Cinder block wall is pulling away
 

My neighbor and I have a problem. We have a common cinder block wall
between our yards. We also have a cinder block wall that runs along an
alley, perpendicular to the common wall. Both walls are about 5' high.
The alley wall is pulling away from the common wall. It has bowed out
by 2" at the top of the wall.

I beleive this is due to the Mexican Palm he planted back in the back
corner of his yard. He planted it 2' from each wall. When it was
small, no big deal. But now it is 20' tall with a 30" base and is less
than 6" from the wall. But it is not directly touching the back wall
so neither of us know for sure if the palm is the problem. He is
willing to have the palm removed.

Is there some way to push or pull the back wall up against the common
wall like it was when new? I was thinking a 2" wide by 3' long steel
C-channel as a brace on the ooutside back wall. Drill holes in it
every 8". Then drill deep holes in the cinder blocks and screw some
tapcon cement bolts in to see if we can pull the wall back so that it
once again is touching the common wall. But I have never tried this
before and wonder if the cinder blocks can take the stress. They may
be too weak and brittle.

Any other brilliant ideas?

Cinder block wall is pulling away
 

On Apr 12, 12:15*pm, Ike wrote:
My neighbor and I have a problem. We have a common cinder block wall
between our yards. We also have a cinder block wall that runs along an
alley, perpendicular to the common wall. Both walls are about 5' high.
The alley wall is pulling away from the common wall. It has bowed out
by 2" at the top of the wall.

I beleive this is due to the Mexican Palm he planted back in the back
corner of his yard. He planted it 2' from each wall. When it was
small, no big deal. But now it is 20' tall with a 30" base and is less
than 6" from the wall. But it is not directly touching the back wall
so neither of us know for sure if the palm is the problem. He is
willing to have the palm removed.

Is there some way to push or pull the back wall up against the common
wall like it was when new? I was thinking a 2" wide by 3' long steel
C-channel as a brace on the ooutside back wall. Drill holes in it
every 8". Then drill deep holes in the cinder blocks and screw some
tapcon cement bolts in to see if we can pull the wall back so that it
once again is touching the common wall. But I have never tried this
before and wonder if the cinder blocks can take the stress. They may
be too weak and brittle.

Any other brilliant *ideas?

Cut down he tree and wait a year or so for the roots to rot away. Then
deal with the wall if the soil subsidence has left a gap.

Joe

Cinder block wall is pulling away
 

On Apr 12, 12:20*pm, Joe wrote:
On Apr 12, 12:15*pm, Ike wrote:





My neighbor and I have a problem. We have a common cinder block wall
between our yards. We also have a cinder block wall that runs along an
alley, perpendicular to the common wall. Both walls are about 5' high.
The alley wall is pulling away from the common wall. It has bowed out
by 2" at the top of the wall.

I beleive this is due to the Mexican Palm he planted back in the back
corner of his yard. He planted it 2' from each wall. When it was
small, no big deal. But now it is 20' tall with a 30" base and is less
than 6" from the wall. But it is not directly touching the back wall
so neither of us know for sure if the palm is the problem. He is
willing to have the palm removed.

Is there some way to push or pull the back wall up against the common
wall like it was when new? I was thinking a 2" wide by 3' long steel
C-channel as a brace on the ooutside back wall. Drill holes in it
every 8". Then drill deep holes in the cinder blocks and screw some
tapcon cement bolts in to see if we can pull the wall back so that it
once again is touching the common wall. But I have never tried this
before and wonder if the cinder blocks can take the stress. They may
be too weak and brittle.

Any other brilliant *ideas?

Cut down he tree and wait a year or so for the roots to rot away. Then
deal with the wall if the soil subsidence has left a gap.

Joe- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Is the wall puling away at the bottom also, or is it tight at the
bottom and the wall is leaning away at the top?

Cinder block wall is pulling away
 

On Apr 12, 1:15*pm, Ike wrote:
Is there some way to push or pull the back wall up against the common
wall like it was when new? I was thinking a 2" wide by 3' long steel
C-channel as a brace on the ooutside back wall. Drill holes in it
every 8". Then drill deep holes in the cinder blocks and screw some
tapcon cement bolts in to see if we can pull the wall back so that it
once again is touching the common wall. But I have never tried this
before and wonder if the cinder blocks can take the stress. They may
be too weak and brittle.

Forget it. The wall will crumble.

Any other brilliant *ideas?

Unless it settles back on its own, it will have to be torn down and
rebuilt.

