Cracked or leaning brick walls in Melbourne

Is it safe?

The Building and Plumbing Commission has a safety guide on freestanding brick walls, such as front fences and garden walls. It warns that cracks weaken brickwork considerably, that a wall can lean or crack when its footing rotates, and that older walls with weak lime mortar are more easily damaged by high winds or impacts.

If a wall is leaning, cracked right through, or moves when pushed, keep people (especially children) away from both sides of it until it's been assessed. The BPC's advice is to contact a builder if you're worried about a wall on your property, and your council if it's someone else's.

Describe the cracks and the wall

Photos of the whole wall are more useful than close-ups alone. Put a coin or tape measure in a close-up for scale.

• What the wall is: part of the house, a freestanding fence or garden wall, or a retaining wall holding back soil
• Its height and length, and roughly how old it is
• Where the cracks are, which way they run (stepped through the mortar, straight down, or through the bricks), and whether they're getting wider
• Any lean, bulge or loose bricks
• Nearby trees, recent digging, or water pooling at the base

Repointing: when the mortar is the problem

If the bricks are sound but the mortar between them is crumbling or washed out, a bricklayer can rake out the old mortar and repoint. Ask what mortar they'll use and how they'll match the colour and the strength of the original, which matters on older walls built with lime mortar.

Repointing fixes the joints, not the cause. If walls keep cracking in the same place, or cracks are wider at the top than the bottom, ask whether the footing or the ground underneath needs looking at first.

Permits, registration and retaining walls

Retaining walls 1 m or higher need a building permit, and so can lower ones built on or near a boundary where they could damage the neighbour's property. Most fences need a building permit too: see dividing fences. A registered building surveyor or your council can confirm what your job needs.

Bricklaying isn't one of the single trades exempt from builder registration, so brickwork worth more than $10,000 needs a builder registered with the Building and Plumbing Commission, and a major domestic building contract. For a wall that's leaning or has structural cracks, the BPC points to a builder for an assessment; an engineer may also be needed to design the fix.

What the quote should cover

• Assessment of the cause, and whether an engineer is needed
• Taking down unsafe sections, and disposal
• Bricks: reused, matched second-hand, or new, and how closely they'll match
• Mortar type and colour
• Footings, drainage and any permit
• Scaffolding or access, and protecting gardens and paths
• Clean-up, and removing mortar stains from the face of the bricks

Example brief

“Front brick fence in Northcote, about 1.2 m high and 12 m long, probably 1920s. One section near the gate leans outwards and has a stepped crack; the mortar is crumbling along most of the wall. Please assess whether that section needs rebuilding, and quote rebuilding it and repointing the rest to match.”

Before booking a bricklayer

• People kept clear of a leaning or cracked wall
• Photos of the whole wall, with close-ups to scale
• The cause looked at before repointing
• Permit for retaining walls 1 m or more, and most fences
• A registered builder for brickwork over $10,000

Ready to describe it? Start a job request or browse bricklaying work. Checking the builder? See how to check a tradie's licence. Availability depends on real postings, and registration must be enabled to submit.