Fix damage in foundation

[chriselevate]

Hi, just wondered what the best product was to use to seal up this damage that a rodent caused as it was trying to dig its way into my house. I want to seal it and make good of the area but as it's below the brick course I don't really know what to use to fill it with.
Thanks for you help/advice.

 

[foxhole]

Concrete mixed with broken glass ( to prevent them chewing thru it .

 

[chriselevate]

Thanks. When you say mixed broken glass, how do you mean?

I don't have the rodent problem anymore, I just want to fix the mess it's left so wondered if I needed something special to repair this damage or what the best advice was.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Thanks. When you say mixed broken glass, how do you mean?

I don't have the rodent problem anymore, I just want to fix the mess it's left so wondered if I needed something special to repair this damage or what the best advice was.

Sand, cement with a few very small pebbles then, if the rodent issue is gone. The suggestion of glass in the mix, was to deter the rodents.

 

[chriselevate]

Would sharp sand and cement be the same as what you are suggesting? What sort of strength mix? 3:1? Thanks guys.

 

[JohnD]

I don't think you need glass. A good fill of small and medium stones, and the concrete kept damp while it cures to hard, will wear away their teeth and they will not chew through it.

I read somewhere that the introduction of concrete and burned bricks made a vast reduction in rodent spoilage, when old lime mortar and cob walls fell out of use.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Cement =1; sharp sand =3; gravel = what ever you can put in and still be able to use it.

 

[chriselevate]

Gravel because it’ll be tough as a foundation?

Out of interest. What are your thoughts on the condition of the 2 courses of bricks below the DPC? I guess they look worse than they are and should really have been a tougher brick than LBC heathers? The previous owners used them in this area and they are approx 8 years old I’d say.

 

[JohnD]

I'd surprised your rodent made that hole. I suspect there was already a gap, perhaps from poor mortar fill, or a soft patch, tempting him to enlarge it.

is there any chance there might have been a water leak escaping through the wall?

push your new fill in good and deep.

 

[danechip]

I think a gap too. I would suggest chicken wire hammered in tight and cement over, Smashed up glass (in a bag and added to cement) is what they mean bud.

 

[chriselevate]

Yeah, both areas that I photographed are where the two blocks meet and it’s the mortar joint that he’s gone for/enlarged. I guess these are the foundations of what the house is built on?

Reconstructing the damage won’t offer any structural strength I guess, you’re just advising to fill up the gap that he’s opened up to detract anything else having at go at that area?

The reason I think it’s a rat is that we had the thing in the loft for a bit but no we’ve put some mesh in where we think he was getting in/out of the property it encouraged him to try digging his way in. The droppings in the loft were rat and not mouse too.

I think it was living in the drain as now I’ve refitted the toilet (that was not present) and started flushing it I’ve not heard anything from him for the last 2 months. I think he’s moved on.