The problem is the footing under the wall is not deep enough. The tree
roots grew underneath and are now lifting the wall.

Cinder block wall is pulling away
 

On Tue, 12 Apr 2011 11:31:31 -0700 (PDT), "hr(bob) "
wrote:

On Apr 12, 12:20*pm, Joe wrote:
On Apr 12, 12:15*pm, Ike wrote:





My neighbor and I have a problem. We have a common cinder block wall
between our yards. We also have a cinder block wall that runs along an
alley, perpendicular to the common wall. Both walls are about 5' high.
The alley wall is pulling away from the common wall. It has bowed out
by 2" at the top of the wall.

I beleive this is due to the Mexican Palm he planted back in the back
corner of his yard. He planted it 2' from each wall. When it was
small, no big deal. But now it is 20' tall with a 30" base and is less
than 6" from the wall. But it is not directly touching the back wall
so neither of us know for sure if the palm is the problem. He is
willing to have the palm removed.

Is there some way to push or pull the back wall up against the common
wall like it was when new? I was thinking a 2" wide by 3' long steel
C-channel as a brace on the ooutside back wall. Drill holes in it
every 8". Then drill deep holes in the cinder blocks and screw some
tapcon cement bolts in to see if we can pull the wall back so that it
once again is touching the common wall. But I have never tried this
before and wonder if the cinder blocks can take the stress. They may
be too weak and brittle.

Any other brilliant *ideas?

Cut down he tree and wait a year or so for the roots to rot away. Then
deal with the wall if the soil subsidence has left a gap.

Joe- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Is the wall puling away at the bottom also, or is it tight at the
bottom and the wall is leaning away at the top?

It is tight at the bottom, pulled away at the top. Sort of like
something is tipping it over. None of the other neighbors walls are
having this problem as far as I can determine. The common wall on the
opposite side of my backyard adjacent with my other neighbor is fine.
There are not any palms or trees in that location.

Cinder block wall is pulling away
 

On Tue, 12 Apr 2011 10:20:28 -0700 (PDT), Joe wrote:

On Apr 12, 12:15*pm, Ike wrote:
My neighbor and I have a problem. We have a common cinder block wall
between our yards. We also have a cinder block wall that runs along an
alley, perpendicular to the common wall. Both walls are about 5' high.
The alley wall is pulling away from the common wall. It has bowed out
by 2" at the top of the wall.

I beleive this is due to the Mexican Palm he planted back in the back
corner of his yard. He planted it 2' from each wall. When it was
small, no big deal. But now it is 20' tall with a 30" base and is less
than 6" from the wall. But it is not directly touching the back wall
so neither of us know for sure if the palm is the problem. He is
willing to have the palm removed.

Is there some way to push or pull the back wall up against the common
wall like it was when new? I was thinking a 2" wide by 3' long steel
C-channel as a brace on the ooutside back wall. Drill holes in it
every 8". Then drill deep holes in the cinder blocks and screw some
tapcon cement bolts in to see if we can pull the wall back so that it
once again is touching the common wall. But I have never tried this
before and wonder if the cinder blocks can take the stress. They may
be too weak and brittle.

Any other brilliant *ideas?

Cut down he tree and wait a year or so for the roots to rot away. Then
deal with the wall if the soil subsidence has left a gap.

I live in the desert. It taks a long time for a dead palm to rot away.

Cinder block wall is pulling away
 

Ike wrote:
On Tue, 12 Apr 2011 11:31:31 -0700 (PDT), "hr(bob) "
wrote:

On Apr 12, 12:20 pm, Joe wrote:
On Apr 12, 12:15 pm, Ike wrote:





My neighbor and I have a problem. We have a common cinder block
wall between our yards. We also have a cinder block wall that runs
along an alley, perpendicular to the common wall. Both walls are
about 5' high. The alley wall is pulling away from the common
wall. It has bowed out by 2" at the top of the wall.

I beleive this is due to the Mexican Palm he planted back in the
back corner of his yard. He planted it 2' from each wall. When it
was small, no big deal. But now it is 20' tall with a 30" base and
is less than 6" from the wall. But it is not directly touching the
back wall so neither of us know for sure if the palm is the
problem. He is willing to have the palm removed.

Is there some way to push or pull the back wall up against the
common wall like it was when new? I was thinking a 2" wide by 3'
long steel C-channel as a brace on the ooutside back wall. Drill
holes in it every 8". Then drill deep holes in the cinder blocks
and screw some tapcon cement bolts in to see if we can pull the
wall back so that it once again is touching the common wall. But I
have never tried this before and wonder if the cinder blocks can
take the stress. They may be too weak and brittle.

