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...the basement leaks more when I don't clean out the brush and whatnot from the front of the house. I would have guessed the opposite.
Brush and whatnot (detritus) acts as a moisture/water collector retaining water. Remove brush/detritus from the perimeter of the house sooner to eliminate a collection of pooled moisture/water.
A friend of mine suggested I put plywood on both sides of the wall and run lag bolts through both sides, and then tighten the bolts until the wall trues up. Then just leave the plywood and frame around it inside and tar it on the outside before backfilling.
Strongly suggest NOT leaving any wood (in particular plywood) anywhere near and/or attached to the exterior walls below grade - solid moisture collectors. Use metal of any type before you use wood (of any type). But the idea is sound enough. You can true up the walls within reason by turn buckling (so-to-speak); or, you can create an extended spreader bar (made of wood or metal) to run the length of the interior of your basement. Put a turn-style or a hydraulic jack between large pieces of metal or wood and spread the walls apart (so-to-speak).
You'll get it done. Always good to talk it out think things through and consider your options.
Last edited by Vintage Chief; January 29th, 2019 at 03:19 PM.
Reason: spelling
Location: Edmonton, AB. And "I am Can 'eh' jun - eh"
Posts: 24,525
Likely an appealing recommendation to some, but not me. The counter to that is letting the manager and IT section know what's wrong in order to identify the problem experienced by users. When there's a way to improve business through an on line feature, that presents a huge opportunity that appeals to a large portion of today's market and consumer base. And let's face it, there are very few people that don't use on line shopping now. A 'throw it away' approach when something doesn't work isn't my style. I'm sure there's a solution and the only way to improve it is first identify the problems so IT can redefine some of the functions and capture more market share, no?
James may be referring to something different, but he may be suggesting the use of something similar to Iron Stars with tie-rods. They're not really to earthquake a building. Their use is for truing up (in particular the exterior walls) of older buildings. You see many of them in downtown Charleston, SC but in many other cities, as well.
The Iron Stars attach to the outside of the exterior wall(s) and the tie-rods are placed (generally) under the flooring in the space between the floor and the ceiling below. The Iron Stars have large nuts and bolts attached to them which allows for the tie-rods to 'draw in' the exterior walls.
Well, all's I can say is I wouldn't have used the app in the first place. I don't like that sort of stuff. I've always preferred to do my business in person if I can. Not a fan of the smart phone. But good on you for being part of the solution.
Norm thanks for all your help. Did the picture open for you? Compared to the picture you posted of the wall almost folded in half, my wall looks like a walk in the park.
Oddly enough the sun came out this afternoon, and now it's pretty much done. It's a clear 36* with a slight wind. The fire is going nicely inside and I'm getting ready to call it an evening. Hopefully with it stopping raining this morning and the sun this afternoon there won't be a lot of slick spots on the way to work in the morning. I don't think we're due for rain again until the weekend. Of course.
Did the picture open for you? Compared to the picture you posted of the wall almost folded in half, my wall looks like a walk in the park.
I'm not going to give Google my telephone number or create a Google (gmail) email account to view the image. That's just me. Google is one of the largest most invasive collectors of personal information in the world - Facebook running a close second. But, that's just me. So, I couldn't view the image. None-the-less, taking your word for the fact your wall looks like a cake walk, you should be sitting great!
I start my new job this Wednesday. The company (located in Manitoba) has already sent me a t-shirt. I didn't realize I had to secure and purchase my own housing - guess I'll be pitching a tent.
You're moving to Manitoba? Quite the departure from North Carolina. I didn't know you had to give Google a phone number these days. I never did. I agree that they know too much about everyone.
I read about those star things. They are used a lot in Chicago. The row buildings look like they are attached but they aren't, and when one gets demolished they put these bars through the adjoining buildings to keep the walls from sagging. The buildings are old and give support to one another, and when one goes away something has to take its place. Plus how cool would it be to have stars on your house?
mike, Have you ever seen "Earthquake rods" [bolts] on old buildings in Charleston.
James - I've never known them as Earthquake Bolts...cool. I learn something new all the time. Charleston's last earthquake was 1886, I believe. For others not familiar with these Earthquake Bolts, images to follow:
My bud Donny jess called we gonna go for our monthly fried chicken livers lunch with pole beans and mashed taters...
