You might want to consider poking a hole in the top block every four feet and shoving a piece of rebar down to the bottom and then filling the core solid with mortar. We used to do that to stiffen walls that had the same issues as yours. backfill with gravel and a drainpipe around the garage to keep the weight off the walls.
Mike Hawkins

 

Good idea. I will have blocks to replace near the top at least every 4 feet so I was planning to fill both hollows with ready mix before replacing the block. If I have to I will cut the side out of a block or two near the top and fill the hollows with cement. There is a drain pipe around the bottom but it is crushed. The drain pipe was covered in gravel but the gravel ended a few inches above the drain pipe. Looks like the drain pipe is really thin walled ABS and I don't see any perforations in the pipe.

 

Go to the top right of your post and select the three vertical dots to "Edit". Then, you can change things around, adjust photos, etc. Select "save" and you're done.

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www.diychatroom.com

 

Hmm... Looks like you're down to the footings - so you could set an outside footing then use foundation forms set up in the trench and pour new "basement" walls. Then remove the forms and bolt the cinder block wall to the new outside wall. And, following that, backfill the new wall with good drainage around the building. You could cap the gap between the new and side of the garage with a sidewalk, or gravel and more drainage.

That solves a couple of issues; retain the slope, drain the slope away from the mildews concrete blocks and pull the blocks back into position.

 

If you change your mind and decide to backfill against the wall, you can brace the wall with some stout angles or channels, anchored into the floor and secured to the floor joists above.

 

I will get a couple pics,,, have done this before and you are right about doing it yourself.

 

Here is mobil home beam, lagged to the floor and joint. Wood wedges driving in slowly over time and shoved it back up some especially as seasons change.

 

Gorilla Wall Braces® | DIY Basement Wall Repair

 

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Here is mobil home beam, lagged to the floor and joint. Wood wedges driving in slowly over time and shoved it back up some especially as seasons change. View attachment 795945 View attachment 795947 View attachment 795951

 

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Very good suggestions on how to do it right but I'm going for the cheaper repair. I believe the footer and slab are monolithic because the block wall is setting on the slab or the bottom course would not have slide in (and back out) so easily. The floor is not good so I will pour a new slab and that should prevent the bottom from pushing in again. In the photo you can see the contour of the bank in front of my house. I plan to continue that around the garage and only backfill about 3 blocks with mostly gravel. I have the water coming down the mountain channeled into a French drain. You can see the 4" flexible hose going to the sewer. The 4" hose is temporary, I'll bury 4" pvc eventually. Before I excavated the back wall water would pour in near the bottom when it rained and just excavating seems to have stopped that. I will make a small berm around the edge of the bank also. Has anyone had experience replacing blocks in the middle of an existing wall? I can't find anything about it on the internet.

 

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So one time we were fixing this seawall. It had come loose and fell out. We had a big deadhead scheme to anchor it to and had dug it out behind and hooked some cumalongs up to pull it. In the night a storm come up and we thought, oh sheet and we went out n the morning and waves had stood it right back up,,, ha, just a story.

 

Racin knows masonry better than I.

But I want to add that if you need to replace adjoining blocks, it would be good to add a lintel above the adjoining ones to hold the upper blocks up while fixing the hole.

You can leave the lintel plate if you want, it will help a little in strengthening the wall.

And pilaster Buttresses inside will keep it from coming back in, if the mountain slides in a deluge.

ED

 

I apologize if this is above, but my browser is skipping replies.

Something that will very much help stabilize the walls is parging cement with fibers. Akona Crack Resistant Surface Bonding Cement has lots of long, glass fibers and is even allowed to hold together dry-stack (no mortar) retaining walls. I used it on a well loaded wall & life is good.

Against the wall outside, before back-fill, perhaps a wick drain sheet will be good. One brand name is Dimple Board and one is by American Wick Drain. They stop water from hitting the wall and have channels to direct water to the footer drain, if present.

