Concrete underpinning rubble wall

[Jean G]

I have been hired to repair the party wall of a 100 year old brick mass one story commercial building that was damaged due to underpinning construction below the stone footing. Damage is at the front corner and appears to be due to vibration from the underpinning; not footing movement. The concrete underpinning went down about 8 feet below the stone footing for a new adjacent building basement. The wall damage is at the front corner where the underpinning terminated. Is this acceptable underpinning design? I typically do not terminate underpinning designs abruptly due to concerns about soil subsidence. I extend the underpinning out with the bottom going up at a slope until it meets the bottom of the original footing; especially with a stone footing that really has no effective beam action to bridge over subsided soil adjacent to the underpinning.

 

[PEinc]

There is not enough information in your thread to give you any kind of answer as to the appropriateness of the underpinning design.

In what city is the project? Call me.

http://www.PeirceEngineering.com

 

[StrucPatholgst]

No it is not acceptable. It sounds like their engineer neglected to accommodate for the performance of your client's entire foundation, and merely addressed his client's foundation. That's an easy lay up in court. In fact from experience if you get the local AHJ involved, it's a slam dunk. Hopefully your client got an engineer to put together a report, and then handed it to a lawyer.