Single Solid Concrete Block Wall After Being Pulled Over/Out of Plumb

newmember2

How long should a solid concrete block wall run before it needs a pillar or some sort of buttressing? I have a 30+ foot long solid block wall running along the side of the house dividing with the neighbour's and on it at the front of the side passage an extremely heavy post and gate has been tied to the wall. The weight of the gate is after pulling the wall over to the extent that the gate no longer closes and it fouls against the house. The wall seems to be out of plumb possibly one and a half inches from bottom to top around the gate post area. I was thinking jacking the gate where it has dropped but I can see the same situation arising again unless I do something with the wall or else I get a lighter gate?

Jim_Hodge

You don't say how high the wall is but this has some guidelines.

Garden.ie

newmember2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120762959#Comment_120762959

Thanks. Wall is approx 6' high, going by that link it should have a pier every 3 metres. If that's the case, my issue now may be, can piers be added after the wall is built? I'm thinking maybe the gate and post should have been tied to a pier rather than directly to the wall.

awec

How long has the gate been there?

Not an expert or an engineer, but I'd be taking that gate off the wall until the issue is remediated.

Wall without piers, clearly unable to take the weight. I can't imagine jacking it back up will do anything, it's already moved, next time it'll just move quicker.

I think if it were me, I'd get a professional in.

whizbang

If the wall isnt cracked then its the foundations are the issue. Its almost impossible to straighten the wall now.

You could pull down at least 3 Meters, dig out new foundations, rebuild it.

Or the simpler way is fit a heavy steel frame supported by the house and just live with the lean. I imaging it would be possible to fit the frame outside of the gate, it would do the job anyway.

GreeBo

Has the foundation lifted on the opposite side to the lean?

You need to see if the wall is in danger of falling over, regardless of the gate or not. You could build a standalone pier/post for the gate, but thats going to require gate alterations as the ope will be narrower after you add piers.

How wide/long is the gate, would have to be pretty heavy to pull over a wall unless the foundations are shocking...

newmember2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120777924#Comment_120777924

The gate is about an 8 foot high wrought iron gate, the width being possibly 5 or 6 foot. It's about the width of a car or maybe a little more - it looks like one half of what would be an imposing gateway. With the wall only an inch or so out of true five to ten feet either side of the gatepost and then the further along you go the wall returns to plumb, would that still indicate foundations?

GreeBo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120778151#Comment_120778151

Well something has to move somewhere to cause the top of the wall to move by 1.5 inches

So either the wall has developer a crack or the foundation has sunk/lifted on one side or possibly both.

There is no flex to a block wall so it either cracks or moves as a single unit which means the foundation has slipped

lmk123

Take off the gate and hang it off of the house

GreeBo

You could also add a gate castor to the gate to support its weight (if its as heavy as you say then its probably going to pull itself out of the hinges or the wall)

something like this, just be aware that the spring will compress (typically @ around 20KG) so you need to factor that in when mounting it to ensure its actually doing something!)

newmember2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120778237#Comment_120778237

Yes, a supporting castor might be the answer.