We had a crack on the wall, stripped off some of the 2 layers of plaster, layer of textured paint and the render around it and found awful blockwork. 2" 'mortar' gaps in places. The mortar feeling like it's a 10:1 or worse mix:
So, fearing subsidence, we've dug down to the foundations and can confirm they exist:, although a bit shoddy in the corner. More digging needed.
Removed the loose blocks from around the crack (mainly just pulling them out the wall):
There was some re-pointing on the outside of the house we thought may have been hiding the crack in the outer skin, but looking at the back of it (through the new hole), the block work, while a little poor, is sound.
So, we have a large crack in the inner skin and a number of loose blocks, But a sound outer skin. The only outer skin damage we can see is right in the corner, just above the DPC.
Also, all the wall ties seem to be loose in the outer skin where we've taken the blocks out AND they all slope down toward the inner skin
Plan at the moment is to...
1) resin some rebar into the existing foundations and back fill the hole with fresh concrete to reinforce the foundations.
2) Resin the wallties back in place and bend them to provide a proper slope away from the inner skin.
3) Re-build the inner wall with lightweight concrete blocks.
Anyone have any idea what could cause this? Current thoughts are:
a) Thick, poor mix mortar bed between foundations and block work that has crumbled.
b) Heavy impact from inside the house (punch bag stand, amateur wrestling gym... etc)
Cheers,
Fubar.
So, fearing subsidence, we've dug down to the foundations and can confirm they exist:, although a bit shoddy in the corner. More digging needed.
Removed the loose blocks from around the crack (mainly just pulling them out the wall):
There was some re-pointing on the outside of the house we thought may have been hiding the crack in the outer skin, but looking at the back of it (through the new hole), the block work, while a little poor, is sound.
So, we have a large crack in the inner skin and a number of loose blocks, But a sound outer skin. The only outer skin damage we can see is right in the corner, just above the DPC.
Also, all the wall ties seem to be loose in the outer skin where we've taken the blocks out AND they all slope down toward the inner skin
Plan at the moment is to...
1) resin some rebar into the existing foundations and back fill the hole with fresh concrete to reinforce the foundations.
2) Resin the wallties back in place and bend them to provide a proper slope away from the inner skin.
3) Re-build the inner wall with lightweight concrete blocks.
Anyone have any idea what could cause this? Current thoughts are:
a) Thick, poor mix mortar bed between foundations and block work that has crumbled.
b) Heavy impact from inside the house (punch bag stand, amateur wrestling gym... etc)
Cheers,
Fubar.