×
INTELLIGENT WORK FORUMS
FOR ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALS

Log In

Come Join Us!

Are you an
Engineering professional?
Join Eng-Tips Forums!
  • Talk With Other Members
  • Be Notified Of Responses
    To Your Posts
  • Keyword Search
  • One-Click Access To Your
    Favorite Forums
  • Automated Signatures
    On Your Posts
  • Best Of All, It's Free!
  • Students Click Here

*Eng-Tips's functionality depends on members receiving e-mail. By joining you are opting in to receive e-mail.

Posting Guidelines

Promoting, selling, recruiting, coursework and thesis posting is forbidden.

Students Click Here

Jobs

Masonry Crack

Masonry Crack

Masonry Crack

(OP)
I am working on a project that involves an existing masonry building.  The building is a large two story building with a steel framed floor and roof.  The original construction had the masonry exposed and part of the project is to cover this with cement board and stucco.  My concern is that at several locations the walls have been repaired due to cracks.  At these locations the masonry has been routed and sealed.  The repairs have not been done recently and there does not appear to be significant movement since the repair.

If I cover this crack my concern is that the movement will cause problems with the new wall covering.  As the cracks are not nice and vertical (although they are mostly vertical) how do you address this with the new wall covering?

RE: Masonry Crack

The propogation of these cracks is a tough one to predict.

If they are shrinkage related, then once your building is enclosed and the temp and humidity has settled down (and the CMU has had ample time to cure) the crack may not open up much more or at all.

If the crack is due to settlement or deflection then things may be shifting over time and the cracks may open up again no matter how you fill them.
 

RE: Masonry Crack

(OP)
Given the location of the cracks I think they are shrinkage cracks due to the lack of control joints in the original building.

RE: Masonry Crack

H57 -

From the description, it sounds like the joints were tuckpointed, which is a method to correct a cosmetic situation or to close up cracks (usually shrinkage) that could possibly leak or promoted deterioration.

If the joints were tuckpointed some time ago and there is not movement now, the wall is apparently stable.

Dick

Engineer and international traveler interested in construction techniques, problems and proper design.

RE: Masonry Crack

reinforce the render with expanded metal mesh to minimise the cracking or rebat a metal plate across the cracks.

Those are two options.

But check what the root cause is as it is better to treat the cause than the symptoms.

RE: Masonry Crack

If you're concerned with current movement, you could always put a strain gauge across the cracks and see if they're still moving.  They would need to be left there for a significant amount of time, though, like a few months at least.  More than likely, the cracks are indeed due to lack of original expansion joints.

RE: Masonry Crack

I should add that the gauges I'm talking about would be the visually readable kind, not electronic.

Red Flag This Post

Please let us know here why this post is inappropriate. Reasons such as off-topic, duplicates, flames, illegal, vulgar, or students posting their homework.

Red Flag Submitted

Thank you for helping keep Eng-Tips Forums free from inappropriate posts.
The Eng-Tips staff will check this out and take appropriate action.

Reply To This Thread

Posting in the Eng-Tips forums is a member-only feature.

Click Here to join Eng-Tips and talk with other members!


Resources