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!

Good idea - here are several pictures, taken from right to left. Off camera to the right is a little slab with a shed on it that prevents me from laying a traditional french drain. So this is a little alcove of sorts that just happens to be situated in an area that slowly accumulates dirt over the years. The current problem is that doors in that area of the house stick (pretty badly) and walls flex enough to pop nails (etc). The entire area (in North Texas) is known to 'rock and roll' with the seasons, but the problematic areas I see are those in which soil has access to brick and mortar (i.e., is above the footer). These areas also seem to have longer-term structural damage in the brick. So I am attempting to make my doors work properly now and prevent longer term damage in the future by addressing the problem with a low-tech (i.e., inexpensive) solution. I do realize that I will need to keep dirt from accumulating again, but I think I can manage that. Note that under the drier vent there is a footer that rises up 2-3 inches above soil, but that just left of it you can see brick well below the excavated soil line. Right of the vent is a slab foundation addition to a pier and beam house, so the footer is higher in this area and marks where the new addition starts. I suspect this joint is causing some of the problems (as well as those perviously repaired cracks in the brick just below the window). Moving to the left, you see the problem continues. Moving further left, you'll notice that the soil is lower as we reach this corner. Rain fall carries soil away to the back of the house here, so it does not accumulate quite so egregiously. (By the way, I am aware that the soaker hose will exacerbate problems; it is not currently being used.) Just off camera to the left is a post oak (which are very vulnerable to construction damage) that provides excellent shade. I don't want to mess with it too much, thus this request for help! And here you see the other side of the corner, where the soil begins to dip below the footer once again. Hope this helps! Thanks again for looking. :)

Well, I went ahead with hiring a pro to re-brick where the hole was. I was able to find the same style brick but they had to special order it. Cost me about $50 for the bricks and $200 to have them installed. Unfortunately the bricklayer said he couldn't properly patch in the bricks near the window as he said it could cause the bricks above the hole to fail (some joints had already cracked above the hole), so he left it a straight shot there. He did patch them in on the right where he had to cut out some bricks. i think he did a pretty decent job. The mortar seems to be lightening since it was done last week. I thought it seemed too dark then but i guess it was still drying. Once I get the caulking off the bricks where the air conditioner was it will look better. I'll probaby also rub some dirt into the new bricks then hose them off to see if i can make them look a little dirtier like the old bricks. Here are a couple pix of the finished job... I'd considered trying to patch in the 4 bricks near the window to eliminate the straight line, but i'm not so sure anyone will even notice it. I could also try adding mortar there to bring the joints to the level of the bricks then painting it to look like the bricks I suppose. Just enough to make that line less obvious maybe. I don't know. For now I'll just leave it alone. Planning on trying to use a heat gun and wire brush to clean the caulking off.

@weedmeister, you mean the old lines ran under the slab and then outside? My condensate line goes into the concrete where the other lines are shown in the picture (solid yellow line), but where they go after that is what i'd like to find out! I Bought one of those long snake cams off Amazon that connect to your phone (it works!) I'll try it out tonight and see if I can get an approximation of where the lines go and if the condensate is plugged (thanks @Izzy Mn, I've heard of this happening but overlooked that possibility) And @klem1, that picture is absolutely worthless and only an approximation of where I see the most moisture from topside of the floor. With these cheap floors the moisture just wicks from board to board so I am unsure of that zig-zag looking line, but that one straight line going across the hallway entrance is a for sure straight ridge of moist, warped floor. I'm hoping the zig-zag line of moisture I highlighted originates from the poorly insulated point where the lines go into the concrete (solid yellow line) and the moisture may be creeping over there...but then again idk till I get this sh$! floor up. Thanks brotha, I'm definitely running through the attic if replacing! Entombing your lines in concrete doesn't really work well for repairs, does it?....heh.