Please refrain from posting threads regarding fried chicken livers while I'm on the golf course - PLEASE! I played 18 today. I saw your message after leaving the 15th green - almost brought me to my knees. Oh Momma I love good fried chicken livers.
Allan, there are lots of trails around here! We left about 1PM and got back about 7. We can average about 30 MPH on the groomed trails but sometimes only walking speed on unimproved trails. Also stopped at a bar at Houghton Lake and had a few tacos. When we got back I was exhausted and just vegged out after a hot shower. We have a Polaris and a Yamaha, both 1998's and 500 cc's. I was riding the Polaris Monday. My buddy has a newer Ski Doo and it uses a lot less gas than mine does. I stopped twice for gas on that ride. I think I used about 8 gallons- Worse gas mileage than our old Olds'! My friend called and wanted to go again today but I didn't want to. But I think my wife and I will go tomorrow if it's not too cold.
Okay I know this has run its course but it bugged me that I couldn't get a picture off my email. So I got with an expert and he figured it out for me. I didn't realize it was going to turn out this big.
Disagree on foundation shift. Stair-step inward bulge classic sign of soil expansion pushing against the wall. Those CMUs look fine. I'll bet they're sitting well in-place on-top the footings. Looks like the interior CMUs have been scabbed over once. Pull the soil away from the foundation to abate further soil (pressure) expansion against the wall & you'll be fine. Just tar the wall from the exterior once you've removed the soil. You could easily straighten that wall with the method I described earlier. Several long 12"x12" (square) pieces of lumber wedged between the inside of the exterior walls with a hydraulic jack between the long pieces of 12"x12" (square) pieces of lumber and you'll set that wall straight up in no time. That is "IF" you want to true-up the wall.
My suggestion would be to remove all the soil around the perimeter of the exterior wall (from the surface down to the footing) out about 3'-4' or whatever works best for the type of back-hoe you're using, tar the outside of the exterior of the wall & replace your soil. You will have abated the expansion pressure against that wall for many, many years to come.
Regarding the wall's plumb. Forget it. Don't even bother shoring it up straight - you've addressed the issue. When you close your interior basement room, set the interior wall you're going to build straight up (plumb) against the bow of the inside of that exterior wall. No one will ever even know that basement wall was even bowed during a previous point in time and what does it matter. Set a straight & plumb wall and call it a day.
Last edited by Vintage Chief; January 29th, 2019 at 06:48 PM.
Location: Sherwood Park, Alberta, in the Great White North
Posts: 359
So this is a church from my hometown of Luebeck Germany, it's called St. Peter's, and it was built in about 1375. You'll notice they were using iron sheaves and crosses to do the same thing with the wooden rafters and upper levels. The outside structure is brick, and the floors were initially lumber, as were the rafters. Because this thing was extensively renovated by the RAF in 1942, most of the internals were replaced with high-tensile but lightweight concrete, including the copper clad tower. This is one of the shorter churches in town, but it offers a spectacular view. (There's been an elevator and an observation deck in it since 1934) So as you can see the technology has been around for a while.
Otherwise, not much new in my world; still sick, think it's morphing into pneumonia, so I'm going to see a Quack for some antibiotics. So until I'm better, no more watch stories, there's nothing like cleaning snot off of internals or trying to poise a balance when you're shaking like a dog that's crapping broken glass. So I'm still around, just watching from a distance....
It's official, we have broken the record for snowiest January. Why couldn't it have been for warmest January? It was another slow and messy commuting day.
Dan, glad you have a new appointment soon.
Allan, whoa, whoa... I live in the OTHER capital city in Ontario! LOL My commute does include a 400-series like highway. I watch that show often but they seem to focus on the southern Ontario 400-series highways. Nothing out this way. I have no issues driving in Toronto when I visit, but the volume is amazing. The 401 through Toronto is the busiest highway in North America and I think at some points 18 lanes wide, 9 in each direction. I do have a coolant reservoir on the Cutlass. I'm not overly worried about it at this point. The fan wiring was redone so I should be good. I hope you have a speedy tooth recovery.
Greg I didn't know there was such a thing as too much snow for snowmobiling.
