My mother in law is trying to sell her 1975 house–full basement + two floors. The only obvious problem is with a beam pocket in the foundation. The pocket is on the edge of an inside corner of the foundation. The concrete is under the beam, of course, and on its left side. The right side of the beam is fully visible, so it’s really kind of a half-pocket. The problem is that the concrete directly under the beam is crumbling away. This whole inside corner, about a three inch wide chunk of the foundation, is falling off. The beam has not yet deflected down, despite that the concrete directly under it is crumbly and loose–the chunks could be pulled out with minimal effort. The wall above it, though exterior, is not really load bearing.
Here’s the question. What’s the best way to fix this in order to pass a home inspection? If my MIL was going to continue to live in the house, I’d probably just pour a footing, and put up a lally column right near the end of the beam to solve the support issue, and do any patching necessary to make it impervious to the outside elements. I’m worried this won’t fly with an inspector. If I break out the crumbling corner, put in a form, and pour in a new corner, will I get good adhesion to the existing foundation, and will it be strong? Do I need to somehow tie the new corner into the existing wall with rebar??
Any advice would be welcome. If repouring the corner is necessary, I probably won’t do it myself, but I wan’t to know what I should expect my mason to do in order to set things right.
Thanks all.
Replies
We've put a lally column under the beam tight to the wall in situations where the beam doesn't have enough bearing. There generally is a footing already under that point and we've never been knocked down. Of course, all this depends upon the loading of that particular beam.
blue
Build a pilaster with 4" concrete blocks under it.Top block can be a solid block.
mike
Put a lolly right there nextt othe wall. The bottom will be over the footing for the wall so no need to dig down and new one.
That wiull handle it, but to be better for inspectors,a nd buyers, then get some patching epoxy from Abaton - tell them it is a structural situation and their people will guide you to getting the right product.
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For a complete fix:
Install a temporary lolly column below the beam, next to wall. Jack beam up enought o just releive pressure on (1/2) pocket.
Use a chisel and/ or thin piece of metal to chip and scrape crumbling concrete below beam.
With some sort of compressed air blow out area under beam so it is free of any crumbs or dust.
Trowel in Non-Shrink Grout. This is NOT grout as in tile grout. Instead it is a structural grout. It can take lots of PSI compression and it doesn't shrink - so when you remove the lolly column the beam will not move. Therefore care must be taken when installing the lolly column that you don't raise the beam. This material is available from any masonry supplier.
When applying the non-shrink grout be sure that it oozes out the opposite side and then dammed (wood lath or cardboard), so you know you have full bearing. Don't mix it too thin either.
Hope this helps,
Frankie
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