Any other brilliant ideas?

Cut down he tree and wait a year or so for the roots to rot away.
Then deal with the wall if the soil subsidence has left a gap.

Joe- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Is the wall puling away at the bottom also, or is it tight at the
bottom and the wall is leaning away at the top?

It is tight at the bottom, pulled away at the top. Sort of like
something is tipping it over. None of the other neighbors walls are
having this problem as far as I can determine. The common wall on the
opposite side of my backyard adjacent with my other neighbor is fine.
There are not any palms or trees in that location.

it's pushing against one side of the footing. propping it up only delays the
fall over date. you won't be able to push it back vertical.

you need to take out the tree, take out the roots, straighten out the wall,
fill it back in, and hope that it doesn't retip because of settling under
the footing.

the proper way to do this is to remove the wall, take out the tree, take out
the roots, build a correct footing, and rebuild the wall.

or push it vertical, sell the house, and hope that it's not a windy day when
the home inspector comes over.

Cinder block wall is pulling away
 

On Apr 12, 2:25*pm, "chaniarts" wrote:
Ike wrote:
On Tue, 12 Apr 2011 11:31:31 -0700 (PDT), "hr(bob) "
wrote:

On Apr 12, 12:20 pm, Joe wrote:
On Apr 12, 12:15 pm, Ike wrote:

My neighbor and I have a problem. We have a common cinder block
wall between our yards. We also have a cinder block wall that runs
along an alley, perpendicular to the common wall. Both walls are
about 5' high. The alley wall is pulling away from the common
wall. It has bowed out by 2" at the top of the wall.

I beleive this is due to the Mexican Palm he planted back in the
back corner of his yard. He planted it 2' from each wall. When it
was small, no big deal. But now it is 20' tall with a 30" base and
is less than 6" from the wall. But it is not directly touching the
back wall so neither of us know for sure if the palm is the
problem. He is willing to have the palm removed.

Is there some way to push or pull the back wall up against the
common wall like it was when new? I was thinking a 2" wide by 3'
long steel C-channel as a brace on the ooutside back wall. Drill
holes in it every 8". Then drill deep holes in the cinder blocks
and screw some tapcon cement bolts in to see if we can pull the
wall back so that it once again is touching the common wall. But I
have never tried this before and wonder if the cinder blocks can
take the stress. They may be too weak and brittle.

Any other brilliant ideas?

Cut down he tree and wait a year or so for the roots to rot away.
Then deal with the wall if the soil subsidence has left a gap.

Joe- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Is the wall puling away at the bottom also, or is it tight at the
bottom and the wall is leaning away at the top?

It is tight at the bottom, pulled away at the top. Sort of like
something is tipping it over. None of the other neighbors walls are
having this problem as far as I can determine. The common wall on the
opposite side of my backyard adjacent with my other neighbor is fine.
There are not any palms or trees in that location.

it's pushing against one side of the footing. propping it up only delays the
fall over date. you won't be able to push it back vertical.

you need to take out the tree, take out the roots, straighten out the wall,
fill it back in, and hope that it doesn't retip because of settling under
the footing.

the proper way to do this is to remove the wall, take out the tree, take out
the roots, build a correct footing, and rebuild the wall.

or push it vertical, sell the house, and hope that it's not a windy day when
the home inspector comes over.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

If you could get under the tilting wall and pour some sort of a
corrected footing, you might postpone things for a few years

Cinder block wall is pulling away
 

Ike wrote:
My neighbor and I have a problem. We have a common cinder block wall
between our yards. We also have a cinder block wall that runs along an
alley, perpendicular to the common wall. Both walls are about 5' high.
The alley wall is pulling away from the common wall. It has bowed out
by 2" at the top of the wall.

I beleive this is due to the Mexican Palm he planted back in the back
corner of his yard. He planted it 2' from each wall. When it was
small, no big deal. But now it is 20' tall with a 30" base and is less
than 6" from the wall. But it is not directly touching the back wall
so neither of us know for sure if the palm is the problem. He is
willing to have the palm removed.

Is there some way to push or pull the back wall up against the common
wall like it was when new? I was thinking a 2" wide by 3' long steel
C-channel as a brace on the ooutside back wall. Drill holes in it
every 8". Then drill deep holes in the cinder blocks and screw some
tapcon cement bolts in to see if we can pull the wall back so that it
once again is touching the common wall. But I have never tried this
before and wonder if the cinder blocks can take the stress. They may
be too weak and brittle.

