Oops - contractor cuts through opening reinforcing in existing wall 3

[jrfroe]

We have a project with an existing rectangular concrete tank that has a stainless steel lining (so concrete is not critical for tank being water-tight) and we needed to install a 6" pipe through the tank wall. We expected the contractor to core a small hole just above the tank floor through the wall to install the new pipe, but found that they instead cut a 24"x24" square opening through the existing tank wall. The biggest problem is that the cut opening is just below the corner of an existing manway.

The manway opening is a square opening about 3'x3'. The new cut opening overlaps horizontally with the the manway opening by about 3" on one corner. There is about 6" of concrete left between the top of the new cut opening and the bottom of the manway.

I'm mostly concerned because the vertical opening reinforcing on one side of the existing manway has been severed and I don't think its feasible to completely restore the strength lost in that area. I'm suggesting installing epoxy rebar dowels with as long of an embeddment as possible (I'm thinking 18") to attempt to get some semblance of a lap. This wouldn't give the same strength as the original and I'm guessing the wall might crack a bit from flexural stresses and redistribute around the affected area. The contractor is already balking at this idea (he wants to install a steel frame in the opening).

Has anyone else encountered a similar situation or does anyone have any ideas for alternative repairs that would restore the strength lost from cutting the opening reinforcing?

 

[jrfroe]

steveh49 - Thats good advice... Luckily this a contractor we have a long-standing and good relationship with, which makes things like this so much easier to deal with. We will likely split the cost of the repair (which isn't a large cost by any means).

They're able to install the dowels as requested with a reduced embeddment (which was expected).

 

[r13]

jrfroe,

Looks like you handled well. A workout solution is better than forced-out action. But do go remind the friendly contractor to ask/wait for detail, and the nod to go ahead the next time. As at times things are looked trivial, but could be quite involved behind the scene (for example, owner's timing/thought/approval), real bad results and severe consequences could occur.