So I have an out-building that is 3 sides exposed concrete foundation & 1 side walk-in at the top of the foundation. The foundation was poured with no rebar, and the concrete floor not pinned to the foundation. One exposed side of the foundation has seperated from the back, and is wishing to join gravity. The back has moved, but not since we bought the property. I banded and pinned one corner to the back (5' metal straps, rebar pounded through it into the concrete) which seems to have slowed the calving process, but it is still moving. At some point, that side of the foundation is gonna go, taking part of the building with it to be sure. Now, I dont really have the money to do a proper repair...buying some retaining wall material and backfilling for example. I could build a rammed earth type wall, something I could do peacemeal at an affordable rate. Maybe before the whole thing goes kaput. And, if propped up, is not so far outta wack. Still a good building. It's 20x20 ish, and I dont think the whole thing will go, perhaps just a portion. I do keep some woodshop things in there. But I dont let people in there who are not aware. I suspect it will be a slow move, giving me plenty of time to walk out. Im not sure if I should attempt a repair as I can, or just wait and file a claim when it finally goes (which the diy-er in me doesnt like doing). I also dont want it just hangin out there being unuseable for too long. Not sure ince. co. would do anything about a building that might fall one day. Atm, if I can stack up enough tires to make a retaining wall, and have dirt brought in to backfill, I'll do that. (Course then if it goes down before that wall is done, I'll have tires to get rid of....) Meh. Sca
Ahhh.... It it were me. I'd temporarily support that corner of the structure with a combination of cribbing and support posts. Excavate to the footing (if there is one), cut out the bad section of foundation, drill some holes in the newly exposed edge of the old foundation to pin the new section to. Epoxy in some pieces of 1/2" rebar every 6-12" along that edge leaving at least 12" of rebar exposed for the new foundation to attach to. Set up a form, and pour new concrete footing, then walls.
I know some friends that found out the hard way that their home insurance, as written, did not cover damage related to "earth movement". In both cases, their basement walls collapsed inward and they were left footing the repair bills. I'm not sure how your insurance company would see this but I thought I'd mention it.
Sirbuildalot gave you good advice for a fix for that corner. Your idea a creating a retaining wall around that corner also is good idea, especially if its done in coordination with the wall repair. Right now your foundation wall is acting as a retaining wall. Without good steel reinforcement its bound to fail. By placing fill against the wall (the higher the better) it will place your wall into or close to a neutral lateral loading situation. Good drainage of the backfill material is critical. Now that being said, you now have to have a good retaining wall in place to provide the strength needed to protect the wall.
That is a good plan, but, (Assuming I have the funding and ideas how to crib it up) once the wall comes out, a third of the floor inside and a good pile of the dirt will be coming out with it. I have no idea how to build forms, and that is a LOT of concrete, nevermind having some proper rebar in that new pour. Im not sure if this would be considered movement of earth, as much as structural integrity/fault etc. The dirt and concrete floor (pretty good slope) inside are moving only because the wall is going away. Sca
As was the case when my friends' basement walls caved in. I'm just relating what happened and how assumptions about insurance were wrong... and expensive. Although I live in a heavy karst area with lots of caves and sinkholes, I was surprised to find that my home insurance did not cover "earth movement".
I would think you slab , roof and entire corner of the building are in jeopardy. You did a good job slowing down the inevitable with your straps, but sooner or later they are gonna fail IMO. schlot offered good advice, but that would require a lot of fill and you still need to fix the walls/foundation. I suggest shoring the corner (sirbuildalot) and reinforcing, pouring new walls and fixing it properly Is the opposite corner in good shape??
I suggested doing the fill because if the walls are unreinforced it may just be a matter of time that the rest starts cracking and failing. If the money isn't there, dirt is obviously much cheaper than concrete. Its all back to cost and expectations of how long he wants the fix to last. Long term but expensive fix is replacing the wall. If the fill isn't placed around it, the wall would need to be more heavily designed as a retaining wall. Sorry if I'm getting to wordy.
Hahaha, not wordy at all brother! That is a 2 to 3 inch crack from the slab on grade to the foundation. Not sure what the structural implications have occurred to the framing
Yeah. I'm sure those walls aren't in plane any more after seeing those pics. A wall repair is best idea. That crack probably won't stay that "small" unless something is done.
In a situation like that what type of jacks would you guys use to jack up that section of the house to replace the foundation ?
Bottle jacks will do the trick, it is cribbing/shoring that will be tuff. I will find you a detail on Monday when I get back to work.
He can put down some short sections (2-4’long) of 6x6 timber’s or something similar. I believe he works for the railroad, so some old sections of railroad bed timber’s would be perfect. Build them up in alternating style like a box and create a crib to hold up the corner of the building. I’d place the cribbing at least a a few feet away from the inside of the foundation as you’ll have to jackhammer or cut a section of the floor out to dig out next to the inside of the foundation. He can place the bottle jack or jacks on those cribbing timber’s to get the pressure off the foundation, and put some thinner shims in to hold it there. Cutting the foundation wall would require a large cutoff saw. That part may be best to be hired out. There are companies that specialize in cutting and coring concrete that have the multi thousand dollar specialty tools needed. The form work and pouring could be done by him or hired out to a foundation guy. It’ll really come down to how much money he has to spend.
I would be careful unbolting and raising the building from that foundation with the dirt inside pushing out on the walls. With a good concrete structure, removing a chunk of wall and pinning a new poured wall to the old one is a viable fix. But in this case, you would be pinning a new wall to the existing wall that is of the same quality as the part that is already cracked. I doubt the existing wall would hold the pins in a new section of wall. The cheap fix is to remove the floor and dig out the dirt, pull the foundation walls back together and strap them about four times better than you have it, using better concrete anchors, and have fill hauled in against the outside unbalanced areas. Add fill to the outside and inside equally, compacted in 6 to 8” layers, and pour a new floor. This is all assuming that your footing is still good. If the height of the concrete walls inside isn’t the same on either side of the break, it’s probably not going to be worth it to fix it right
^^^^. This My high school friends jacked buildings; I helped with more than a few.. To fix this correctly is at least 10,000 (if not doing more than half yourself double that Easy)in the North East. What is building worth??
