My New House & Workshop

[19Walt93]

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When the A/C guy replaces the condensor coils and doesn't have a taper duct to adapt down to the size.

That clown should be neutered with a butter knife, preferably a rusty one. I bet he can't even spell workmanship.

 

[Rick W]

This cinder block wall is really becoming an issue for me.

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Here's a look from inside. You can see where the mortar repair is seperating and light is shining through.

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I don't understand why this is happening, but I'm starting to wonder if I can anchor the corner with some large metal L-brackets, or if it will stress and damage the other wall.

The whole time I was growing up, my dad was working on this hundred year-old house we bought. I swore I would only live in a new house when I grew up and I was successful at that until I bought this one in 90. It never ends….

I’m going to come back to putting a few strain gauges on the wall. If it’s moving a lot, you have to know what it’s doing before you can determine a solution or you’ll be frustrated forever. And when I say moving a lot, I don’t mean the width of the crack, I mean going back-and-forth even if it’s a tiny bit (frequency, not width).

I think I said it before, without seeing it, I’m 99% sure it’s the entire section of the building which is moving a little bit on that spongy Texas soil. The “correct” solution is to dig out around the foundation down below the frost line to where there is solid soil, and basically pour a footing. You don’t want to dig out 6 inches under the wall if you’re going to put in a six or 8 inch footing. Do you want to dig out on the outside of the building, so the slab and walls don’t collapse on you, and at the top of the new footing, taper it in so a couple inches or 3 inches is under the existing slab and wall. It’s very tricky to do it without doing more damage.

Also, maybe drill holes down through the floor, maybe 6 inches in diameter, several feet into the solid soil below, and then poor piles. You probably need a whole bunch of them, and it’s fairly intricate how you do the top of them so they support the floor instead of just moving up and down in the floor.

Having said that, I don’t recommend any of that, it would probably be easier and cheaper to tear down that end of the building and build it properly, which I also don’t recommend. I’m just trying to help you understand the options.

If the building is moving, half of that building weighs tons, not pounds. There is nothing you’re going to do clamping it together or clamping it to the other side of the building that won’t just break more of the wall.

Having rained on your parade, a solution to seal the crack from the weather may be as simple as expanding foam, the stuff you buy at Home Depot. If you want to try that route, don’t just try to fill up the crack all at once.

I would measure maybe 6 inch marks vertically up the crack. Then just put a little foam in at each of those marks. Let it set for a day, then spray in a little bit of foam on top of the spots you did the first day, then again the next day, then the next day, until it’s all full. Each spot you support, should be maybe enough to fill up a coffee cup after it expands. Water two cans should do the whole vertical on both sides easily.

You’re not trying to fill up the whole cavity in the block, but you’re trying to get that foam to go in at least a couple inches. BTW, do it from both sides.

Once the gap is filled from top to bottom, scrape the foam off the surface of the block. You want to have a clean edge you can observe for a little while. I would suggest using a three or 4 inch wire wheel, but run it 90° from the crack. So it scrapes all the foam off the surface, and maybe creates a slight indentation where the foam is. (1/4” max deep)

Then I would just watch it for a while, like weeks. That foam should give a little bit if it’s in compression, but if it’s in tension – the walls moving apart – it’ll pull loose. Either way, you’ll have a considerably smaller crack, and then you can use some spongy, latex or rubber caulk to fill the remaining gap and the exposed foam.

Again, without seeing it, I’m 99% sure there’s motion there, and nothing that sets up solid is going to hold up.

If it was me, I would put some strain gauges on first. One of the things you could do with the strain gauges is figure out when the gap is the widest, and what conditions led up to that. The foam trick would work best if you put the foam in when the gap was at its widest.

Then, again, if it’s still pulls apart, you could cover it with any number of things once you have it fairly well sealed up, just secure on one side only.

As always, my two cents, I hope it helps

 

[Rick W]

Afterthought, on the inside, you could just make an inside corner molding, maybe an inch or inch and a half wide on either side of the crack. Caulk the crack, really good, and also caulk the area where the molding would lay flat against the wall and stick the molding onto that. You want to create a situation where that molding is actually floating on the caulk, don’t squeeze it all out.

