There are no absolutes in life, so I'll amend pls8xx's statement: The new wall will very likely fail if constructed as you say. You're in a freeze-thaw part of the country, which is why your footer needs to be below frost line. If you attempt to "float" the footer, the expansion and contraction of the soil will heave and crack the footer, the mortar joints in the CMUs, and the brick veneer. You also need to consider that with a 3' high wall, the forces attempting to knock it over are pretty intense. Without being tied to a proper footer, and without vertical steel reinforcement, those forces will eventually win and your wall will very likely fail. Again, no absolutes in life; the brick piers on my 100 year-old house go 6" into the ground and sit on bare earth. But if you're taking the time and expense to do something, why build in the probability of failure? As to the EP Henry wall solution... did that quote also include demo & removal of the existing wall and related sitework? If so, they may not be that out of line. If you approach it as a DIY job, you may be surprised at how quickly $X per ton of disposal adds up. If you do the project yourself, be fanatical about following the manufacturer's instructions. These systems are designed so they can be installed without special masonry skills, but you still need to be very accurate in preparing the base. If you don't feel like you're spending a ridiculous amount of time getting the first course of block perfectly level... well, you're probably not doing it right. If you want to put a fence back on top of the wall, Keystone makes a system that'll hold the fenceposts securely within the structure of the wall. Might be worth looking at. Best of luck!

I have no advice to offer, only encouragement. What a great project! Well, I do have one piece of advice - take care with your back and hands. I am making a flagstone walk, and have learned how carpal tunnel can effect moving that flagstone around, although I am well past the age of toddlers. : ) Keep us posted with photos as you progress. I hope you get great advice from those 'in the know'. Jane

Hi Weedy, Thanks for the reply-- We currently don't even walk on the deck, the beams meeting at the outside-left corner have completely rotted away and not supported by the posts... I swear it's inertia and friction holding the thing up this point... I like your idea of having just two retaining walls and leveling out the area, the trouble is that the lowest spot in my yard is not quite as low as I'd like the area under the deck to be, meaning in order to water away from the house I'd have to either build a retaining wall there or build up a small mound to provide grade. This is why I was thinking of building retaining walls on 3 sides to box in the whole area under the deck while incorporating a set of steps into one of the walls (probably right side) to keep access. For the footings, I figured I needed to 4' lower then the lowest point around me, just wanted to hear another opinion... this a lot of digging!! Regarding posts and retaining walls... my idea was that the footprint of the deck is exactly the same as the retaining wall--so are you suggesting making the deck larger then the footprint of the retaining wall, meaning the posts are set "outside" of the retaining wall? or smaller? I wasn't really expecting to gain much by incorporating posts into the retaining wall, just trying to maximize my space under the deck for storage. Currently the deck is about even w/ the window on the right side, and off by only a couple of feet on the other, so expanding the deck parallel w/ the house could only grow by 2-3' before it starts to overhang the windows (I think it's 8' now, so it could grow to maybe 10')... I could certainly grow the deck perpendicular to the house, that might be the best option, that would also allow me have more of the deck in the sun which would be nice. I'm doing a a "hybrid DIY" on the build, I'll be hiring a family friend who is a professional carpenter, so I do have hourly costs associated with the build, but all the same I'd still rather spend more now to get a better build :) Ideally I'll be getting "serious" around July 1st, applying for the permits, taking down the old deck, etc...

"...builder screwed up and didn't plan an appropriate exit..." Well I guess. Is the builder willing to rectify the situation? It looks to me that it may be possible to build a deck outside the back door which projects beyond the face of the house, with minimal steps and/or ramp in the direction of the left side of the photo, parallel to the face of the house. In other words, a deck projecting out beyond the house for whatever dimension you want with access/egress toward the left margin of the photo, where the grade appears highest. It appears that the ground slopes off so much to the right side of the house that it's impractical to build anything in that direction. What do you prefer to do?