Marc, cool church, I love old architecture. I've seen the reinforcements used on buildings around here, they are usually square rather that star shaped. Mike's wall is very close to what I had at my old house. It got really bad (moved inward 2 1/2") after a deep prolonged freeze back in 2014. As that area was clay, the moisture had nowhere to go, so when the ground froze down 42", it pushed the wall in. Clay is somewhat fluid in these parts as it will move about depending on the amount of moisture in the ground, it won't drain worth a dang. Someone asked about the moisture in the air relating to snow. With Lake Michigan sitting to the west of me, we have a lot of moisture in the air when the big lakes temps are warm relative to the surrounding land mass. Last week the water temp was still in the low 40's, so when that cold air comes over it, it mixes and gives us good ole lake effect snow, and it can dump it on us like nobody's business. Could be worse, I could be in Buffalo N.Y. they get horrendous lake effect snow from Lake Erie. That being said, it still gets dry around here with low humidity being the norm. Now I get to reschedule my dentist appt. for Weds, as they called to announce that they will be closed due to the extreme wind chills. Speeds on the way into work were 45 in the right lane, and 50-55mph in the left lane where I was hanging out due to better traction. Speed limit is 70mph along my stretch to work. Blew out the driveway earlier, got about 16" on the ground since last week, with more on the way. Tomorrows high is supposed to be 0°....but Sunday and Monday it's supposed to be in the mid 40's. Go figure. It will be a mess. Oh, and I filled the bird feeder, so the feathered eating machines won't starve in this cold.
Last edited by 1969w3155; January 29th, 2019 at 10:30 PM.
Tanks fer the pic. Oddly enough I had a good friend [went to grammar school, high school and college] whose dad was a sho nuf structural engineer [Built bridges for GDOT. And he built this house in the early 50's with a block basement. . Due to an over zealous back filler some of his blocks looked jes like you.ra but they never leaked. Anyway to make a long story short, his wife passed and he wanted to sell his house and move to Florida and spend his day smacking whitey around. When it went under contract thee inspector said. " it wasn't structurally sound. and Pa [as I called him] told the guy to put his inspection where the sun don't shine because he would never had let his wife and daughter ive in a house that wasn't structurally sound.
Zo, I gotta agree with some of my other CO friends. Fix the leaks and don't worry about the wall being out. Or as they say in the construction trade. "Let the painter catch it." [i.e. cover it with dry wall]
Location: Edmonton, AB. And "I am Can 'eh' jun - eh"
Posts: 24,525
Just a thought. Why not end all this wild speculation about what's causing the problem and just call in a basement specialist to give you the answers you need?
Just a thought. Why not end all this wild speculation about what's causing the problem and just call in a basement specialist to give you the answers you need?
Good Morning Guys:
Not too much going on here today. Trip to the chiropractor yesterday. The back is about healed. It is now to the point it just seems kind of stiff but no more of that knife in the back pain. Sitting in my desk chair seems to aggravate it. It is 39 degrees here and cloudy. Supposed to get up to 51 today. I know you guys in Michigand and Canada would love to have that.
Glenn
Evening. Off from sauna, before that did over 2 hours snow-work. What the ****.. Cant remember winter when there was so much snow on january. And their promising even more.
Damn, i should get something to do. Im already getting really bored, and theres like 2,5-3 full months until work starts again. And all my car-parts are on machinery. Humans are not intented to just be at home. Every winter same thing, too bad they pay so good for being at home that i would actually earn less by going to 8hr/5 days a week-job, which would hire for just 3-4 months. Weird World..
Backwards again:
redoldsman - Good to hear your back is healed. Back-pain is awful
Jamesbo - Where did she forgot her *****? Few more times home at dinner-time would do good to that model
I quess thats it. Quess ill head to bed or something, to kill time.
Typical normal day, except it was cold as a mother in the shop. I guess we don't have heat. Sun is out now, no treacherous ice on the way in this morning. I guess I can go back to driving the dogmobile to work, instead of the black truck that doesn't fit into any of the parking spaces.
Glenn even us guys in Georgia would like that right about now.
Allan I just asked a question.
Jamesbo that's going to be my office. The shower is a different project.
Well I need to go find something to do. Preferably inside.
