No matter how strong and reliable a brick structure is, cracks can form on it over time. This happens for a number of reasons. For example, during construction, the wrong technology was chosen, or cheap materials of poor quality were used, etc.
Some of my friends bought a piece of land on which there was already a barn and a small house. The first one was built of bricks about 50 years ago. On the wall of the shed there was an imposing crack, which, apparently, had appeared there a long time ago.
According to the stories of neighbors, the former owners used the barn as a corral for bulls. The waste products of large animals flowed under the foundation through a special pipe. As a result, in winter, the soil under the shed swelled, causing a crack on the wall. And for a couple of decades, the structure has been standing in this form, but not destroyed.
My friends thought either to demolish the barn, or wait for it to collapse by itself. And then we decided to start repairing it.
How did you manage to save the old barn?
- Initially, I had to spend time cleaning the plinth, which was covered with grass and debris. The friends carefully scraped out all the seams, removed the concrete that had peeled off, and dismantled the pipe.
- Further around the place requiring repair, friends dug a trench. Its depth and width were chosen so that its length did not exceed 3 meters. Otherwise, the barn could sink. The depth of the trench turned out to be less than 50 centimeters. After that, the friends cleared the foundation from the soil.
- After cleaning the foundation, the friends moved on to reinforcing it. For these purposes, they used 17-centimeter rods. In the lower part of the foundation, holes were made with a puncher, into which the cut reinforcement was hammered. The threads were then pulled onto these pins, and more holes were made at their level every 40 centimeters. The cut reinforcement was also inserted into the new holes, and 10 reinforcement was laid on it.
- After that, the friends moved on to the installation of the formwork. To do this, they drove wooden stakes into the corners of the shed, aligning them along the horizon, and pulled a thread. On the received thread drop, they drove in other stakes of the formwork.
Initially, the friends wanted to cut the boards from OSB, but the price tag for this material did not suit them, so they opted for drywall (they found it in the garage). The shields were covered with foil to prevent them from getting wet. The formwork was secured with wooden supports.
- Next, a concrete solution was needed. The proportions for its preparation are as follows: 1 part of cement, 2.5 parts of sand and 3.5 parts of crushed stone.
They laid concrete and compacted it well with a vibrator.
- When the mortar froze, the formwork was removed, the trench was covered with soil and it was carefully tamped. This was the final stage of repair and strengthening of the foundation.
It's time to patch up the crack in the wall. What's the best way to do this?
Armed with a hammer drill and a drill, the friends removed the mortar joint from the wall every three rows of bricks. Note that it is better to make the grooves longer.
When everything was ready, the grooves were cleaned of dust and proceeded to the final part of the repair.
The grooves were filled with cement mortar by about 50%, stuffing it with joining. With the help of a staple, marks were made in the solution, along which holes were drilled and the staples were driven into them.
Next, the grooves were filled with cement to the remaining 50%, and the crack was also filled. To achieve the best effect, it is worth mixing a plasticizer into the solution.
That's all, our renovation is over! ) I hope that this information will be useful to you in everyday life.
Thank you for reading the article to the end! I will be very happy about your like 👍 andsubscribing to the channel.