Through Bolt Bearing Plate -Bowing Brick
I have a slight bowing brick wall on the front of a Baltimore townhouse. The 18 foot floor joists run parallel to the wall. Tough I am not having noticeable structural problem there is evidence in the plaster of past separations on the second and third levels that seem to be originating from the adjoining home. I am thinking about installing through bolts preventatively. Many of the homes here have bearing plates retrofitted into the masonry, most are ugly as sin. There are some old cast ones on other in star shapes. I think the current standard is plate steel. There are many issues here which I trust you will remind me, the question I have at hand however is there a source for decorative through bolt bearing plates for my plain Jane townhouse?
Any alternative systems (sightless) that are appropriate?
Start your keyboards, and tear me up for even thinking of this as a DIY project.
Replies
i'd 2d your throughbolt solution...
try a building wrecking company for the hardware.. the old cast iron plates should be available..
try a google search and a yellow pages search
Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
Another option is to cover the plates with some sort of decorative exterior woodwork (or even some sort of exterior timber frame). Probably not the answer, but might be just the ticket in a few cases.
Excellent ideas. Appreciate the thoughts and the lack of ribbing.
Dolling them up with a gargoyle or something creative. What an entertaining idea.
Do I anchor the bolts to angle iron along the length of the inside joist. Inside plates? Floor joists alone?
You probably have to be creative with regard to anchoring the other end. Of course, you can get an engineer in to spec it, but that will be expensive and will probably result in something less creative and overdesigned.If you anchor into floor joists running parallel to the wall, probably you should run the all-thread bolt through about three joists, with nuts/washers (big ones) for each joist, so the force is spread between them. Also place blocking between the joists near the bolt so that they will resist rolling.If joists run perpendicular to the wall, you may want to figure out some way to similarly spread the force between multiple joists.A lot depends on the specific structure, of course. You may have something just short of timber framing, with big, beafy joists, or the equally common undersized stick framing of the time, with joists that can barely support the floor load.
Greetings & Welcome to BT (a couple of months after the fact)--see we don't stomp on all newbies <g> . . .
Here's a site with as much as a person can stand on the topic:
http://www.bia.org/BIA/technotes/t44.htm
I've googled about nine different things, but still can't quite locate what I know exists: A source for the decorated plates.
Now, you could always yellow page locally for a welder who does decorative work. They'll have catalogs with premade items that migh just fit the bill--especially if you add them to a "plain" plate.
DanH and CapnMac Thanks.
I got through the flooring and subfloor to find full 3X14 Douglas fir on 12" centers. Beautiful. I have what looks to be 2.5+/- 0.25 inch separation at the max point of separation.
Morter condition is fair to good IMO. So it looks like exterior system, as opposed to hidden anchors, is necessitated.
There was a similar site I found to CapnMac's that was a bit less exhaustive that I wish I could locate just to put in this thread. Oh well.
Current Plan is to drill through the exterior to find my line then boar the joists on the same line. Pro: use mortar line. Con: poor aim may put me too low or high.
Bearing plate. Can't find the old world stars, so I am talking to a welder. I figures I would have him make me plates for the inside instead of large washers.
I am not planning to draw the wall in as there has been "crack filling" over time and I don't think 2.5 in over 18' width and 38' height is frighteningly critical. After all it is standing now.
( Yes, I am using my respirator and using a hepavac for clean-up. :) )
Comments?
>> Can't find the old world stars ...Try this Google search string. -core gets rid of the stellar evolution sites. -jeremy gets rid of the porn sites.iron stars (brick OR masonry) -core -jeremy
LOL
Re: "-jeremy gets rid of the porn sites"
A ling time ago I tried to look up "paint strippers". You can imagine what I got.
ebay is full of "old world stars" just search under "iron stars" or cast iron stars or texas stars... they are not "old world" they are brand new from china... but from the looks of 100s i've purchased on ebay they cast em in china now just like they did here 100yrs ago... expect to pay about $5 for an 8" star
ps i've purchased more than a few 20" long 1/2" hilti bits on bay to install same
pony
Does that mean you use 1/2" thorugh bolts? For arbitrary reasons I was going to go with 5/8".
yes... i use 1/2" bolts... only I guess because thats about what everything on the old buildings I've worked on had in place... i do go a little out of my way to use square nuts just because thats what they use to use...
on a building I'm doing now I'm using 16" long bolts welded to 2" x 3/16 flat steel aprox 150ft long to the far wall where it again has a 16" x 1/2" bolt (with a building star on each end) I'm run'n thes aprox 10ft o/c they will be hidden under the new 2nd story floor... this wasn't required by any code or engineer ect... it just seemed like a good idea with little cost...
pony
Do appreciate the input.Found interesting pictures at http://www.adkinsantiques.com/aa/stars.html Fortunately a few miles away I found KING Architectural Metal Supply, Inc. http://www.kingmetals.com/ Eight - eight inch stars cost $28. A plumbers supply had 5/8" X 6' threaded rod for $7 each. I seriously doubt these cast stars are up to the standards of plate steel as the specs posted above state. I'll talk to a welder about that.Now I wish for a right angle drill those 3X10 joists on 12" centers are awefully tight.
You should check out http://www.cintec.com
A euro bassed company (yes they are in the US too) that does work on all kinds of old structures. They dont sell stock anchors but rather engineer specificly for each job requirement. Could be more money than you want to spend but they might give you some good info on what your options are. They have a lot of experiance with this kind of problem.
Thank you reinvent. Dur-O-Wall is another, there are more. I suppose I should have these folks come out for a look and estimate anyway. Can't hurt.
Edited 3/30/2005 8:31 pm ET by hdblackburn