You're doing a great job!
Paul

 

I apologize if this is above, but my browser is skipping replies.

Something that will very much help stabilize the walls is parging cement with fibers. Akona Crack Resistant Surface Bonding Cement has lots of long, glass fibers and is even allowed to hold together dry-stack (no mortar) retaining walls. I used it on a well loaded wall & life is good.

Against the wall outside, before back-fill, perhaps a wick drain sheet will be good. One brand name is Dimple Board and one is by American Wick Drain. They stop water from hitting the wall and have channels to direct water to the footer drain, if present.

You're doing a great job!
Paul

Good idea, thanks. I would have to parge the interior walls but that is probably were it would be more effective. The outside walls have been coated with something below ground level.

I have stone retaining walls on either side of my driveway. One wall has some kind of board against the back side and that wall has no cracks. The other side is cracked and I don't see the board behind that one. You can see the edge of the foam board where the dirt has eroded. I don't know if that is special for the purpose or just insulating foam board. In either case seems to be working.

 

I see how the wick drains work but may be hard to find in my area. I saw a demo of the carbon fiber strips. I wonder if they are strong enough to stop Sims Mountain? First I'm going to fix the walls then figure out an affordable way to keep them fixed. I bought a 3/8" wide diamond wheel for my grinder to speed up the removal of cracked mortar. Two mortar seams were pointed after the wall began pushing in so I have to clean them out to get the last little kink out of the wall. I ordered a respirator at the same time but the respirator is lost in the mail so that is my hold up. Thanks for the helpful advice.

 

If there's one near you, BanaJovy, Orange Depot sells Alino brand Dampro 2 sided wick drains. They'll also ship it to your home. I've seen Dimple Board brand at a Canadian Tire store and on line at Tractor Supply.

These products are cheaper at a masonry supplier if one is nearby. American Wick Drain sells direct if your order meets their minimum..

Should your diamond wheel wear out, Temu has them for about $6.00. I have one with which I've cut hundreds of feet of Type S mortar. For the tight spots, they have diamond carbide oscillating tool blades for $1.52. Again, mine have lasted for miles of mortar, but they cut Type N much faster than S. Downside? Wait time for delivery is usually 8 - 10 days.

 

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I'm not sure how much of the block you're removing, if you remove a whole course, you might consider a course of bond beam block. It's a hollow ended block that creates a channel after installing them. The channel is filled with concrete and rebar creating a solid beam. I usually install these in block basements at the height, or slightly below the height of the outside grade. They can double the strength of a wall. They work really well when you grout the cores of the block, it ties it all together.

You can make your own bond beam block by cutting out the 3 webs connecting the front and back of the block.

With a well placed bond beam course, and pilasters on the inside, that wall will never go anywhere.

All of this doesn't cost much, just a lot of labor.

Have you considered replacing that back wall? Sometimes replacing doesn't take any more time than repairing. That way you control how strong the wall is.

I'm only replacing 4 or 5 blocks on the back wall. Only the broken ones. I'm familiar with beam construction. Our house in the Philippines is solid masonry construction. If I had the Filipino crew here that built our house the garage would be knocked out in a couple days. There are large sections of the garage walls that have no cracked mortar joints so I'm going to try the cheapest way. Plus, I'm not backfilling at this time.

Here are a couple photos of our house construction in the Philippines. It is supported by 12 columns sitting on 1 meter square cages, all excavation by hand. They left dowels sticking out of the column forms for the tie beams. The second floor is a 10 cm suspended slab. Every 5th hole in the blocks have a 12 mm steel bar that goes all the way up and is welded to the steel trusses. The blocks are filled with cement. Lots of typhoons in the Philippines.

Column rebar assembly. The hole is dug until the foreman approves compaction.

Lower tie beams.

Finished product.

