Basement wall design?
Basement wall design?
(OP)
Hi there,
I am trying to determine how to design the basement walls for a new downstairs apartment in a house that was built over 100 years ago. I am checking an architects detailing.
The new basement walls will be inner masonry reinforced walls. The area behind the wall is not loose soil, it is very stiff compacted sand, that feels like a rock cut. The new wall will be built a few inches offset from the rock cut and backfilled with concrete. Do I design this inner basement wall like a normal retaining wall? As in assume that the stiff rock cut acts horizontally on the wall even if in reality this perhaps wouldn’t happen unless the rock cut somehow shifts in position? The new wall will be built up to the ceiling but how can I adequately connect the new basement wall to the upper floor slab to ensure that the new basement wall is also stabilized by the vertical upper floor level loads? Any help will be appreciated.
See the attached images that shows the architects detailing and a photo of the area.
I am trying to determine how to design the basement walls for a new downstairs apartment in a house that was built over 100 years ago. I am checking an architects detailing.
The new basement walls will be inner masonry reinforced walls. The area behind the wall is not loose soil, it is very stiff compacted sand, that feels like a rock cut. The new wall will be built a few inches offset from the rock cut and backfilled with concrete. Do I design this inner basement wall like a normal retaining wall? As in assume that the stiff rock cut acts horizontally on the wall even if in reality this perhaps wouldn’t happen unless the rock cut somehow shifts in position? The new wall will be built up to the ceiling but how can I adequately connect the new basement wall to the upper floor slab to ensure that the new basement wall is also stabilized by the vertical upper floor level loads? Any help will be appreciated.
See the attached images that shows the architects detailing and a photo of the area.






RE: Basement wall design?
RE: Basement wall design?
That's true dry sand would be better from a lateral load point of view.
So are you saying to only consider the backfill load acting on the wall and not to consider the rocky sand material as retained?
I did consider drilling in some bars to act like tie back anchors but they would not be able to hold in the sandy material. They can be drilled into the concrete house wall above the sandy material though.
RE: Basement wall design?