Bricks, Masonry, Asphalt and Concrete - Unique Concrete Project
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psustang89
05-20-09, 06:49 AM
I have a problem/project that I belive to be unique and need someone to to give me a yay or nay on my tentative fix.
My house was built in the 1940's and has a basement access stairway that never had any Bilco type doors installed over it. Both sides of the stair well are old block walls. However, the pump house for the old well makes up the one wall, and has a doorway in it. The ceiling slab for this old pump house is about 16" above ground, and about 10" above the other wall of the stairwell. To top it off, the wall opposite of the stairwell isn't in the best shape and is not square with the house.
So, my goal is to have a level concrete surface to mount the access door frame to. Would it be acceptable to basically form and poor a concrete wall over the existing old block wall? I was thinking of filling the blocks, and pinning or rebaring about a 4" wall to the side of the old blocks with a 10" cap on top to make it level with the other wall. Would this work, or am I in for a much larger and more expensive job?
Thanks
My house was built in the 1940's and has a basement access stairway that never had any Bilco type doors installed over it. Both sides of the stair well are old block walls. However, the pump house for the old well makes up the one wall, and has a doorway in it. The ceiling slab for this old pump house is about 16" above ground, and about 10" above the other wall of the stairwell. To top it off, the wall opposite of the stairwell isn't in the best shape and is not square with the house.
So, my goal is to have a level concrete surface to mount the access door frame to. Would it be acceptable to basically form and poor a concrete wall over the existing old block wall? I was thinking of filling the blocks, and pinning or rebaring about a 4" wall to the side of the old blocks with a 10" cap on top to make it level with the other wall. Would this work, or am I in for a much larger and more expensive job?
Thanks
OhioDraft
05-20-09, 12:15 PM
Is this wall buckling under soil pressure, making it not square with the house? If so, pouring concrete over it will not fix it.
psustang89
05-21-09, 05:04 AM
Is this wall buckling under soil pressure, making it not square with the house? If so, pouring concrete over it will not fix it.
Yes, that is why it is buckling. Sounds like I'm in for an excavation project...
The problem with excavating is that there is a porch about 5 feet away from this buckling wall. I fear that if I excavate out behind the wall I will be losing dirt from beneath the footer for the porch. Is there a way to shore up the dirt while digging out behind the old block wall?
Yes, that is why it is buckling. Sounds like I'm in for an excavation project...
The problem with excavating is that there is a porch about 5 feet away from this buckling wall. I fear that if I excavate out behind the wall I will be losing dirt from beneath the footer for the porch. Is there a way to shore up the dirt while digging out behind the old block wall?
OhioDraft
05-21-09, 06:33 AM
Yes the deck location is a little unfortunate, and I am not aware of any way to shore that area temporarily maybe one of the other guys will chime in that have actually done this. But really since it is just a deck, there isn't much weight being put on its footing. So you could excavate temporarily up to as close as a 1:1 (45 degree) line from the edge of the deck footing without disturbing it too much. That is, if you have decent soil under there. Say if its a real sandy soil or it doesn't compact well, I wouldn't go much past 1:1.5.
Then when you construct a new wall, maybe use geo grid or some other tie back method while you have that dirt out of the way. Back fill with engineered fill, compacting ever so often as you go. This sounds like a month of weekends for sure. :thumbup:
Then when you construct a new wall, maybe use geo grid or some other tie back method while you have that dirt out of the way. Back fill with engineered fill, compacting ever so often as you go. This sounds like a month of weekends for sure. :thumbup: