Bricks, Masonry, Asphalt and Concrete - how$nothow

Since i am a DIY for everything I don't know how much a job should cost. The reason I ask is for turning in to my insurance. I will fix it myself but need to have a ball park figure for labor. Katrina knocked down a tree that landed on a conrete chain wall that supports my yard. its 100' from my house. It is about 2' at the top of the hill and 9' at the base of the hill and its a run of about 100' and 4" thick with steel.
The tree hit the center and cracked the wall all the way to the ground. Wondering what it would cost to remove the wall and replace? I will replacve the wall myself but does my insurance company give me 500 bucks or 5000 bucks, I just want to be reimbursed for the wall so that I can fix it like it should be. The wall also had cyclone fence on it which was completely smashed. Seems to me it would be a pretty big job, any thoughts?

Not sure, but I believe if you tell the insurance company you'll do the work yourself, they will not reimburse for your labor at all.

Thats why i need an amount to turn in. They don't require a written est. just a figure for us to agree on. If he says 500 bucks but i think 5000 then we have to come up with a figure that suits us both.

What is a concrete chain wall?

Dick

I have always called it a "chain wall". part of the property is on a hill. The concrete wall holds my yard in place. The wall was built running down the hill from a 2' high to 10' high slope for about 100' long. then when the wall was curred dirt was backfilled to create a flat yard and homesite.

On that side of my house the yard is about 300' long x 100' wide. the fence that "use to" be at the edge of my yard ran on top of the wall. Top of yard is level with the top wall. On the other side of the fence is a drop off, 2' on the small side and 10' at the other side. (100' LONG)

I am going to fix it myself but i am not going to pay someone or tell my insurance co. who is going to do the work. they don't care. They have so many claims right now they are adjusting damages on the spot. So when the adjuster finnaly get to my house I need to have a figure in mind so we can agree or diagree with the amount of money it will take for someone to i think, remove the damaged wall (1 day of labor plus removal of concrete), Form up a new wall with rebar and fence post in the top of it and pour the concrete.

When you said "500 bucks or 5000 bucks", you could not touch the cost of replacing the wall.

Since it is 9' high, you will need a permit.

Anyone designing a reinforced wall would be an engineer and design it from scratch. He would probably have a 8 " or 12" wall (not your 4") with reinforcement and a poured footing (100' long) below the frost line. - Big big big bucks$$$$

A segmented retaining wall (SRW) should be cheaper since reinforced footings would not be needed. A compacted gravel base a foot or two deep would probably be required. This could be a DIY project if you get some equipment and help.

I would suggest getting a bid from a landscape contractor that has built similar SRW walls. He should be able to give you a price (in writing) based on similar walls. The design is not as complicated so he may not need a design to go by for estimating.

After you get a price, you can turn it in. If you get the payment, you could then decide if you want to have a contractor build it or DIY it. Ultimately, a permit will be required and the municipality will require an engineer to do a design at that time.

If you try to do a wall 9' high without a permit or a design you are taking a co$tly chance.

You were lucky the wall was standing when the storm hit. I am not surprised you had a problem with storm damage.

Dick

Thanks for the reply.......The wall has been there since 1960 and has had no cracks or anything. My grandfather built the wall and several others on the property. The wall failed because a 150 yr old oak landed on it. That was prob about 30,000 lbs hitting it. This is a project I can do myself, I live in the country in Mississippi and there are no codes here, no cold temps. and I have all the equipment I need, dozer tractors ext.
The wall (each segment) has ancors tied to the rebar (inside the slab) that extend into the yard about 15 ft. All the property is on top of an old gravel pit so the footing is no issue. The wall is actually segmented as you say, it was poured in sections ( 4' high) and about 30' long.
The "engineering" principles came from my grandfather and some of his boys (my uncles) whom are not engineers but were foreman on Louisiana jobs building concrete overpasses. The house he built was built with all of that in mind. It has concrete floors on all the second floors supported by an 18" slab on the ground with three(3'x3'x25') solid concrete pillars in the front, 6' into the ground) I won't even go into how much steel and railroad iron is in the house (walls / ceiling).

Although appreciated greatly I have no needs for info on how to, just a ballpark on how much it will cost.