October 5, 2009
Foundation Repair, Part III: Masonry
With the drainage fixed, it was now time to repair the damage that water had done to the foundation. My southern basement wall had scars across its upper face where concrete had turned to dust and fallen away, and my big question was just how much concrete would have to be replaced. As it turned out, the damage was only about three cinder blocks high, but it was pretty severe.
Albert and Nick did most of the masonry work. Albert started in before Nick arrived with the hammer drill, taking a mason's hammer to the western edge of the wall. He broke through in just a few minutes.
Albert reaches daylight in just a few minutes with a mason's hammer.
They worked in small sections, demolishing a section of concrete before laying new concrete block. Some sections were more damaged than others, so the amount they had to remove varied a bit. When one section was complete, they demolished the next, building a continuous line of cinder blocks across the wall.
The first section of new block.
After they finished putting in the block, they put a coat of mortar all the way across it.
Nick finishes the wall.
From the outside, the result looks like the concrete part of the wall never had these problems.
The wall, repaired.
Looking at the wall now, it's hard to imagine the amount of dust and debris that went into making it, the hard work of hauling broken concrete out and bringing in new block. You can see some of that in the gallery, but somehow the pictures feel much lighter than the actual work.
The concrete wall was finished, but the beam above it was still rotted, in urgent need of replacement.
if you want to see the work all the way through, here are links to the full set of stories:
Note on photos
That top picture looks appropriate for Halloween.