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Rusted Beam Advice

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Lambie

Lambie

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I am a private building inspector. My job is to find structural and mechanical problems for my clients and to prescribe appropriate action for them to resolve the problems I find.
In this case, I will advise a structural engineer to have a look.

This is a 60 year old building and this is the only place I see that the rusted steel beam is causing problems, that is, buckling masonry.

In general, what sort of repairs and cost might my client be looking at? Steel replacement? Steel repair depending on how much rust?
 
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This looks like a discontinuous joint in a ledge angle.

The masonry is not buckling. This is a crack related to the faulting at the ledge angle.

You need to have a structural engineer look at this, as you have noted.

Next, I don't mean to be unkind, but if you are going to be in the business of inspecting structural components, you need to learn a bit more about structural systems. You need to understand what "buckling" means and you need to understand what a beam is. You have mischaracterized both in your description.
 
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Seems like the failure has been there a while - the brick cracking (settlement) ends at a place where mortar has been forced back into the crack - though will never fix anything like this.
 
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Aside from your capabilities to conduct this type inspection, I would be very concerned about the stability of the masonry above those shelf angles. With the extent of corrosion of the angles, the brick ties would likely be in bad shape also, assuming this is a brick veneer wall. If the 4th course Flemish bond indicates a solid wall with brick headers, then the concern would be lessened.

The vertical separation between two adjacent angles indicates problems with the fasteners of the angles, so I would say complete replacement of the wall support will be required.
 
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The presence of the crack, and the length of time for water intrusion to cause the rust that you cannot see, with no obvious attempt to seal the crack, i.e. a faulty maintenance program, is what I would worry about. What else is there?

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering
Motto: KISS
Motivation: Don't ask
 
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1. There is cracking all along the the front wall not just where the close up photo is taken.

2. Somebody has already tried to fix the wall by repointing the joints and by platering over areas of the brick.

3. The cracks appear to be from settlement.

4. The wall is built off a cantilevered floor and the floor may have deflected excessively.

5. The difference in level of adjoining steel lintels supporting the brick facade is helping to propogate cracking. It appears the difference in level of adjoining lintels is due to poor original construction.

6. As previosly stated by others wall ties may be in poor condition considering the condition of the supporting angles. The condition of ties can only be assessed by opening up areas of the wall and having a look.

7. I do not think the wall needs to be demolished and replaced but remedial measures are necessary. The steel lintels do not appear to be rusted to the extent where they need to be replaced although it is impossible to be sure by looking at a couple of photos.

8. Some possible solutions could include raking out mortar joints and installing bed joint reinforcement. Another solution would be remove some bricks and weld a steel vertical flat plate to the top of the steel lintles supporting the brickwork to make the brick and supporting lintles act compositely.

A solution may involve strengthening the cantilevering steel or concrete beams that form the support to the overhang (1st Floor) as these beams are possibly deflecting excessively.

 
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We cannot see a cross section through the wall. The shelf angle may be attached to a beam running parallel to the brick veneer. Thermal movement of the beam and angle may be responsible for part of the problem.

The steel may not need to be replaced, but it must be inspected by a structural engineer. It might be beneficial to cut control joints in the brick veneer at each of the vertical strips.

BA
 
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Lambie,

This stuff is like detective work - you are often looking for tiny almost insignificant things that are out of place. These things are usually overlooked by someone who does not have an in depth understanding of the workings of buildings.

What I am trying to say is that you really should get an experienced structural engineer on site to have a look at it. All comments on this site are just mere speculation based on the limited information that you have provided, information that may not cover the crucial clues to the causes of the issues.
 
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It appears Lambie has left the building...
 
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Yes as soon as he realised that he wasnt going to get free structural advice.
 
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