The Brew Cabin

Posted: **Fri Aug 28, 2009 7:00 pm**

A wall i built approx 8 years ago for a customer has developed a crack almost in the centre.
If you look at the image, it goes down from the creasing tile, to the centre of the "font" which is built into the brickwork, then under the font it travels as two separate cracks at 45 degrees to centre.
There is a smaller crack on the other side of the wall (wall is 9")

The footing was 600mm deep with reinforcing.

Not sure why theis has started only now. the only obvious thing is a large oak tree approx 3m away!

I have suggested to the client that i chop out the cracked bricks and replace the mortar elsewhere in the hopes that any movement has stopped

please note, this picture was taken upon completion, i don't have a picture of the crack

Edited By dig dug dan on 1251482452

Posted: **Fri Aug 28, 2009 8:55 pm**

how long is the wall dan?
are there any expansion joints in it?
generally cracks dont get better,
they look like bovingdon berries a very soft brick,if the mortar was too strong any expansion will crack the weakest point,i.e. the bricks rather than the mortar
either that or the tree roots have lifted the foundation
LLL

Posted: **Fri Aug 28, 2009 9:04 pm**

Thanks LLL

The wall is approx 6m long.
No expansion joints. Just piers

They are in fact chesham multi's (Chosen by the customer)

Posted: **Fri Aug 28, 2009 10:10 pm**

jeez i had 1 in my hand not 2 hours ago, well matthews and bovingdon brickworks are only 6 miles apart so they are similar
a fairly soft brick
6 m is not overly long and if the footing is reinforced it shouldnt crack,it might move in 1 piece but thats isnt a problem
all in all very strange
i tell you what though dan,the really cold snap we had earlier this year did a lot of damage to walls round here

cutting out 1 brick is very hard to make good properly as its extremely hard to make sure the top of the brick has a full mortar joint
if its not extensive i would be tempted to put some clear outdoor silicon in the crack and rub some brick dust on to it
if you use something solid it could worsen the damage
LLL

Posted: **Fri Aug 28, 2009 10:29 pm**

How far down is the foundation Dan to the ffl. Also what type reinforcement,mesh or fiber

Posted: **Sat Aug 29, 2009 7:12 am**

If the re-bar wasnt spaced from the outer skin in the founds . There's a good change water has gotten into it,expanded the metal and cracked the beam.
Big problem in the late 90's when using pecker fill improperly.

Hp

Posted: **Sat Aug 29, 2009 4:53 pm**

thanks for the replies guys

I like the silicone idea LLL
Will give that a go first

The footing was poured then a coulpe of lenghts of re-bar were pushed deep into the footing, one near the bottom one near the top, about centre to the trench

Probably not the correct way to do it.

The wall is approx 1.8m from foundation

The Brew Cabin

Brickwork problem - Crack in wall