Location: Edmonton, AB. And "I am Can 'eh' jun - eh"
Posts: 24,525
Good afternoon everyone,
What a horrible start to the morning. The snow was coming down and I had to clean about 2" off the car before leaving. It was still coming down even heavier as I joined the Henday traffic mess. Luckily most of the bad accidents were on the Westbound leg and I could scoot along in the fast lane at around 100. Most of the way east and south were relatively light and most traffic was putzing along at maybe 70 or 80. I guess I should clarify - that's in km/hr; you can do the math. Anywho everything went well and it only took an extra 3 minutes to get to the Saville. Traffic on the West Whitemud and Fox Drive was snarled to a standstill for some reason. Ron texted me that he was stuck in traffic, but was on the way. No biggee because he could slot himself into the game when he arrived.
We played Jamie Pallette. What a super nice guy and great curler. It was a see saw battle all the way to the 8th end. We were up one without hammer coming home. All our guards were in place and I had made a nice come around to set up our skip for a nice tap back if he wished, which would put us solidly in the winners circle. Jamie made a pistol of a first shot and came through the guards with perfect T line weight. Just enough to tap our shot stone back and count 2. Jerome (my Wednesday skip) asked my opinion for a shot. I told him the out turn tap on the counting red stone and roll off to the button for shot rock was the only call. He looked and agreed. He asked what ice he needed and I put the broom 6" into the 12' ring. He looked and agreed. Then he went to make his shot. From the hack he changed his mind and asked for 8" less ice. That's dangerous unless he was going to up his weight to hack. Nope, by my stopwatch split time he wasn't even top house so I called the sweepers to go hard as they could for line. I have to give them credit; they dragged that rock farther than expected but not enough to get the inside roll. At that point it was moot to throw any other rocks, so Jamie won 8-7. Jerome came down and apologized for asking for less ice and acknowledged my ice and weight call was what he should have done. Not a big deal, we're not playing for cars. I treated the boys to coffee upstairs and Jamie and crew joined us for some light hearted camaraderie. The drive home was relatively quick. No road delays but so much for having a nice clean car again.
Glenn - That's certainly good news to hear that your back is better. I'm sorry but I just don't put much faith in chiropractors but I'm very grateful that this one is able to help you along to the point of minimal pain. With a bit of luck maybe the pain of sitting in that chair will go away. Perhaps a soft pillow to sit in, or is it something to do with the sitting position? And yes sir, you are spot on, I'd love to have some of that warmth here to melt some of this never ending winter and snow.
Jim - It was just a thought.
Jouni - Right there with ya on the snow front, although we probably got less than you. Not a lot of fun is it? I trust the first thing you cleared was a path to the sauna and friend cooler?? Bored solution: take up cross country skiing, snow shoeing, ice fishing? It should keep you busy. I wish I had a larger garage and it was heated; then I could be out working on the Cutlass. Funny how when I want to work on it, I can't. But when I need to work on it I just feel less motivated for some stupid reason.
Mike - I know. Like I said, it was just a thought. You'll end up doing whatever you need to. Good luck.
Marc - Are you ok? I loved your description of the different construction on that church. I almost spewed my soft drink when I read that it was 'extensively renovated by the RAF'. I've seen documentaries about some of those neighborhood remodeling and fire storms that resulted. Tremendous and wasted loss of life IMO. It's a beautiful structure and I can't help but wonder why they didn't repair it with the recycled bricks from the cleanup crews after the war. Looks like it's still being reconstructed if that scaffolding to the right is part of the church structure. I sure hope your sickness didn't morph into pneumonia. Maybe get your missus to cook you some homemade chicken soup? I've found that it has a soothing effect and it's such a comfort food to the body. Hope to hear from you soon.
Dan - Wow, that's nasty. Sort of what our Henday was like this morning. Have you ever wondered how birds stay warm in cold? I'm constantly amazed they don't turn to Popsicles
Paul - Ooops. That's funny - the OTHER capital. I'm just glad I don't have any of the 400 series highways to deal with. Thanks for the well wishes on the tooth. I don't know why it takes me longer to recover now and no Dr has been able to tell me either. It's going well though.
Location: Sherwood Park, Alberta, in the Great White North
Posts: 359
Well, I'm still alive, and may be on the mend. Now the coughing is at least productive, and it is clearing; so hopefully the pneumonia is not happening. Before yesterday it was not productive and I felt like I was drowning. Still exhausted, but I coping.
