Very Old Brick Building Leaning Badly 8

[cap4000]

I just inspected a 90 year old 4 family brick building and found that its out of plumb 3 inches over 37 feet. The basement walls are 12 inch brick and the the other 3 floors are 8 inch brick. I am thinking of adding a new wythe to make it all 12 inch brick. I am also planning to underpin the old footing with a new wider new one. The big financial problem is the owner has already gone through 60% of his bank loan for the rehab work and now needs a lot more money to fix his building for which he knew nothing about. Has anyone ever done something like this before. This qualifies as a "dangerous building". Any tips will be greatly appreciated.

 

[msquared48]

Why is it leaning?

Foundation Settlement? If so, why? Old fill, earthquake, downspout issues?

If there is a crawlspace, what is it like? If the crawlspace is present, have any interior footings settled, or is there evidence of past shimming efforts?

Was the settlement recent, or over a long period of time, or a long time ago that has since stabilized?

I might leaqn to 3 or 4" diameter pin piles at the outside walls, depending on the recommendations of a geotech. I assume you have one retained to help here?

What is the general condition of the brick?



Mike McCann
MMC Engineering

 

[Prepakt1]

Sounds to me that underpinning might be a problem. Secondly if its already settling, underpinning will increase the loading on whatever parts of the footings are left as supports. A very dicy job indeed, if its alreaddy leaning.
I would say call in a house mover to lift everything then fix
the foundation.
As msquared 48 indicated above, you might pile or an alternative could be to try to stabilize the ground below the existing footings by grouting before any underpinning work starts.

Intrusion Prepakt /marineconcrete.com

 

[Zambo]

Does it qualify as a "dangerous building". Apart from the measurement of 3 inches are there any signs of distress.

Do opposite sides of the building show the same out of plumb readings. Perhaps it was built with an out of tolerance spirit level.

I know 3 inches seems a lot but it isn't so bad if each floor is taken separately, is there any support at the floor levels (37 feet seems high for a single lift)

My point is if it is just poor workmanship and has been standing for 90 years it's a different case than if it is settling due to some nearby change in ground conditions.

 

[Ron]

I assume you have measured plumbness on all four sides of the building? If so, what are the measurements? Is the building wracking or tilting? Are the plumbness measurements any different between corners and midwalls? What is the observable distress in the building?

You need to figure out "why" before you can decide "how"!!

 

[csd72]

I agree with Ron, you need to clarify what you mean by 'out of plumb' before we can give you some decent advice.

 

[cap4000]

The two load bearing walls on the right and left side are about the same 3 inches out of plumb. This is uniform along the wall. The lime mortar joints are totally decayed and only sand remains in the joints. The definition of a "dangerous building" link is below. I think the 3 inches is a combination of differential settlement and bad mortar joints. Thanks for all the tips.

http://www.claycogov.com/county/departments/pz/documents/Dangerous Building Regs.pdf

 

[vandede427]

I'm not sure about historical construction in other parts of the country, but here in Alabama there are A LOT of buildings still standing that are 80+ years old built this way: two-story, about 40x100 in plan, multi-wythe brick walls, a row of beams/columns down the middle, wood floor and roof joists.

I've looked at a lot of them. Typically the most common issue I see is the deterioration of the mortar in the brick. They didn't use portland cement back then. Repointing the brick is a viable option to fix the bad mortar. Repointing will add bond back to the exterior face of the brick which will increase your overall cross-section and add out-of-plane moment capacity back to the wall. The crumbled mortar on the interior is encased by the repointed mortar and is just fine for compressino.

Foundation settlement might not be the only reason the building is out of plumb. The walls may simply be leaning.

I don't think adding another wythe is going to accomplish anything.

One this I caution owners with about buildings this old, and I'll pass this caution onto you, is that if you're going to do demo and remodeling you have to be extremely delicate. Buildings this old are much more sensitive than newer ones. Jacking on a foundation could crack walls. Sometimes non-load bearing walls become load-bearing over time.

Just be careful and let the owner know that there are a lot of uncertainties that are out of your control.

 

[dik]

You have to also be very particular about mortar repair. Early brick buildings relied on mortar joints to 'wick' moisture from within. This is almost a study by itself.

Changes in lifestyle has also increased the amount of moisture within...

Dik

 

[msquared48]

I totally agree with Ron here. You need to know why before you answer the problem.

I strongly encourage you to engage the services of a local Geotech, if you have not already, if the reason "why" is not obvious from above.

I would be concerned about leveling the structure and what that is going to do to the floor joist to brick wall connection, let alone what they are now. Repairs, to include leveling, can bring about a sudden collapse, if not properly sequenced. As previously implied, loads can also shift during this process too, and this is a heavy structure.

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering

 

[cap4000]

I already scheduled the soil borings. I also have a surveyor that will monitor the building for movement every 30 or 60 days. I am thinking of using deep injections like Uretek 486 to solidify the soil. Bottom line is that the building got very distorted from uneven settlement and the result is the severe tilt.

 

[hokie66]

Ever been to Holland? Along the canals in cities like Amsterdam and Delft, most of the buildings lean noticeably toward the canal. There are a lot of tie rods in place, but mostly they just live with the situation.