New answers tagged foundation
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Finish it anyway you want. Attaching fasteners to the wall for hanging TV's pullup bars, vaults for your gold bullion collection won't be a problem. You may want to paint the wall. Black maybe
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Self-levelling cement can be quite expensive. You might want to fill the deep gaps to the level of the rest of the floor, and then top (the whole mess) with a self-levelling product if that's your desired end-result. If you are just "cleaning up the basement" and don't have some plan in mind that calls for a very flat floor, you might also consider ...
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Double top plates are used to 1) tie interior walls to exterior walls (with lapped plates), and 2) creating a perimeter chord that is tied together (lapped plates) for the roof to create a structural shear diaphragm.
I doubt if your engineer did a very thorough structural analysis because your new header is greatly oversized from the original header.
However,...
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Pay a local engineering firm, that will be familiar with the local requirements, typical bearing capacity of those soils, etc.
The fact that you are on old seafloor (but not underwater) is a testament to the overall quality of engineering in the Netherlands ;-)
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I do work in the midwest where temp ranges between -10 and 110F. All concrete cracks is just a dumb myth.
There are hairline cracks that are more typical. Mainly with suboptimal mix or not properly adding joints.
However I have many pours over the past 10 years that have zero cracks because I basically use the best mix in the area and pay a good 30% more ...
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It's hard to say if it's a structural problem without more information. The crack in the photo is not necessarily a structural problem. Most likely it's related to less than ideal subgrade, concrete mix, control joint spacing, or concrete curing conditions. Concrete is always going to crack. That crack is excessive, but most likely not a structural ...
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"Best" is what you can do in that tight space. If the cavity is filled with masonry it's probably fine. Ideally you'd replace the block with a like block and tuck-point the mortar in place. Might be easier said than done, though.
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Option one - toss enough mortar or hydrualic cement in the hole to fill up the core. Tedious, and annoying, but it works.
However, option 2 also works and takes a lot less material. Cut 4 strips of wire mesh or stiff screen about as wide as the widest part of the hole but longer than the hole. Tie long wires to the middle of these in pairs, arranged so that ...
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After consulting a landscaper and a driveway paver, it appears the issue was primarily just settling/runoff. With the bricks, for some reason, the builder had them overhanging the foundation by about half an inch, which made the hole seem bigger than it was. The landscaper filled the gap under the bricks and the missing mortar with hydraulic cement. The ...
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I would use "duct seal". It's a putty-like material that's a bit sticky. You'll find it in the electrical department. It's much more robust than foam.
Caulk would be difficult to work with on a gap that big and would be more difficult to remove if you had to do any modification later. You could probably get good results with silicone, though. I'd ...
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If you don't choose to use geotextile, you may (depending on soil conditions) find that over time your gravel migrates into the ground, and the fine soils of the ground migrate up through your gravel layer - that is one thing geotextile is used specifically to prevent.
Weed barrier or cardboard are not geotextile, even if one roll of black plastic "...
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When you build a grade beam with piers every 6’ apart, you are essentially building a “post and beam” foundation.
The grade beam will need to be designed to span from pier to pier. The size, amount of rebar, etc. will be based on the load, (i.e.: 4’ to 12’ tall blocks stacked on the grade beam).
The reason the foundation system changes from the traditional “...
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Given the size of the piers and their anchor depth and the fact that you can use metal (ibeam) cross beams, you can definitely do just 4. Remember when building on piers, more is not better (unless we are talking large commercial building). When you add more piers you are allowing for a greater future issues with leveling based on heave.
Now that was ...
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