As for the visit the RAF paid to Luebeck in 1942; - it was the first real raid the RAF did and it was a deliberate attempt at payback for Coventry. Around 60% of the Old City was almost totally destroyed, and 3 of the 5 big old churches were extensively damaged. The St. Mary's church is a twin spire North German Gothic church and is the largest brick church in Germany. It was gutted, and the rebuilding continues today, same thing with the Cathedral, and St. Peter's. The nasty thing about St. Peter's was that the whole congregation was killed in the nearby shelter during the raid, and after the war there was no congregation left so the church remains empty. They only repainted the interior of it about 10 years ago, (prior to that it was a ruin) but it's completely devoid of any furnishings or fixtures, they were burned out and never replaced. It was the only 5 aisle church in Germany; and it had some interesting stuff in it prior to the raid. The bricks in that building are as they were made; the brick structure survived the raid almost intact. It's a couple of feet thick in places. They've used some concrete reinforcing and mudjacking to right the towers and line them up properly; the island they're all built on is pretty sandy. The raid disturbed a lot of ground and in some cases knocked out the foundations. So to this day, these things are a never ending work in progress. When we were there in 17 the St. Mary's had a lot of scaffolding on it. I'll throw in the tourist-shot below. (St. Mary's is 125 meters tall, completed in 1350 in this form the church behind this is St. Jacob's, also around 90 meters and just as old.)
So after the war, the city collected extra taxes and donations, and the churches were slowly rebuilt; St. Peter's got it's spire back in 1962, it was the last one. The big improvement was the lightweight concrete used in the spires under the copper cladding, which replaced the old wooden spires which burned away and caused the whole works to collapse and kill people during the raid.
I've been fascinated by these old churches since as far back as I can remember, I was born in the shadow of one. (the hospital was next door to the Cathedral). Every time we went back to visit family, we always had to go back and see them. And I did it again in 2017.
Good Morning. I see it has snowed at night……. Just an inch, but Still..
Today ill do a day-trip to visit and see my friend at hospital. Not sure what to wait from that visit, but i quess ill see later.
Allan R - You had really good game i see. Shame you lost it that way. But as you said, youre not playing for cars. Skiing i hate, ice-fishing is nice but this winter it has snowed so lot, that theres REALLY much water on top of the ice, since it hasnt iced, so not that nice to go there.
Jamesbo - But visuals are half the deal
Nailheadcanuck - Thanks for the story, was entertaining to read. I like history
Okay, i quess that was it again. Maybe ill head to snow-work..
Marc, nice pic of the church and surrounding city, I just love the centuries old buildings, which we just don't have here. I like how the flying buttress' are prominent on the sides of the church. Makes you wonder how they did it so many centuries ago. Well, according to the local news channel , we have 18" of snow this week, not quite the 29" that they predicted. Fremont, Mi. home of Gerber baby products, is about 30 miles east of me, they had 24" at noon weds. and the snow is still coming down, just at a less frequent pace.
Evening all, I’m sure you can guess but it’s still hot as hell down here lol.
The course I’m studying Marc is a diploma in project management. Took me a bit but I have found what I believe to be what I want to do and that is see projects through from start to finish. Nothing more satisfying then seeing it all come together and work when it’s all said and done.
Thanks Allan, we’re pretty lucky to the kids we do. They don’t complain none stop like a lot of kids these days and expect to get things just because their friends have it and they have good manners I believe.
Can’t see how it is February tomorrow already. Where the hell did January go?
Last night shift tonight and I’ve got my next block off so nearly 2 weeks off, 12 days in total. I will be hiring a moving truck and driving down to grandads place to move all that we plan on keeping up here into a storage unit. Should be interesting that’s for sure.
Been a stressful week since Tinks mother has filed that she intends to contest grandads will. She hasn’t actually done it yet, just asked for a bunch of info from grandads estate like assets and what not. Man we hope she doesn’t cause it will be a massive headache.
Take care for now everyone,
Adrian
Turns out a guy who has worked with my wife for 20 + years used to date a girl whose grandfather owned my old [1896] house. She's sending me some old pics. Years ago I met her mother when she and her husband were visiting the church cemetery where her parents are buried.
January 29th, 2019, 03:05 PM
