Dear
Concord Carpenter,
I
have to repair this cracked wall and have never done this before, so I'm
asking for your guidance.
I
am looking for your comments & suggestions for an appropriate fix without
completely rebuilding the stairs & retaining wall.
How
would you approach this repair?
Would
you excavate the crack for hydraulic cement sand then install re-bar staples to
help stabilize the crack?
Thanks - Jim
.
Dear
Jim,
Based
on the photos the stair well looks fairly solid.
I
would suggest that you excavate the cracks with a grinder, masonry chisel
or a hammer drill chisel. Clean out the crack so the opening slants in at
an angle - similar to a dovetail. This helps hold the hydraulic cement in
place.
Clean
out the crack with a stiff brush and a hose.
Your
suggestion of installing re-bar "staples" to span the cavity is a good
one. Drill holes for the re bar and also a channel to recess the re bar. Fill the crack cavity with hydraulic cement
and install the re bar with epoxy.
Repair
A Cracked Masonry Wall With Helical Reinforcing Rods
Alternatively
you can clean out a channel with a grinder or masonry chisel and install
recessed helical reinforcing rods.
Masons
often refer to these rods as crack stitching bars. They are used
to redistribute loads and enhance the tensile strength back to the
masonry.
A helical rod is usually a stainless steel reinforcing bar for repairing cracks
in masonry walls. Helical bars have the tensile strength twice that of re bar.
Helical rods are cold rolled shaped wire and have a twisted shape and are
ideally suited for crack stitching repairs and masonry wall reinforcement.
When
anchored across fractures helical rods reinstate the structural integrity of
the cracked walls by distributing the cumulative load across the full
load of the rod.
Based
on your photos I would install a minimum of four helical rods.
Set
you helical rods into and cover with a high performance structural repair
grout for bonding reinforcing bars into masonry walls. The
structural repair grout consists of cement / polymeric resin powder
component and liquid component, which when mixed yields a super strong repair.
After
repairs I would apply epoxy stucco to entire staircase to cover over
everything.
Best of luck!