Any other brilliant ideas?

In a fight 'twixt concrete and a tree, the tree will always win.

Remember how the Ents tore down the wall at Isengard? They simply inserted
their roots into minuscule cracks and grew them. The giant stone wall fell
so fast not even a black wizard could stop it!

You MIGHT be able to salvage things by having a ditch-witch sever the roots
between the tree and the wall. Dig a trench 6" wide and three/four feet
deep.

Fill the trench with concrete.

Cinder block wall is pulling away
 

On Apr 12, 8:22*pm, Oren wrote:
On Tue, 12 Apr 2011 21:54:13 -0400, "Ed Pawlowski"

wrote:
I'd hire those guys that fixed the tower in Pisa. *They have the right
experience.

Right. The folks fenced the place off. Nobody can get hurt.

WooHoo, that takes me back! I actually walked around the top of the
tower (clinging to the wall all the way). Believe me, that is one
strange sensation, walking on a surface that is not level, but slanted
DOWN! That was long ago before they closed it off.

HB

Cinder block wall is pulling away
 

"Ed Pawlowski" wrote in
:

I'd hire those guys that fixed the tower in Pisa. They have the right
experience.


When I was there last summer, the thing still leaned quite a bit. Good
thing, as it is a real tourist attraction. Oh, I get it, the leaning isn't
getting any worse anymore ...

--
Best regards
Han
email address is invalid

Cinder block wall is pulling away
 

Han wrote in
:

"Ed Pawlowski" wrote in
:

I'd hire those guys that fixed the tower in Pisa. They have the
right experience.


When I was there last summer, the thing still leaned quite a bit.
Good thing, as it is a real tourist attraction. Oh, I get it, the
leaning isn't getting any worse anymore ...

It was open for climbing to the top, which is indeed weird as the center of
the spiral around isn't vertical - at times you go down on the way up and
vice versa. Good view from the top.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10089776@N04
(new to flickr)
--
Best regards
Han
email address is invalid

Cinder block wall is pulling away
 

On Tue, 12 Apr 2011 12:25:27 -0700, "chaniarts"
wrote:

Ike wrote:
On Tue, 12 Apr 2011 11:31:31 -0700 (PDT), "hr(bob) "
wrote:

On Apr 12, 12:20 pm, Joe wrote:
On Apr 12, 12:15 pm, Ike wrote:





My neighbor and I have a problem. We have a common cinder block
wall between our yards. We also have a cinder block wall that runs
along an alley, perpendicular to the common wall. Both walls are
about 5' high. The alley wall is pulling away from the common
wall. It has bowed out by 2" at the top of the wall.

I beleive this is due to the Mexican Palm he planted back in the
back corner of his yard. He planted it 2' from each wall. When it
was small, no big deal. But now it is 20' tall with a 30" base and
is less than 6" from the wall. But it is not directly touching the
back wall so neither of us know for sure if the palm is the
problem. He is willing to have the palm removed.

Is there some way to push or pull the back wall up against the
common wall like it was when new? I was thinking a 2" wide by 3'
long steel C-channel as a brace on the ooutside back wall. Drill
holes in it every 8". Then drill deep holes in the cinder blocks
and screw some tapcon cement bolts in to see if we can pull the
wall back so that it once again is touching the common wall. But I
have never tried this before and wonder if the cinder blocks can
take the stress. They may be too weak and brittle.

Any other brilliant ideas?

Cut down he tree and wait a year or so for the roots to rot away.
Then deal with the wall if the soil subsidence has left a gap.

Joe- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Is the wall puling away at the bottom also, or is it tight at the
bottom and the wall is leaning away at the top?

It is tight at the bottom, pulled away at the top. Sort of like
something is tipping it over. None of the other neighbors walls are
having this problem as far as I can determine. The common wall on the
opposite side of my backyard adjacent with my other neighbor is fine.
There are not any palms or trees in that location.

it's pushing against one side of the footing. propping it up only delays the
fall over date. you won't be able to push it back vertical.

you need to take out the tree, take out the roots, straighten out the wall,
fill it back in, and hope that it doesn't retip because of settling under
the footing.

the proper way to do this is to remove the wall, take out the tree, take out
the roots, build a correct footing, and rebuild the wall.

or push it vertical, sell the house, and hope that it's not a windy day when
the home inspector comes over.

Your post makes perfect sense. I did not consider how the root ball
had grown causing it to tip the wall. You nailed it. I have shared
your post with my neighbor. Thank you!