Vertical Cracks in CMU Wall

[bookowski]

See attached photo.

This is a warehouse type building, overall it is in poor condition. The walls are about 24ft. tall cmu, there is no other finish or veneer - the interior is just paint on the cmu. There are lots of cracks in all faces of the structure, many of them almost completely vertical. The owner asked me to look at this as he is claiming they are new and are the result of a recent storm. They are almost certainly not new - but what would you attribute them to? Shrinkage? I am not used to see such vertical lines through CMU, without much stepping.

The roof framing (steel) projects right through the wall, you can see the ends of the members at the top of the photo. This is obviously a source of water infiltration, and expansion due to corrosion of the member ends. However, the cracks don't align with these members in general.

 

[hokie66]

Tear it down...but then that's easy for me to say.

 

[StrucPatholgst]

Lots of Sandy work out here. I'm going on my 10th week of 7 days per, from Margate to Little Ferry. Advice: take better pictures of the cracks. For it to be recent/storm related, a crack in older block, brick or mortar should demonstrate a change in patina from the exposed surface to the inner supposedly-newly exposed surface. And the crack edges must be sharp. If the crack edge is even slightly rounded, it's not recent. And curling at the interfacial zone along a mortar joint crack is consistent with a weathered crack. Also, up close, if you can clearly see and document via photos the existence of any sharp-featured mix artifacts in the mortar, you hit pay dirt. That's a good sign of a fresh crack. Also, if you can see - up close - no well defined differences in sand aggregate protrusions from the substrate, from within the crack vs outside of it, that is a good indicator of a weathered crack. A cheap Donegan is well worth the expense. Trick is getting good photos.

Other than that, to me it's obvious those cracks are old, and everyone here is on track with shrinkage effects. And the building clearly has a water penetration issue, which will do its evil deed over time, particularly in the northeast. Any Local Law 11 guys out there?

As for the question of what do you recommend, I'd need more info. I couldn't go by just the wall pics. Shoring the roof and rebuilding a wall at a time would be a lot cheaper and less disruptive that a tear down. The NJ Rehab Code would also be on your side.