But I would still only do that after some expanding foam inside the cavity.

 

[Curious Hound]

Afterthought, on the inside, you could just make an inside corner molding, maybe an inch or inch and a half wide on either side of the crack. Caulk the crack, really good, and also caulk the area where the molding would lay flat against the wall and stick the molding onto that. You want to create a situation where that molding is actually floating on the caulk, don’t squeeze it all out.

But I would still only do that after some expanding foam inside the cavity.

Oh, come on. How about six threaded rods, 2" diameter, the full length if the building, with fender washers, nuts and lock nuts on each end. Just tighten them down to draw everything together and hold it in place.

 

[Jim Oaks]

Having rained on your parade, a solution to seal the crack from the weather may be as simple as expanding foam, the stuff you buy at Home Depot. If you want to try that route, don’t just try to fill up the crack all at once.

I would measure maybe 6 inch marks vertically up the crack. Then just put a little foam in at each of those marks. Let it set for a day, then spray in a little bit of foam on top of the spots you did the first day, then again the next day, then the next day, until it’s all full. Each spot you support, should be maybe enough to fill up a coffee cup after it expands. Water two cans should do the whole vertical on both sides easily.

You’re not trying to fill up the whole cavity in the block, but you’re trying to get that foam to go in at least a couple inches. BTW, do it from both sides.

Once the gap is filled from top to bottom, scrape the foam off the surface of the block. You want to have a clean edge you can observe for a little while. I would suggest using a three or 4 inch wire wheel, but run it 90° from the crack. So it scrapes all the foam off the surface, and maybe creates a slight indentation where the foam is. (1/4” max deep)

Then I would just watch it for a while, like weeks. That foam should give a little bit if it’s in compression, but if it’s in tension – the walls moving apart – it’ll pull loose. Either way, you’ll have a considerably smaller crack, and then you can use some spongy, latex or rubber caulk to fill the remaining gap and the exposed foam.

Well fawk me.

This crack was full of spray foam, and I dug it out to put mortar in it.

Oh, come on. How about six threaded rods, 2" diameter, the full length if the building, with fender washers, nuts and lock nuts on each end. Just tighten them down to draw everything together and hold it in place.

The building is like 65-70 feet long!

 

[Rick W]

Oh, come on. How about six threaded rods, 2" diameter, the full length if the building, with fender washers, nuts and lock nuts on each end. Just tighten them down to draw everything together and hold it in place.

run them across the top, and the wall will break loose of the foundation…

 

[Rick W]

Well fawk me.

This crack was full of spray foam, and I dug it out to put mortar in it.



The building is like 65-70 feet long!

All kidding aside, it’s not just the material, it’s the technique. In an ideal world, you would fill up the whole cavity with the foam. That would take 50 cans, and you’d still have to do it a little at a time or the foam doesn’t set right. The purpose of the step fashion I talked about is to get some penetration, maybe two or 3 inches deep, but by putting it a little at a time, it won’t sag down on the back. The next step you can add a little bit more, etc., because it will be supported by the foam from yesterday.

And very seriously, it may not work. If half that building is moving up and down and back-and-forth, there’s very little you can actually do to stop it. Something like the foam should keep 99% of the wind from going through the crack from the outside to the inside, or heat vice versa. All of the “real“ fixes are just way more expensive than that building would be worth.

and with every respect to @Curious Hound, I think he was kidding (2 inch rods?). Unless you put a plate on both sides of the whole wall, the cinderblock wall would never be solid enough to hold the weight and pull the two sides together, nor even hold it still.

From what you’ve shown all of us, you obviously pay attention to detail and like to do a great quality job, but fixing cracks like this is a rabbit hole. Don’t get sucked in. Plant a bush in front of it, and caulk it from the inside….

 

[Jim Oaks]

The other thing that concerns me is the roof. I can't help but wonder what if anything it's doing to the roof.

