Repair crack in vertical head joints of concrete block masonry

[ajk1]

Is there a generally accepted way to repair a vertical crack in an interior concrete block non-load-bearing masonry wall? The crack extends vertically thru the blocks themselves as well as thru the vertical joints. It is a straight vertical crack, not an inclined crack. The contractor repaired it by routing out a "V" shape and filling it with mortar, and it looks good now (about 8 weeks after he did it), but I am wondering if that is the right way, and if it might eventually fall out. The crack is due to impact by the contractor's equipment wen he was removing the concrete floor topping.

 

[Ron]

Unless you can fill the cells on either side of the crack, what you have is probably about as good as it gets. You could do epoxy if the crack is wide enough to apply by hand (injection won't work here, likely).

 

[ajk1]

ok, thanks Ron.

 

[Ingenuity]

There is a US-based company (Masonry Solutions) that uses cementitious injection techniques for the repair of CMU block.

Link

I am not sure of its suitability in your case, given that I assume the quantity of repairs you have are probably very small.

The consulting firm Atkinson Noland and Associates did a study on the technique and a brief summary is here: Link

 

[ajk1]

Thanks Ingenuity, I will have a look. Yes the length is relatively small, but your reference link may be useful for projects in the future if this issue arises.

 

[ajk1]

I just quickly looked at the link, and it seems to be relevant to filling collar joints (not cracks). My experience on site is that collar joints are not actually filled although they definitely are supposed to be!