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I have a 110 year old Victorian – 3 stories, 5,000 sq. ft. – in Boston
and I would like to replace some of the original brick support columns in the basement. I did hire an engineer who spec’ed out an “I”-beam fix which would allow me to reduce the number of columns, but the bill would be thousands of dollars. The brick columns are about 1′ square, and some of them have deteriorating (powdery) mortar in the joints close to the floor; however, they generally appear to be in good shape. Two questions.
1. Do these relics have a functional life expectancy; e.g. should I be thinking about replacing or repairing(re-point) them in any case?
2. I would like to support them, temporarily, on both sides with threaded jacks, and then knock down the brick column, and replace them with a cement-filled Lally column, and then remove the two temporary supporting screw-jacks on each side. Is this reasonable, or should I consult my engineer (at $150./Hr)?
Thanks,
Jin
Replies
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jim.. generally... it depends on the footing and the cap spread... you are reducing the beam bearing to a point load which may have a fiber crushing effect that you don't get with the brick piers..
so although the lally columns
b MAY
be strong enough they might not do the job
if you had some experience under your belt you could make a judgement call.. other than that the engineers fee may be cheap...
you could also do exactly what you want (#2) and replace the piers with poured or CMU piers.. avoiding the issue altogether
and (#1) they may be just fine and could use some repointing.. probe the brick and see if the bricks are still sound...
b but hey, whadda i no ?
*Personally, I would go for the I-beam fix. I don't see how even a couple of G would be all that much more expensive than all of the fiddling around that you are talking about, and you would wind up with a more useful basement space.