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Replies
How long is the wall??
Has it got an expansion joint in it?
Hi,
I think the wall is probably about 30-35 feet long. Not sure about an expansion joint. The crack in picture 2 is about half way along the front. The other one is at the side of the wall as it heads into the drive on a shorter section of about 5 feet.
The wall appears to be a retaining wall 3ft+ in height, holding back a good amount of weight. I notice that one of the cracks is located at a step, a notorious weak point if the footing wasnt installed correctly.
If the hedge was causing the damage to a wall such as this, I would expect to see the wall being pushed outward and the cracks being slightly out of line. I think this could be more of an engineering issue.
How about filling the gap with a flexible sealant and then paint the wall with a flexible masonry paint such as https://www.toolstation.com/shop/Painting+%26+Decorating/d150/Mason...; Not ideal but with the hedge so close to the wall, can't really see how you can create any sort of gap between the brickwork and the roots/soil.
Looking at the bottom of the crack, it is very narrow, and wider at the top, so one or both sides of the crack and being forced upwards - or both sides are dropping down and the crack line cannot move with it.
Could be due to the change in water retention in the soil due to the hedge, or footing issues. I think it needs a smart builder to take a look.
Thanks for the advice folks. I think the 'smart builder' route is probably best. I'm completely out of my knowledge done with this. Thanks all!
this is movement in the footing and if no exspansion joint is present then the wall just made one it's self,
you will most likley find the footing in this area was stepped and porobably boarded when laying the footing with the intension of adding an exspansion joint but the brick layer has missed it.
this will reqire a builder in and a fair bit of labour time to rectify this and reclaiming the materials to rebuild the section.
as already said if this was the hedge the wall will be pushed / bellying out but would need to be 1 strong hedge to split a wall in half like that
Thanks Neil. Very helpful. Will talk to the customer, pass on the wise advice from this forum and leave it up to him!