We had this existing wall on the property, a short segment that was skewed relative to the property line.

We decided along with our neighbors that we liked the style, and wanted to tear down the existing wall and replicate the style all along the property line.  Yesterday was the day it came down, and its destruction revealed just how poorly it was built.  Given a modest earthquake, it could easily have entirely fallen down and crushed someone that happened to be standing next to it.

For starters, it was built on what appears to be a curb like footing, which was only about 12 inches deep and 9 inches wide.

There was no tie in into the footing.  Normally, you would have re-bar coming out of the footing and tied into the interior voids of the bricks, which would then be filled with mortar, tying the entire structure together.

The bricks weren’t even aligned with all the voids in the same direction; some up and down, some sideways.

For some reason, they ran a wire cable along the length between two courses of bricks.

This actually made the structure worse, as, if part of the wall started to fall, it would pull the rest down with it, which is what happened when the excavator pulled down one corner.

You can see how when the wall hit the ground, it just fell apart.  Finally, for some reason, they poured some sandstone rubble inside the brick voids, as if that would make the wall more stable.