Bowing Block Foundation Wall

Thursday, May 11th, 2017 by Niles Erickson

Challenge

The foundation under this 30 year old home was comprised of cinder blocks. Expanding soils were putting extreme pressure on one of the walls, gradually bowing it in over time. At the bottom of the wall on the interior, the bowing caused the majority of the cinder block wall to separate from the bottom line of blocks by up to 3-4 inches in parts. Needless to say, the home was at growing risk of it's foundation completely failing by bowing in and kicking out from under the home entirely. The homeowner was looking for an affordable solution to their foundation issue, and was referred to Erickson Foundation Supportworks by some friends who had previously received similar services from the same company.

Solution

Upon inspection, Erickson Foundation Supportworks proposed PowerBraces to stabilize the bowing block foundation wall. GeoLock anchors were not a viable solution since the exterior of the wall was a hill sloping downwards. The left side of the wall would have had no soils in which the GeoLock anchors could have been placed. So in this case, PowerBraces were the ideal solution. The wall stretched 16' across, and 4 PowerBraces were spaced out in this distance, anchored to both the concrete floor and to the reinforced joists above. The soils along the exterior of the foundation wall were also excavated in order to relieve the pressure pushing against the wall. This would allow the PowerBraces to effectively straighten the wall as much as possible. The PowerBraces were very effective, completely stabilizing the cinder block wall and restoring the wall to a level position. Afterwards, the soil on the outside was replaced against the foundation wall and compacted. The homeowner now has a stabilized foundation with a 25 year warranty on the PowerBraces.