My house has no wall ties!!

[elliethespyder]

It appears that the house we've moved into has no wall ties! Although we're not sure, we think the house was built in the 1930's. Both internal and external walls are brick, but having just had insulation pumped into the cavity I asked the chap doing it to check if there were any wall ties, and it appears there aren't!

The building has suffered a bit of movement in the past, but seems fairly stable now. I've had two SE's look at the existing 'cracks' and they've both suggested fitting helixical ties, which I'll do. But I'm wondering if having no wall ties between the inner and outer walls is normal?! I wouldn't have thought it was a good idea!!

So, I'd like to retrospectively fit some wall ties of some kind, to at least give the place some kind of strength. Does anyone know of any mechanisms for retrospectively fitting wall ties? Preferably without disturbing the inner wall rendering? I'm not sure if anything like this exists, but if it does I'd like to look into it.

Thanks

David.

 

[Static]

The helixical bar peeps do one.. most of the recommended helifix contractors will carry out a free wall tie survey and provide you with a quote to fix cracks and wall ties

 

[elliethespyder]

Funnily enough I was just searching around and found Helifix and Wallfast that do something which looks simple to install. I'd like to do it myself (well, certainly the wall tie installation), so now I just need to find out if I can buy the ties and driving attachments myself, or whether they only supply trade.

Thanks Static!

David.

 

[^woody^]

Exactly what is the problem that requires ties to be fitted?

Has the cracking been diagnosed as being directly attributable to lack of wall ties, or is it just normal movement - which would happen ties or not?
Have these engineers recommended fitting helical ties horizontally across the cracks (which is normal) or across the cavity (which is not normal for cracked walls)

If the building is moving, then its moving on the foundations or supports, and no amount of wall ties is going to stop this. If it is stable now, as your say, then why do ties need to be fitted?

How did the cavity installer guy check for ties? Did he use a boroscope, metal detector, or open up areas to check? Or did he just peer into a tiny hole which he had drilled and looked at 0.5 m2 around it?

How did an engineer miss the lack of ties, but a cavity installer operative spoted it?

 

[elliethespyder]

Well! Here goes...

Helical ties horizontally have been recommended accross the cracks. This I will do, however, for peace of mind I also would like to fit wall ties. It just seems pretty poor not to have wall ties fitted to me. But I was kind of asking whether those in the know thought this was normal or not. I'm not sure, just not convinced it's a good idea NOT to have wall ties!

The movement so far seems to be far more pronounced on the inside wall than the outside wall (hairline cracks on the outside, half inch cracks on the inside!), which again suggests that they are not bound.

As for how the engineer didn't spot it. Neither of them checked! Bore holes were drilled to check the foundations, but no holes were drilled in the walls to check for wall ties. The guy who fitted the insulation checked in about 20 holes he'd drilled for the insulation to go in, and each was checked with a little scope thing which he poked through the hole and turned to see inside the cavity.

So, you may well be right, I may not need to fit any wall ties, especially if I put bars accross the cracks. If it really won't make any difference to the general structural integrity of the building then I won't bother fitting them!! Especially as that will save me money! Was just a peace of mind thing.

David.

 

[^woody^]

From what you say, I can not see any advantage in you fitting cavity ties. There is no problem to solve.

With regards to the wall cracking, then helical bars are only fitted if movement is progressive (ie on-going). The engineer may be just covering himself in recommending these, but if no more movement is expectd, then just point them up.

 

[elliethespyder]

That's what I wanted to hear! Thanks Woody. You're probably right, and it's just me being over cautious. Just worried me that no wall ties had been installed when the house was built.

I don't expect there to be further movement of the house. A lot of the movement was down to trees being planted really close to the house (like 2 feet away) in a clay soil area. All fine when they were planted 30 years ago but until I removed them all (as suggested by the SE) recently they were between 15 and 25 feet high, and most of them fir trees.

Hopefully now the building will be happy where it is!

Thanks again.

David.