I have a kitchen wall with a window on top, below the window are 8" concrete blocks.
I will be installing a kitchen sink and dish washer along that wall, so I broke the wall on one side to run the 2" PVC pipe to a vent stack to the right. The PVC pipe run is over 4 feet long, and in order to run that pipe and the one below for the dish washer, I had to literally break off one side of that concrete wall, so that resulted in half the length of that wall being supported now with just the outside face of the old concrete blocks. See the picture:
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Any idea what is the best way to patch it up? Do I get 4" thick blocks and built up the front side? Do I frame 2x4s to support it? Do I use ply wood to cover the front side and pour solid concrete?
Whether you need to "repair" the wall all depends on the "demand" on the wall & the remaining "capacity" in the "chopped up" wall.
Keep in mind that my comments come from a guy experienced in wood framed construction / plywood shear walls / seismic issues.
Being a master of "overkill" I guess I'd rebuild the course of the wall where the pipes run, with 8" blocks with the "back face" removed & appropriate cutouts made....
Once the "pipe course" was replaced, I'd continue rebuilding the wall with 8" block with the back face removed.
Since the original wall appears to have been ungrouted, looks like you really don't need a solid concrete wall.
I would suggest you estimate the amount of effort to cut & fit the blocks vs forming up and pouring a solid wall.
Personally I'd prefer to piece it together & build it up out of blocks rather than work and mess to form & pour. Plus I'm not a huge fan of encasing pipes in concrete.
I suggest that you first wrap the pipe in a pipe wrap therefore stopping any chemical reaction from the cement on the adhesive in the pipe, them I would close off the opening with brick. First make sure there are no leaks.
I don't know about reinforcing walls, but I would incorporate part of the mold to keep the concrete off the pipes.........just in case the wall has to be opened up in the future so's you can do it without busting pipes.
You've gotten advice on how to repair it, I'll give you some advice on how to avoid some of it.
Instead of blowing out all of the block, you could have removed the front face of just one course of block for the horizontal run. Running a diamond bladed circular saw or cutoff saw horizontally would control the depth fo the cut when you start breaking out the pieces. One course height would allow you to have the two horizontal runs and allow for your pitch, and to use bricks, cut block or 4" block as the infill.
Reminder: Ask the question before doing the work. That way someone might be able to save you some time and money. After-the-fact solutions always cost more and take longer.
Is the entire damaged area under the window? If so, I expect that there is a lintel above the window which distributes any load from above to either side of the window. In that case the damaged area is only carrying its own weight and the weight of the windows. That is, not very much load. In which case your repair will be more cosmetic than structural.
Granted, it's not a structural element. The stub wall under the window has different functions - primarily supporting the exterior finish/siding. The house isn't about to fall down, but if the compromised block wall is stuccoed on the outside, cracks in the remaining block face may extend through the stucco.
Yes the window is about the same width as the wall. There is a tie beam above the window, and the window rest on a strip of 6" thick solid poured concrete. Below that are the concrete blocks. So, no, it's not carry much load. I am trying to find the best way to vertically bridge the floor to the concrete below the window, the rest is mostly cosmetics.
I will also need to find ways to attach furring strips to the surface, as I will need to put drywall over it, then cabinets.
I am leaning to using 8" thick concrete blocks on the bottom run, and once I got to the pipe, switch to 4" thick blocks until I meet the concrete,
You've gotten advice on how to repair it, I'll give you some advice on how to avoid some of it.
Instead of blowing out all of the block, you could have removed the front face of just one course of block for the horizontal run. Running a diamond bladed circular saw or cutoff saw horizontally would control the depth fo the cut when you start breaking out the pieces. One course height would allow you to have the two horizontal runs and allow for your pitch, and to use bricks, cut block or 4" block as the infill.
Reminder: Ask the question before doing the work. That way someone might be able to save you some time and money. After-the-fact solutions always cost more and take longer.
Thanks...but the problem is, things never ever happen as designed. I have found myself anticipated every twists and turns, made corrective actions and preventative measures.
In this case, the way it unfolds, the original drain pipe was there - cast iron pipes, but was six inches higher. My wife says she wants a 10" deep sink, and a garbage disposal. I said yes mamm. I did the measurements and there is no way the original drain stub out being 20" off the floor will accomodate a 10" sink and a garbage disposal. So I have to lower the drain by about 6 inches. This means to make a run across to expose the vent stack about 5 feet away, chip all around the pipe as it was encased in solid concrete, cut the pipe. Then I ripped out another run lower to run the new PVC pipes put in the WYEs and the cleanout.
The first and second run resulted in 3 rows of concrete blocks being busted partially. I took the extra time to chip out the half broken blocks and half dangled pieces to have a large clean rectangular area to patch.
If I was doing that, I would stop in at the garden dept. at HD and get some narrow concrete edgers :o) Hubby and I patched up a hole in the block wall at our condo where there had been an old, rusty fire-extinguisher cabinet. We used concrete pavers and latex stucco patching compound. Looks good :o)
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