My basement wall is about to fall in and need to have it repaired.I would like to know about how much this would cost me to have repaired? The wall that is caving in is about 15 feet long by 4 feet high and the outside dirt would have to be dug out

Costs can vary widely between regions, and because of existing conditions that would affect the ease of doing the work, so it is not possible to give an exact number, or even a range of costs.

Your best way to find out what something will cost is to find the names of reputable and qualified contractors in your area, and get at least three competitive bids from among them. Then you'll know exact costs for your job in your region under your conditions. Good luck!

Don't just run out and replce with the same kind on construction and backfill. The problem could be design, construction, materials or all.

Find out the cause of the failure, so you know what to avoid. An engineer could do this.

With a 4' high wall, it sounds like you have a foundation wall with wood frame above. Because of the connection at the middle, the footings might have to be larger since it is a cantilevered retaining wall. The sttel in the wall sould also be on the soil side of the wall and not in the center or on the interior(room) side.

Not nearly enough information to answer.
1. Age,
2. Why is it caving in?
3. How far has it bowed in and how long did it take to get that way?
4. What type of soil is the house located?
5. Where is the house located?
6. Four Feet high wall? Crawl space or is this crack on the wall where is bows four feet off the floor or down from the ceiling? How high is the wall and exactly how low below the exterior grade soil is located.

Answer these questions and we may be able to give you some direction on how to go. Without most of it. You will end up living with a failing foundation wall.

The "landscaping not sloping away from the house" isn't the problem at all. The prescence of clay soils outside the wal;l could well be the problem.

Another couple of questions: Is the wall parallel or perpendicular to the floor joists above it? How thick are the blocks in the wall? What is the difference between the elevation of the soil outside the wall and the floor of the crawl space? Does the crawl space have a concrete floor?

In fact, we still don't know if it is a crawl space wall. Is it a crawl space wall, or a basement wall that is half stud and half block?

I have a full basement half is 7 foot ceiling and the outher half is 5 foot ceiling under my living room that is step down to walk into ( like a sunk in living room) Also this is the same side that my fireplace is on. The floor joists goes perpendicular to the wall The blocks are 8x8x16. The basement is full concret and is a floating slab. The soil out side is lower and looks like it is dished in the middle.

Still not clear. Does the block wall go only part-way up the basement wall, with a stud wall above? If the soil outside is lower than the floor, what is it that is pushing the block in? It should be being braced by the floor slab.

Either we're going to have to get a better description, or it is something that has to be seen on site. There is only so much we can discuss here.

If I read this correctly the wall has slid over three inches at the floor?
Three inches is not that much if you have a 8 inch block but its way on its way to be so. Typcial rule of thumb is any movement more then half the thickness of the wall is unstable and needs to be supported and fixed. Less then half you need to find the reason for this movement and stop the cause. Clay soil against the foundation is in my opinion the answer to your issue. Regardless of where the wall has moved you will need to dig out the outside of the house carefully and properly repair the wall and use clean pea gravel and correct water proofing system to prevent this occurance.

Check with your homeowners insurance. You may have some sort of coverage for these repairs.

We still need some accurate information. Have you pulled any lines or used a level to detrmine what has happened?

Any wall that is 3" off the footing may have been built that way, there was a failure of the connection to the slab or ????

If you have that much movement, the wall, footing or connection to an inadequate slab/footing (maybe all) have already failed and need replacement and not repair. Patch jobs can be as costly and as much trouble as a real correction and are not the real solution.

I hope it is not load bearing, but it sound like it.

Until there is a better description and photos, all you will get is guesses. You may have a wall sliding on a slab or you may have a DIY addition that could be anything.

I will get some pictures soon. It seems to me that the fireplace chiminey foundation is being pushed in and the slab that the A/C unit sits on has droped one corner about four inches. Can see the line where A/C slab use to be and next to fireplace chiminey.

Hmmm, fireplace. The plot thickens.

It looks to me that the fireplace foundation is sliding into the basement

If we can't have pictures and/or very complete information, I'm afraid that we can't be of any help. A few of us have asked specific questions, because we need at least that information to be able to say anything that makes sense.

I have pitures but this site is not letting me post them. I do show that I have permission to post. Any sugestions?

Maybe the pictures are too big.

You have to upload pictures to a web hosting site like http://photobucket.com/ and then paste the url for the pics in the little dialogue box that comes up when you click the picture icon on the Reply menu. There are several other free sites as well. Good luck!

http://s420.photobucket.com/albums/pp290/rlander06/jobs/
My pitures

The last picture tells the story, along with the first. The wall is 8 inches thick. An eight inch wall can support roughly 5 feet of earth outside of it; your wall is supporting closer to 8 feet of earth. So, to begin with, your wall is not thick enough for the earth it supports. It might have been OK, though, until the builders did 2 other things. They boxed out (for a hearth) a section of the floor framing about 6.5 or 7 feet wide, which means the floor joists no longer brace the top of the wall in that location. Then, to compound the issue, they built a firepace right outside that boxed portion, possibly not extending the fireplace foundation down to the same depth as the wall footing, although I do see what appears to be a fireplace cleanout at the basement floor in one picture. That could place a horizontal load on the top portion of the already-too-thin and already-unsupported wall,and yes, you called it...the fireplace is sliding into the basement.

I think we have diagnosed at least the primary problem.

Now what is the solution? Frankly, the problem has too many components for me. I suspect this is a rare case where a band-aid solution may be the best choice, and probably steel beams running from the basement floor to the framing above is the best choice of the band-aids. Still, I would try to find a structural engineer to help you evaluate further and confirm or refute what I've said here. There are things going on there that are working together, and it needs a good structural engineer to deal with them. Architects like myself are limited to simple structural issues, and when they become compound issues, we need specialists.

It is quite evident that from the photos shown you have quite a bit of water entry into this basement area. Also the close up of the wall indicates that this has been going on for quite a while. As the cracks are filled with debris,cobwebs and such. This does not happen over a short period of time.
You need to dig the outside of the house away and fix the walls properly. While Richards suggestion of support with the metal beams will aid, it will not stop the water which is the primary cause of this issue.
Also as Richard said, the wall will support around 5 feet of earth, This is dry well drained earth. Once it gets wet it gets fluid and real heavy. So that five feet ends up going down to around three feet or less. I would install temp support walls inside. Dig outside and fix the wall properly. Then properly water proof the wall, then backfill. I think the fireplace is really saving the day here not causing issues. The simple fact that the foundation assuming there is one, has a larger foot print then the walls of the basement may be preventing the walls from pushing in completly.