[drailed]

I have a serious situation going on here with my foundation. I will start by saying I already had 1 wall replaced back in March during a noreaster and it wasnt by choice. I got completely raped by the contractor who did it but he had me by the balls. the insurance co did not cover 1 cent of the $14k it cost me. My house was built in 69 with a block foundation. When the aholes who built it backfilled they used all clay. Between that, a high water table and plugged draintile its finally caught up. The bottom course of block are decayed to where you can poke your hand through alot of them. This is how the 1st (short) wall gave out. Today I rented and excavator and dug my back wall out. The bottom row along the footer is not good. The rest of the wall is not bowed or cracked. Is there a way you can replace bottom blocks? Ive read of people doing this by grinding them out and removing them 1 at a time. If i can i would like to do this and then coat the wall with surface bond and dimple board and backfill with sand. The wall has no coating on the outside. I might also drill into some of the upper blocks and fill them with mortar. I will post pics tomorow.

[sdbob]

Yes we have done that,also we have torn out the complete wall. The wall was bowed another job the footer was to 'thin' and cracked.Yes it takes time but you can remove one block at a time.As you intended to break holes and pour solid sections.It takes time again as my father always said youy are only going to do it once.After this parge the outside(clean the block of mud,I don't remember doing this to tarred block but I remember wire brushing block etc)with a mixture of masonry/portland cement.We never had a specific mixture just add portland to a masonry cement mixture usuallly a shovel full.After this we placed cement at the bottom of the block(outside)against the footer at a angle all along the outside.what this does is any water running down the block will be directed to the outside into the drain tile.While you have the wall exposed another tip glue(we used black cementparged over the whole wall) styrofoam to the block this aids in basement cooling and warming.We used 1" and 2" thickness.Hope this helps.use sense and labor and you will be ok,one step at a time. Bob

[drailed]

Thanks sdbob, were going to try replace the lower 2 courses. If it doesnt work out We will take the wall out. I have the house blocked up good. The rest of the wall seems fine. Were pouring stone below the footer then then wrapping drainage pipe in a sock then stone and sand. Were parging the wall with this stuff that has fiberglass resin in it. The wall has no tar on it now, just a little drylock at the top.

[drailed]

Before we backfill we will line it with dimple sheet. My buddy used it on his house and its suppose to be good stuff. Keeps all the hydrostatic pressure off the wall.

[sport coupe]

Your picture shows a lot of water. Is your sub pump not working?

[drailed]

It had just down poured the night before and the trench had some water outside which I pumped out. The basement is always dry on the inside which is a miracle. There is a drainage issue outside which we will correct with a sump pump that is inside the basement(no other option)Were gonna attempt the block tomorow. Unfortunatly this project is costing me my new garage I was planning on building this fall.

[drailed]

Well things went well today. Got a few sections replaced, hopefully finish it up in a day or 2.

[sdbob]

I like the amount of room you gave yourself to work.The jobs we had were usually in the back yard where we dug by hand so as not to mess up the yard.looks good.(who I'm i to say)Bob.

[drailed]

I wasnt to worried about the lawn. Its all going to be brought up higher against the house anyways. You really had to dig out far because it rained good a few nights and alot of the clay slid back in. Blocks should be replaced today and i will parge the rest of it Sunday.

[sdbob]

Let us know how things worked out. Bob

[drailed]

Thanks for asking Bob, The lower 2 courses of block are all in. Replaced some of the third also. I have the inside of the wall parged and getting ready to do the outside but waiting for the mortar to set up good. The weather last Sat really put a hurtin on it when the lower blocks were out and we got 2 inches of heavy rain. The trench backfilled itself somewhat and I had a little shoveling out to do inside the basement, plus I had to bring the excavator back in. Working on the railroad at night and playing around in the mud all day is getting a little old. I will post some more pics soon.

[sdbob]

Sounds like its goin well.We're going train watching Sat. down to 'Sandpatch' on the CSX in Somerset Cty near Somerset Pa. we always told are customers (that we new would be receptive) 'good enough for who its for'.

[drailed]

Sounds cool. Give me a shout if you ever get up near Albany along the D&H

[drailed]

Some pictures of my almost finished mess. Put to the test last night with a half inch of rain and bone dry on the inside. Parged both side of the wall for strength. We were a bit nervous backfilling but so far so good. A little grass seed and I will be good. The rest of the yard will grow up through that mess in no time.

[sdbob]

Somebody was working hard by the photos. Thanks for the invite.We spent all day with 6 of us eating ,a little 'mud' and creek running with the jeeps because where we were at a larger vehicle probably wouldn't make it, to narrow and steep. we had to walk to the one cut below 'Sandpatch', I forget the name on the tunnel portal.It was quiet and the water was cold in the large pool there's even a diving board placed by the locals.Saw 1 AC6000,a few of those new 6 axle GE DC's( not sure of the new nos as in Latrobe I only see NS SD70DCe.The one train that stopped for the signal the new GE actually shut off the old Dash 9 kept running, I guess for fuel efficiency.My wife doesn't say to much about my hobbies other than 'you had to pick the most expensive hobbies'. Bob.