the foundation can push inward - especially when it becomes saturated and heavy. As this pressure builds, it forces the wall to shear or “break” just above the slab line, causing the upper portion of the wall to tilt inward while the bottom remains locked in place.

This type of failure typically begins with small horizontal cracks or minor inward movement, but once the shearing starts, the wall’s stability rapidly deteriorates. In this case, the displacement was so severe that the wall was on the verge of losing structural support entirely. Immediate stabilization was the only way to prevent a total wall collapse and protect the rest of the home.

For a better explanation on wall shearing and how it occurs, check out this video on our website: Click here!

For a better explanation on the stages of block wall failure, check out this video on our website: Click here!

Solution

Because the wall had sheared nearly four inches inward, our inspector recommended an immediate straightening approach rather than a gradual correction. In this case, the damage was too advanced to safely realign the wall without first relieving the exterior soil pressure. Our crew began by excavating along the outside of the affected foundation wall, allowing us to safely access and reduce the load pressing against it.

Once the soil was removed, we installed three PowerBraces along the inside of the basement. These steel I-beams were anchored from the floor to the floor joists above, giving the structure rigid internal support while the wall was pushed back into place. By combining excavation with our PowerBrace system, we were able to not only straighten the wall vertically, but also push it back horizontally onto the footing—restoring its alignment and structural strength.

To counteract the effects of the severe shearing, we also installed floor braces at the base of the wall for additional pushback support. The homeowner didn’t mind the low-profile floor braces and planned to simply position their workbench over them once the work was complete.

After the wall was stabilized, we applied a TVB coating to the exterior face of the wall to protect it from moisture intrusion and prevent further degradation. A waterproofing system was also installed along the inside of this wall to keep the basement dry and reduce future hydrostatic pressure.

By the end of the project, the once-failing wall was straight, structurally secure, and well-protected—saving it from complete collapse and extending the life of the foundation for decades to come.

Project Summary

Foreman: Clem

Engineer: Walt

This is what the wall looked like once we had set the three PowerBraces in place, but had not yet tightened them to straighten the wall out. You can see how the top right corner of the wall had a stair-step pattern crack spanning down towards the middle of the wall.

This photo, cropped from the previous, shows a closer up view of the shearing. If you look closely at the bottom most row of blocks, (the one with weep holes drilled in them) you'll notice that the whole entire wall was sliding over it. Shearing like this occurs because the bottom most row of blocks are held back by the floor slab, while the rest of the entire wall has nothing to hold it back. This was a sure sign of shearing at a very late stage.

This photo was the most revealing of them all. The middle of the wall, (near the middle brace) had slid over by about 4 inches.

Our Foreman snapped this photo after they had straightened the wall back out. In this case, our team not only had to straighten the wall but also push it back toward its footing-a far more complex process than standard wall correction. Typically, we're working to realign a bowed wall, but when a wall has also sheared, it must be pushed horizontally as well as vertically adjusted. Every movement has to be slow, measured, and precise to keep the structure stable. That combination made this repair especially challenging and a true testament to the crew's skill and control, even though it was just a few inches.

This was what the wall looked like before we straightened it back out.

This was what the wall looked like after we straightened it back onto the footing. Head on over to the next set of photos to see a closer up.

This photo shows a closer view before the straightening. We've numbered out the rows of blocks from the floor up so you can compare to the next photo, which was taken from the same angle. Look closely at the space between the shadow to the right of block number four and the brace - before heading to the next photo.

You can see that we effectively closed the space between the leaning block wall and the vertical brace from this after photo.

This shows the opposite side of the wall from the outside. We had to excavate the soil down along this wall in order to straighten it out. We also applied a TVB (topsite vapor barrier) to the wall from the outside to stop moisture from further degrading the concrete blocks. This was after we backfilled the hole and the project was complete.

We also suggested that we waterproof the wall to help relieve pressure off of the wall and to keep the basement dry. We fitted the base of the now straight wall with our subfloor WaterGuard drains, and hooked them up to one of our sump pumps. The homeowner told us he didn't mind the floor braces, (which were needed) and they would just throw their work bench over them.

We also braced more of the same wall, just in a different room of the basement. We fitted our drainage system underneath the floor in this area as well, and we ran it underneath the interior wall, (seen on the far side of this photo) to the same sump pump, (as seen in the previous photo). However, this section of the wall was not as severely bowed, so we didn't need to straighten it out immediately. Instead, for this section, we can straighten the wall out gradually over time through annual service visits.

This photo, taken from a completely different site, shows what can happen if wall failure is left ignored. Unfortunately, this garage in New Richmond, OH, had to be completely demolished, as this total wall failure left the entire structure unsafe to even stand in.

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Saving a Shearing Wall from Total Collapse in Cincinnati, OH

Challenge

Solution

Project Summary

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