I have an old victorian that has one foundation wall bowing out in the middle, along with the sill. I would like to put in a couple of tierods to keep the wall from getting worse, or even pull it back some.
It is a fieldstone foundation up to grade, then about three feet of brick above that. The floorjoists run parallel to this wall and there is not much to prevent the wall from bowing out. The main beam which does attach to this wall is made up of two 6×6’s joined together with a lap joint, and that joint is separating. Another spot where there should be a beam connected to it, the beam was cut to make room for a staircase. Bottom line, there is not much there to hold the wall back. I’ve been in the house for 8 years and I can’t say if it has gotten any worse or if it just looks worse because it bugs me.
Any thoughts on installing tierods? Is this the right approach? I’m in greater Boston. Where can I get what I need to make up tierods? The rest of the walls are fine, probably because there are a lot of jogs in the other parts of the foundation and the 90 degree turns give it more lateral support.
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I don't think that a tie rod will work with a field stone wall. You will have stress points at each tie rod and the stones at the tie rod plate will stay but the surrounding stones will move. The first thing to check is if there is movement. The wall may have been built this way. If there is movement you need to reinforce the outside of the wall.
I was thinking of tierods into the sill, perpendicular to the wall, and attaching them to sill on the opposite wall. I believe the fieldstone section of the wall is stable. In fact, I had a mason repoint it about a year ago. (He also suspected it may have been built that way but I believe it slowly has moved.) The problem is where the fieldstone meets the brick. I believe the exterior wall has caused the sill to pull away, and the brick part of the wall above grade has been pulled with it. I am planning on gutting the room above the wall in the spring, so I will take care of that then. I want to see if I can do anything with the foundation before I get into what's above it.
With every case I have ever seen of a feildstone or rubble stone wall being bowed, it was always bowed IN, not out.
So I first ask myself why did this one bow out.
Logic and reasoning lead me to imagine that either the wall was built at least partly on unstable soils or that water moving below the foot has destabilized it.
In other words, something has reoded support from underneathe the OUTSIDE of the wall, allowing it to tip.
I tend to doubt that a tie bar can do what you want, but supposing that it diod indeed pull the top of the wall in without making pieces out of it, you would then be likely to have a void under it that it could settle into again. If water flowing is the cause of the problem, it wqill re-occour.
You might want to find a foundation jacking specialist or civil/ soils engineerfor at least a site visit and consult..
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My first question would be why is the floor/wall framing moving out (especially at the bottom of the wall) if the foundation appears to be stable? This type of movement is typically at the top of the wall. The horizontal forces a the foundation act to push the wall in.
Mike, a couple of questions.
First, what exactly is a fieldstone foundation wall? Is it a wall made from stacked stones and mortar? I live in Alaska and I've never seen that type of construction. Is there any kind of steel reinforcement in the wall? Does the fields stone foundation wall have a concrete footing beneath it? If so, how wide is it? What is the height of the foundation wall from the bottom of the wood sill plate to the top of the footing?
Is the wall bowing out near the top of the foundation wall where the foundation wall and sill plate meet. If so, it sounds like piffin is correct and the foooting has been undermined or is on unstable soil that has begun to consolidate or settle. If the footing and foundation wall are well attached to each other than they are rotating as a unit. I would definitely recommend hiring a civil/geotechnical engineer to visit your house and take a good look at the foundation.
In lieu of tie rods there is another method you can try. Frame in blocking that is perpindicular to the floor joists. Add this blocking at say 16" o.c. between the foundation wall sill plate and the first floor joist. You could attach the blocking to the sill plate with Simpson A34 framing anchors and #8 wood screws. Nail through the floor joist and into the end of the blocking. Do the same thing to the floor joist and opposite foundation wall sill plate. After you've done this nail 1/2" plywood with 8d nails spaced at say 6" o.c. to all of the floor joists across the entire width of the house. You can decide on how much of the wall you want to cover. I'd suggest extending this blocking/plywood scheme at least 4 feet to either side of where the wall bows signifcantly. By adding all of this framing to the underside of the floor joists you have essentially tied both walls together with a nice linear method as opposed to individual points (like with a tie rod). However, I've no idea what this will cost you for materials or time or how much room you have to operate. Good luck!!!
The solution has got to fit the problem. What force is causing the wall to bow out?
As someone noted, usually foundation walls bow in because of soil forces.
Is the bow vertical or horizontal? does it start above grade, in the brick portion, and is horizontal? Then I'd guess there is some force pushing the bottom of the framing out, but that's hard to imagine.
Old foundation walls can bow a tremendous amount through creep over the years and you won't necessarily see cracks - somewhere I've got pics of a brick foundation wall with about 6"(!) of horizontal bow in the middle of the wall height, with no visible cracking of that old lime mortar!
how does thew exterior wall (foundation and framing) look when sighted down along the wall? Any cracking in the plaster walls above that location? Unusual window or door opening problems?
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'Outward tip' is not so unusual for victorians, at least in New England.
Here's why.
The typical fieldstone foundation wall was laid up dry. Large supporting stones at the bottom, smaller stones at the top, stone wedges to stabilize. Lime mortar was only used above grade where there was no backfill to keep stones in place (well, bricks in your case). Gravel or sand backfill was used below grade.
Over time, the backfill washes in through the stones and you get voids on the outside. Worse, dirty soil displaces the 'clean' backfill, then frost heaving grabs and dislodges stones on the outside. This undermines the outside edge of the wall. Worse still, the weight of the house generally sits on the outside edge of the sill/wall with balloon framing to 'move things along'.
These forces all conspire to create the 'pregnant wall'. Sill with outward tip is quite common. In this case, there was also no nearby beam to resist lateral forces on the sill, so it 'surfed' out with the wall.
The inward bow that is common with block foundations is less common with stone foundations because the stone does little to resist hydrostatic pressures. The water simply washes through.
With that kind of foundation, it sounds like the person to call is a house mover. They can put the house up on steel and cribbing while a whole new foundation is made, then put the house down on it.
-- J.S.
Thanks for the explananation (it really does look pregnant). It was lime mortar that had all washed away, and the house is balloon framed. There is a 6 ft wide window right above the bow I'm sure that is contributing to all of this also. The worst section is 2" out. My main concern is the kitchen is above it and cabinets on that wall are noticeably out of plum (the tops tip in.) I guess when I redo it, I can sister some studs next to the existing ones and create a plum wall that way.
I think I'll try the blocking method that FROZENMARKark suggested. I guess I can stabiize it and live with the "Charm". I'm growing to hate that word.
Thanks for all the suggestions everyone.
It doesn't look like a water problem. There is no french drain. In fact there are no footings at all. The stone portion of the foundation (which is the below grade) is fine. It hasn't moved. Also, it's about two feet thick, with the majority of the stone outside below grade. That's the way they built them 100 years ago so I've been told. I don't really get any water. My problem is all above grade. It's the 3 vertical ft of brick above the stone that bows out. There has been changes done above the bow over the years. The kitchen is above this area, and has been redone, probably a few times. There is a 6 ft wide window right above the bow and judging from some of the other hack jobs I've seen in this house, I'm sure it wasn't installed right. I'll get a better look at that when I gut the kitchen in the spring. I think that's where a lot of my problems come from. I would guess that the kitchen was last redone in the 70's