I have a 4 foot poured concrete retaining wall in front of my house.?
Question:so this wall began to crumble when i started removing huge overgrown bushes in front of the wall and the ones in my lawn at the top of the wall. I assume the roots did the job. So now the wall crumbles more each time it rains and i have a pile of concrete crumbles, rocks and dirt below each breech in the wall. I want to use plywood propped up against the wall and pour in new concrete to fill in the breeches. Will this work?
Answers:
Simply clean everything out from in front of the wall from the last rain. Build a new form (wall) about 16"-24" out from the wall with ends. Be certain you brace it up so when the concrete is poured in you won't get what we call a "blow out". Have the concrete supplier add fiber to the concrete mix and you wont have to worry about reinforcement rods. Smooth out your top with a board or float. let it set for 24-36 hours then remove your form.
If you have small air pockets in the sides after you remove form, you can buy a small bag of premixed concrete to smooth it out.
For best results, remove the old wall and have a footer poured and go from there.
Not really. The new pour would not bond to the old and you'd end up with a worse problem - you'd have slabs of the new pour cracking off. You can get some concrete patch to fix the crumbling bits.
What you are asking will only act as a temperary fix. The retaining wall sounds like it has failed. The wall will have to be removed and replaced with a new retaining wall. There are many options; wood, stone, blocks, concrete, etc. Contact a reputable landscape contractor for ideas and to evaluate your current situation. These first visits and estimates are usually free. Good luck.
You still have the structural integrity of the wall to concider. In a southern climate that may not get as much rain or frost in winter, you may be able to make a repair. You need to concider, this wall is weathering and breaking down. This will spread to where you will have to make repairs on a regular basis. However, if you are in a northern climate where the ground freezes throughout the winter, your suggestion will likely not last more than one winter. I have dealt with these walls and found, if I take the originall wall out and properly install a replacement retaining wall against the earth bank, this will take care of the problem. You must do your research on proper construction or the work you put into the project may not last.
You would need to fasted some re-bar by drilling into the existing concrete.this will hold the two together.The existing wall will need to be cleaned and loose pieces removed to allow for a good bond
Id build a new wall with breeze blocks (just large blocks of preformed concrete) as its a retaining wall leave a few small gaps in it for drainage leave the old wall in place & when the wall has set fill in with rubble.
You can render the blocks later & paint any colour .or color as I believe you say :-)
Pouring new sections of wall will not stop the old concrete from crumbling. Remove the old and pour new. Do the job right and do it once.
face it. it has served its purpose. take it down, say a few words over it and build a new one. really.
If you are going to use concrete, it must be anchored into what ever you are adding it to. I would not recommend using the cinder blocks as you said. It would not give the concrete enough of an anchor to hold onto.
you can fix this easy! you can use a block bond with fiberglass reinforcement or a sand mix mortar. They are both applied the same.The block-bond might be the better bet.You apply like cake frosting about 3/4 of a inch thick with trawl. (read direction on bag this will work well for you)
More Related Questions & Answers...