concrete "wall" over brick

A photo is better

Reply to
m Ransley
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Yeah.. you're right, I'll try to post one.

I guess the way i should've framed the question is, is it better to sort of plaster the concrete onto the brick, or build a cast and pour it in?

I feel like whoever did the last job, just coated it as water protection, but with the cellar doors putting strain on the concrete, it eventually cracked. Hence thinking that pouring a stronger, more permanent concrete around the bricks might be better & stronger.

On the other hand, I'm new to this and don't want it to turn into a major project. That said, there's no way to learn like doing.

Reply to
Ben Gold

So here's my story:

I was attempting to waterproof my back patio by chiseling out some cracks on my patio and then was going to patch and seal it. However, we have angled cellar doors out of the basement. The cellar door rests on angled brick which was covered with concrete some time ago (who knows when). You know, it's like a right triangle:

|\\ | \\ | \\ back of building ->| \\

Reply to
Ben Gold

I completely agree. I might have to go buy a new bulkhead door and remount it on the new concrete footings or whatever you would call them.

But that said, I think it was pretty old. Also, terrible design. The bulkhead had weights on pulleys to make the doors easier to open. Since the weights were obviously put in when it was brick, they would knock into the concrete on their way down every time the doors were opened. There was clearly repair work already done to the "smack down" area. Pretty hilarious really, if it wasn't so stupid.

I've already removed the weights. A little more muscle is required to open the doors, and a strong wind might bang them shut ­ but much preferable to the concrete destroying weights.

I'm hoping that the lack of constant banging will make the new concrete last longer.

But I agree, if the old door is crap and unsealable, it will be a bigger project. C'est la vie.

I'm more concerned that it's leaky than it's moving. It seems pretty well bolted into the brick, and the brick seems pretty solid in terms of movement ­ just old and chipped and worn away.

-Ben

Reply to
Ben Gold

Well, you could just replace the whole shebang with something like this:

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Reply to
Jim Ranieri

WARNING: Trying to fix a bad design with stornger concrete isn't goingt o help much. If the door is moving around relative to the house, then the concrete is going to crack. You could sink in bolts, put in concrete (which ever way is most conveinent) and then use the bolts to keep the connection strong, but...

So don't turn it into a major project. If you make this connection super strong but don't fix the underlying cause of movement, all you'll do is cause something else, whatevers weakest in the system, to fail. How old was what you removed? If you reapir it in the same way, it should last about as long... Failing that, build in expansion strips to absorb the movement. There are expanded faom strips that work fine.

John

Reply to
raven

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