Garmaine Staff asked 2 years ago
I had to digout my foundation last summer because of water issues in the basement. No surprise that the drain pipes were completely clogged with a thick mat of tiny roots and mud. I was however very surprised when we started digging and found this.
The cinder block foundation had disintegrated almost entirely. Only the webbing and ends were intact. It is quite fortunate that we discovered this when we did, before that side of my garage completely gave way.
There were NO signs of termites, ants or any other pests. There were no signs of any tree or plant roots any larger than approx 1/16" or less. (the roots you see are from a tree about 15 ft from the wall which was dozed down and was NOT in the ditch or near the wall).
To fix, we formed a new concrete wall 6-8" thick in front of this deteriorating wall. Then we poured and vibrated 6000psi concrete into the deterioration and made a 6-8" thick concrete wall, re-enforced with 5/8" rebar pins going into the existing wall. I should add that this was also excavated about 10-12 yrs after original construction and no deterioration was noted at that time. It has been about 20 yrs since that excavation.
My questions are:
1) anyone ever seen cinder block disintegrate like this before?
2) cause(s)?
3) is my remedy sufficient?
The home is in N Alabama– a very humid and wet climate.