 

[97RangerXLT]

The other thing that concerns me is the roof. I can't help but wonder what if anything it's doing to the roof.

with the crack you are showing, I would imagine that the roof is ok and will flex that minimal amount. I would worry about a broken line or something digging out under the concrete causing that end to drop. if a leaking water line, you would have an always wet area.. so make sure no burrowing critters are digging out enough to cause that to drop. if nothing is obvious, you may endup having to hire an engineer to assess the issue.

Consider trashing the entire building and putting up a pole barn in its place....

AJ

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Consider trashing the entire building and putting up a pole barn large enough to accommodate a lift in its place....

AJ

Fify.

 

[Jim Oaks]

with the crack you are showing, I would imagine that the roof is ok and will flex that minimal amount. I would worry about a broken line or something digging out under the concrete causing that end to drop. if a leaking water line, you would have an always wet area.. so make sure no burrowing critters are digging out enough to cause that to drop. if nothing is obvious, you may endup having to hire an engineer to assess the issue.

Consider trashing the entire building and putting up a pole barn in its place....

AJ

This reminds. There used to be a metal propane line that came through the bottom of this joint and ran along the floor to a heater, I removed it before I filled this gap back in with mortar.

This building has a new roof, new paint job, nice floors, I replumbed the interior, and I'm rewiring it. I just have to deal with the crack at the addition.

 

[sgtsandman]

The only thing I have to suggest is to install a plate on the outside that is anchored to the non-moving part of the building with some rubber sandwiched between the wall and the plate to mostly seal the opening. Do a similar thing in the interior with a plate or some angle. This should keep most of the elements out and allow the moving part of the building to move at it will. Not the most decorative solution but it should be effective.

Short of tearing down the part of the building that is the problem and building it correctly, I can't think of anything else that won't require constant patching and maintenance.

 

[Rick W]

The other thing that concerns me is the roof. I can't help but wonder what if anything it's doing to the roof.

From what you’ve shown, that wall is moving about an eighth of an inch at the top, and less at the bottom, which also indicates the backside of the building is actually pivoting up and down compared to the front side of the building.

I also didn’t notice until your recent pictures that the interior wall at 90° from the outside wall, where the crack is, that’s the original backside of the building? Yes/no? If so, I would really try not to do anything to the original construction. The more holes you drill, cuts you make, etc. will just weaken the solid side of the building without solving the problem.

As regards the roof, I don’t think you have any issues. The block and mortar obviously do not expand in contract. The roof materials are wood, tar paper, shingles, etc. that all have some “give” to them. On the wall, the motion is concentrated to that one spot. On the roof, the give-and-take will be at every screw or bolt holding the wall top plates to the block, every nail that holds a rafter, everything that holds the rafters together, all the nails that hold the plywood down, etc. etc. That one eighth of inch motion is spread out over the 20 feet of that end of the building and hundreds of points. They will all give a tiny bit, it won’t be concentrated in one spot. I would be astounded if any of it failed because of the motion in that wall.

On that propane line, I bet that line went across the back of the building before the second half was built. Regardless, that little copper line has nothing to do with the crack and the motion of the building, it’s just coincidentally located there.

Someone before mentioned putting some of that foam cording in the crack and then using a very flexible caulk on top of it. That’s not a bad idea, but again, you might want to try caulking about 6 or 8 inches of the crack towards the top and just see what happens to it over a few months.

If the caulk pulls away, you could put your head in a blender and then pour your brains down the cavity and see if that works. Either way it will stop your headaches! It’s a very simple problem to understand, but almost impossible to correct without spending major bucks.

Did I mention the poor man stress gauges?

 

[Jim Oaks]

Yes, the 90-degree wall in the original rear wall. They built it on to the rear of the building and that wall is now in interior wall dividing the front from the rear.

 

[Rick W]

Yes, the 90-degree wall in the original rear wall. They built it on to the rear of the building and that wall is now in interior wall dividing the front from the rear.

camouflage:

can you post a picture of the whole side of the building on that side?