Cinder Block Wall - Load Limit?

[Ptdeskhk]

Hello. I have a cinder block privacy wall... 6 feet high on one side, 10 feet on the other due to grading between the two properties. It is approximately 60 feet long. The builders decided to fill in 25 feet with concrete to mitigate sound issues (they took off the top layer and just sludged it in from the top). Is this secure? The weight of this wall portion is now much heavier than the rest... the foundation of the wall was not touched or inspected before doing this. Can this become a problem later on?

 

[strucbells]

It could be, or it could not be. Can you provide some photos and dimensioned sketches that provide a bit more information?

What does the foundation wall look like? Do you have any drawings or measurements you can share?

 

[KootK]

The only way to know for sure if the wall is adequate is to have a local structural engineer evaluate it for you, which I recommend. This forum is not the right place for non-structural engineers to seek engineering advice for real world structural engineering problems. That said, it's hard to imagine a realistic scenario in which the grouting would make things worse instead of better (or neutral). Some conceivable outcomes that might be undesirable:

1) Should the wall flop over, it's now a much heavier wall likely to do more damage to whatever it lands on.

2) If your soil bearing capacity is very low, it might be exceeded by the additional weight.

3) If your soil is prone to settlement issues, you might generate relative settlement between the grouted and un-grouted wall segments which might lead to wall crack development.

 

[EdStainless]

And with 4" of fill on one side it makes me wonder if the foundations were designed to resist this lateral load.
Think of different failure modes.
The filled section could settle more resulting in some cracks, or a portion of it could tip over, or it could tip and take the entire wall over with it.
Probably deserves some further investigation.

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P.E. Metallurgy, consulting work welcomed

 

[JoelTXCive]

I would want to know if there is vertical rebar in the wall. Just filling CMU with grout is not going to do much unless there is rebar there to take the tension. Since there were no grout filled cells previously, I'm guessing no rebar is present.