[tjansen]

Hi everyone,

I have a few brick repair jobs that I want to start planning for to take care of in the spring. I have no experience with brick and masonry projects but after the purchase of our fixer upper I've been taking my time to learn as much as I can (electrical, drywall, carpentry, etc..) So I'm coming here to hopefully get a better insight into what these repair jobs will need so I can decide if I should DIY or hire some one (preferably I'd like to do it myself)

Here's some images and some more info on each of the different problems:

1) I have a couple sections of wall where the capstones have come loose. I'm thinking the fix is to remove old mortar and re-do..

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1b) This cap stone was pushed off by some roots that grew from underneath. I've started to remove the roots, need to remove more than fix like above?




Here is the side where you can see how far the roots pushed it:



2) These sections of wall I think would need to be tuck-pointed to fix the mortar, any other concerns or things I should consider when fixing?

This one looks like previous home owner tried to fix already:










3) Here's the one I'm not too sure on, more roots started pushing this wall forward. I plan to remove the concrete pad that was poured behind this wall to make a planter box out of it, so will that give me some room (if at all possible) to push the wall back? This push off happens for about half the length of the wall, the other side is intact still.



Thanks for any help! And let me know if you need more info.

 

[joecaption]

You have a bunch of issues you did not even mention going on.
The wall was built wrong in the first place.
The outside corners where not woven so they were locked together.
There's no drain behind the wall.
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q...7D91A677C801CA420CC469F086566397E29E&first=79

When bulding a wall like that your suppost to stark in the outside corner and work your way out from there.

 

[tjansen]

Thanks Joe! That's why I'm here.

I'm finding two scenarios with work done on this house, the original construction was done properly and may have only minor issues after 20 years. The second is construction done by previous home owner(s) that's not done properly.

With the wall in picture 3, is it conceivable that some one could properly re-do the corner to tie the two sides together?

And when I remove the concrete on top of that wall I'll dig down to add a drain.

Here's another question, with the other walls (these pictures represent 4 different walls) it may be quite difficult to dig behind and add drains, is it a good or bad idea to drill holes in the bottom courses of wall to add relief for hydrostatic pressure?

Thanks

 

[Tscarborough]

Tear it down and replace with Segmented Retaining Wall units. CMU is designed for freestanding walls, not retaining walls.