How to fix slumping clay repairs in leaking earthen walls?

thegreenseed

How do you stop leaks in walls made from local earth mixes before the rot spreads?

I tried packing fresh clay and straw into a few spots near the base but the new material just slumps when it gets wet again. The older layers underneath feel soft now and I’m wondering if the whole section needs to come out or if there’s a way to stabilize it from inside.

WasteNotPro

thegreenseed that fresh clay slumping when it re-wets means the moisture is still coming from somewhere above or behind, so any inside patch will just fail the same way until the source gets cut off.

thegreenseed

I checked higher up the wall and around the roof edge but didn’t see any obvious cracks letting water in. The slump happens every time it rains now, even with the new mix I tried.

UrbanForest

thegreenseed nailed the moisture source angle, and since the upper checks came up empty it points to ground wicking or a hidden base issue instead. In those earth mixes the older layers soften first because water travels upward through the wall itself once the bottom gets saturated. I’d dig a small test hole at the footing to see if there’s standing water or poor drainage there before deciding on any removal.

thegreenseed

Haven’t dug at the footing yet since the ground’s still saturated. The softening is creeping up another few inches though, even in spots away from where I packed the new mix.