Crack problem

[tabbypurr]

Normally I'd gently angle ground round a brick to remove it, how can I get the job done in this case? The downpipe is cast iron and can't be left disconected.

NT

[michael adams]

Didn't look very far, did you ?

michael adams

...

[Cursitor Doom]

Personally I'd get rid of that ugly old down pipe and replace it with something modern; looks like it's caused that crack in the first place.

[Chris Hogg]

You might ask why the crack happened in the first place. Is the drain at the bottom of that down-pipe leaking and undermining the foundations, causing them to settle? Worth investigating, I should think.

[John Rumm]

A SDS brick removing chisel will ne able to reach into most of the mortar runs... The perps look like they are already cracked where they are obscured by the pipe, so those ought not be a problem:

[Rob Morley]

I'd have thought Gorilla Glue was the thing to use there. :-)

[Fredxx]

An answer I would expect from a Remoaner.

[Fredxx]

I'd wait until you can remove the pipe and replace/return it.

An SDS chisel can remove the mortar and the bricks if replacing them.

[ARW]

Will swapping the bricks solve the problem?

[tabbypurr]

the only answer that's truly stupid. Thanks.

[tabbypurr]

that would be one heck of a long wait.

yes - this is surely the right answer. cheers

NT

[Mark]

Subsidence you are wasting your time unless that has been fixed

-

[harry]

You have a serious problem there. What you need is "stitching bars" You chisel out the pointing and glue/cement the stitching bars in across the crack. You can get behind the pipe with a seaming chisel no problem. You can get hand chisels or SDS chisels.

[Cursitor Doom]

Only to be expected from that particular source.

[T i m]

Or something like that (settlement, heave etc).

I have worse where the new extension (with a 1+m deep footing) joins the 1890's cottage (with an 18" deep footing) and it opens and closes with the tide. ;-)

Therefore, if I 'fixed' (filled?) it when it was closed it would just open up again and if I fixed it when it was open it wouldn't close and probably cause other issues elsewhere?

Or do I need to open it up along the whole crack when it's as closed as it goes and fill it with a flexible sealant?

Cheers, T i m

[Rob Morley]

A plugging chisel is the traditional way to take out mortar, an appropriate steel in an SDS drill will do it a lot quicker. I wonder if the cause of the crack is rust scale on the spike holding the drainpipe, or something more sinister down below. I have a brick that's been pushed right out of a wall by a rusty spike, but it's on an end so didn't propagate through adjoining bricks.

[David]

I assume as the photograph doesn't show above the iron bolt that the crack is only below the bolt?

If so, have you considered drilling out the bolt before it does even more damage, on the assumption that it is rusting and forcing the crack open?

Who knows, the crack might even start to close!

Others have covered the mortar issues. :-)

Cheers

Dave R

[Sam]

I'd do a temporary plastic downpipe off to the side while the wall is being fixed.

[John Rumm]

It was not totally clear from the question if it was a cracked pipe you wanted to attend to, or cracked bricks.

[John Rumm]

Fill it with something (very) flexible when at it widest. It will then compress with the seasonal change rather than expand and pull away from the edge of the crack.