We have a second floor addition to build, but in the crawl space under one part of the existing stucture the 4′ high foundation wall has a 4″-5″ bow in the middle 8′ of it. Never ran into this kind of fix before so any and all help will be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Greg
Replies
Should we wait for Andy Clifford?
Is this bow in, out, up, or down? Are cracks showing in the concrete on either side? Can you tell what size the footing is? Do you have any knowledge of whether rebar was used or can you borrow a metal finder to test? Does the concrete show any other signs of failing like scaling or water permeating it?
It may be hard to get good answers on this one online without photos because there are a lot of signs to watch for on site to solve the riddle. Best case scenario is that the bow shows because the forms allowed a bad pour originally and it has always been there. Worst case would be that frost outside from poor drainage is pushing the wall in far enough to put it in danger of failure and the cracks are letting water pour through to add excessive moisture to the house and feeding the mold bunny while failing to support the upper addition and all the added weight that goes with it.
Excellence is its own reward!
"The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit.
The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are."
--Marcus Aurelius
Good to hear from you piffin. The bow is toward the inside. The wall is 10" block. Scanned it this morn', no signs of any steel. Also the wall in question is only set back about 15' from a heavily travled road.( definitly a small town thing ) Local concrete sub said to just form up a 8" concrete wall against the inside of the problem and it would be fine. How does that sound to you? I don't want this thing to bite me in the arse later.Greg
There are alot of cracks in the morter joints and there are signs of water coming thru. Footer looks to be 10"x24". It is also leaning a little.Thanks for your reply.Greg
Sometimes that idea of forminf a buttress wall to the inside will help and it is easier but it is a little like the Dutch Boy sticking his finger in the dike. It didn't solve the problem, just delayed the inevitable. But it could delay it for your lifetime or only a few years. A foundation is intended to go under the structure it supports. The buttress wall will not support the additional weight from the second storey addition but will just add some mass to resist the forces pushing in.
So we need to identify those forces.
Water is present as evidencedd by the signs of it leaking through. Drain planes need to be provided to give it another path than through the wall. French drains to daylight or to a sump hole. Water trapped in the ground against a foundation wall will freeze and expand, pushing the wall in.
Grading the ground away from the house will prevent a lot of surface water from penetrating the soils.
You have loads and vibrations from traffic drumming towards the house. This will make some soils move and cause water in the soil to wick faster toward your foundation. You might look into whether the town or state (whose road is it?) might have any liability in this matter for fiscal responsibility. That means either a lot of studying reams of paper written in bureacatese or hiring an advocate and possibly an engineer.
I would dig out the wall to the footing and install a drain. I would replace the damaged portion of the wall, using ladder wyeth in joints and parge coat/seal the entire length of it. For backfill, I would use clean draining soils liek stone and inch minus, carefully placed so as not to put too much pressure on the fresh joints still curing.
I would track all costs to pursue things with the town for remuneration.
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Excellence is its own reward!
"The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit.
The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are."
--Marcus Aurelius
Thanks for all the help Piffin. Your idea sounds great. It would have gotten back on here sooner but I got struck down with the flu. I'll get started on that job in about a week. Wish me luck.
Thanks again for getting me out of a tight spot.Greg