My garden wall is leaning and cracking — repoint or rebuild?

A leaning wall and crumbling mortar are two different problems, and which repair you need depends on which one you actually have.

If the mortar is soft, powdery or recessed but the wall itself is still upright and true, that is a repointing job. Run a screwdriver along the joints — if the mortar crumbles away or you can push in more than about 15mm, it needs raking out and repacking. Budget roughly £25-50 per square metre, so a low front wall often comes in around £200-500. Do not sit on it: frost gets in behind a soft joint over a winter or two, and a £300 repoint left too long can turn into a £2,000 structural repair.

Leaning, bulging, stepped cracks near the corners, a base that looks to be spreading or coping stones lifting off are signs of movement, not surface wear — and repointing a wall that is moving only hides the problem. That points to a rebuild: expect around £400-1,200 to take down and rebuild a short section, or £1,500-4,000+ for a full brick boundary wall. If the wall retains soil, or is over about 1.2m and moving, have a structural engineer look first (£200-500) — cheaper than a repair that fails again next winter.

Two things worth knowing. Walls built before the 1950s usually need lime mortar rather than modern cement, or you trap moisture and spall the bricks — so make sure whoever quotes knows the difference. And if the wall sits on a boundary you share, have a word with your neighbour before major work starts.

Our garden wall cost guide and repointing cost guide have current 2026 figures. When you are ready, get a bricklayer to look before you decide — a good one will tell you honestly whether it is a repoint or a rebuild — and you can compare free quotes from vetted local bricklayers through BestBuilders.