This 1/2 acre property had to have the grade raised about 4 feet. That required over 100 dump trucks of fill dirt. It was dumped at the edge of the road and every bit was shoveled into cement sacks and carried in by hand. Thanks

 

Careful when grinding with the Diamond wheel.

Any deep grind and you get the wheel twerked just a bit, and you get broken wrists.

Be extra cautious.

ED

 

That is some heavy duty construction, lots of rebar. The finished product looks great, I love the 2nd story outdoor areas, and the huge soffit, very nice place. It's amazing what motivated workers can do.

 

I would definitely backfill with 1 1/2 inch to 2 inch gravel with French drain. I would water proof the below grade wall and they make a thick dimpled black plastic membrane that is cheap and very effective. I build my entire house into a hill like your garbage. My build is on this site in project showcase section under “partial earth sheltered home”. I too spent several years in Philippines and really liked it (Retired Navy Captain).

 

A column inside the wall would help, poured solid of course, with rebar. Even if it only goes half to two-thirds of the way up it would help. I'd use two spaced across the back. Instead of jack hammering part of the floor/foundation out just drill into it with a hammer drill and drive in a couple pieces of rebar with about a foot above the floor. Put blocks down with rebar in the cores, then pour it solid. More rebar can be put in as you go up, the ones through the floor will keep the floor from moving in.

 

I like the column idea, especially the rebar doweled to the floor. There is a column there now but it is just stacked blocks setting on the floor and was pushed out of the way when the wall moved. I don't know what's holding up that end of the wood beam, it wasn't the column.

If I could get the blocks apart I could reuse them and that would solve the problem of disposing of the old column. I started cutting out the mortar seam with a 3/8" diamond wheel but my cheap grinder couldn't take it. I resorted to my air hammer to finish. You can see the two seams I'm working on. Someone pointed them after the wall was pushed in so removed the mortar and pushed the wall back where it belongs.

 

My problem with gravel is how will it be delivered? I have some already that I was going to use installing a new drain pipe but I have no vehicle access to the property.

 

A hand truck.

AKA wheelbarrow.

Or bucket by bucket.

Whatever; it will be labor intensive.

Do you have any nearby relatives that might help?

ED

 

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If you can, build your columns (pilasters) 2 block wide and 2 block deep, 32" square, and rotate each course, do not stack the block. If it's built on top of the floor, it's just dead weight, but will help a lot. If the floor was cut out and a footer poured with rebar coming up through it, it would be quite a bit stronger. But that is much more involved.

No need to cut the floor out. Just drill in and put rebar sticking up through the holes, put block over the rebar, pour block cavity. Will be about the same strength as cutting out the floor. Stacking the block as you suggest uses more block, but is definitely stronger. Just need to prevent the block from being pushed in along the floor. Even a wood column/beam anchored to the floor would help tremendously.

 

I agree with Domo above. Just pour a new concrete 6-8 inch thick wall outside of the existing block. Tie it to the footing with rebar and to the end walls. If you don't have a wide enough footing, pour a new one. Grout the end walls where it connects to your new wall. Then build a wood load bearing wall where the block is now supporting the structure. Then tear out most all the block. This will be the best permanent repair and easier than messing with trying to straighten the block.

 

That would be a good fix but I'm not sure it is easier than straightening the walls. I have the left side of the back wall pushed back where it belongs and this morning I air chiseled out the mortar in the seam in the right side of the wall that was pointed after the wall was pushed in. It took me about an hour to chisel out the mortar and my backhoe pushed the wall back where it belongs in 3 pushes. My straight edge showed a peak all along that seam, but now it is flat. I'm ready to start mixing cement and filling the blocks then a bit of tuck pointing and I'm moving on to a side wall. I did the hardest wall first so the side walls should be a bit easier. I have less blocks to replace than I originally figured. The one block in the wall that is broken in half near the top is an ideal spot for a stove pipe so I will trim the ragged edge of the block leaving the half where it is and mortar in a 6" stove pipe for a wood stove in the opening. Thanks