Basement wall sliding in

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kevins7

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Hi
My basement wall is damaged. Has many cracks, one in the middle, where the wall is pushed out. Recently, the 2nd layer up of cinder blocks has pushed in about 1 inch. I must stop this some way. My house is on a hill, and I get much water flowing to the house. Any suggestions or comments will be appreciated.
Thanks
kevin

wall.jpg
 
Would be nice to see your Plot Plan. First guess is you need some serious landscaping to divert water away from your homes foundation. You should have a local government inspector (building inspector) take a look. There are laws about some diversions in some states.

Next, you need a basement/foundation specialist. Those walls can usually be moved back into place believe it or not.

You also should take a look at your rain gutters and downspouts and do what is necessary to get rain water coming off your roof away from the structure as quickly and as far as possible.:D
 
You wall can be striaghten and moved back, but will never be as strong as when it was built unless specially reinforced for the type of failure.

The cause is most likely the soil pressure that was increased due to the lack of surface drainage (gutters, downspout extensions and slope) and subsurface drainage (drain tile). Unless the cause is corrected additional problems can be possible.

An engineer could be more valuable for options, since he is not selling another new job.

Dick
 
its not as extensive/expensive as you might think altho, impo, the damage's reached a point where the wall should be replaced,,, it will involve full depth exterior excavation, existing block replacement w/concrete block, inserting #5 vertical rebar into the footer AND upward to the full height of the wall, filling wall w/grout, exterior waterproofing ( NOT the cheap dampproofing stuff bldg code requires ), toe drain to daylight, protective miradrain layer, backfill w/1"- crushed stone, & final grading w/positive slope.

you MIGHT be able to get away w/wall pins ( steel or invisible ) as shown on my w-site but i couldn't recommend from just that pic post'd,,, you also must do some swale work outside but don't expect that to eliminate the attacking wtr as much of it may be underground.

mud & bud're both correct, of course,,, a structural pe's well worth his $ + a good friend to have on your side,,, good luck !
 
Tou're going to need "soldier beams" every 4 feet or so.

These woulb be 5" steel I beams about 10 feet tall. You would dig a hole (1 at a time) about 3 feet deep next to the wall. Purt the base of the I beam into the hole and swing it into thwe floor joist area above. Prop up the base with gravel or bricks to raise the I beam to the floor boars above.

Encase the base in solid concrete and provide blocking in the floor joists to secure the top of the I beam to the floor system

The whole idea is to transfer the force from the wall to the floor joist system and concrete floor below.

You will probably want to install temporary cross bracing to the whole wall before you start digging holes.
 
Sounds like hydrostatic pressure (pressure from water in the soil) might be the cause since you are on a hill and get a lot of surface water. This also often cause the lower course of your CMU wall to bulge like it is shown in your pics since the water would collect around the footing. A missing footer drain might be the culprit, its a perforated pipe with a drain cloth and some time gravel around it so the underground water can drain around the house instead of pushing on your foundation wall.
 
NEVER lik'd the idea of attaching the top of the steel beams to floor joists,,, know its faster & more profitable but, if it were MY house, i'd be filling those cells w/12,000# grout & 4 pcs of # 4 bar tie-wired properly.

then again, i do this work for a living :rofl:
 
Tou're going to need "soldier beams" every 4 feet or so.
One of my customers had the same problem and the same fix. What gave it away in her case was the front door didn't close properly and she had radiating drywall cracks from doorway corners.
 

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