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anothermoneypit

torquing wall anchors

anothermoneypit
16 years ago

I'm right and my husband is wrong. But I could be mistaken about that, so I would much appreciate opinions, suggestions, and even "Lady, you're crazy" comments.

Background: A 1970 ranch with full basement. Many years (probably decades) ago, one of the basement walls started bowing in. On the floor above the bowed area you can tell where the floor kind of drops down a little bit starting from the center support of the house towards the bowed wall. Not a big deal, but it's there. The original owners installed six vertical steel beams over a 47-foot wall to stabilize it. The beams are anchored in the concrete foundation and are bolted to the joists above. About two years ago, the second owners made some improvements to the house and had eight Grip-Tite earth anchors installed to help stabilize the walls better and maybe pull the wall back into place a little.

We bought the house about eight months ago and shortly thereafter cut down the huge willow oak that stood not ten feet from the bowed section of the basement wall. This summer, when the soil is at its driest, we're having the earth anchors torqued to see if we can get the wall to move a little more.

So here's my concern: It seems to me that unless we remove the bolts that tie the the vertical steel beams to the joists, it won't do any good to torque the earth anchors. Because the original vertical beams were installed after the wall bowed and after the floor settled upstairs, the beams are going to hold the floor exactly where it is now and not allow the wall to be pulled back out (and therefore up) when we torque the earth anchors. The vertical beams will be working against the torquing of the earth anchors. Make sense?

My husband got a panicked look on his face when I made the suggestion. I think he thinks our basement wall might collapse. I say hogwash! The vertical beams were just the first attempt to stabilize the wall--the earth anchors are doing the job now.Two of the vertical steel beams aren't even touching the basement wall since the earth anchors were installed. I told him nothing bad is going to happen if we remove the bolts just long enough to torque the darn earth anchors.

Am I wrong? Is catastrophe just waiting for me to loosen those bolts?

Thanks,

Carol

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