# Field stone foundation bulge (repair questions)



## joed (Mar 13, 2005)

Might work if you used reinforced concrete instead more mortared stones.
Just putting on top of the dirt won't be any good either. You need to dig down into the soil below frost line.


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## pleary (Jun 8, 2017)

There is actually a poured foundation in the barn. So the supporting shelf wouldn't be sitting on dirt, but mortared to the floor of the barn.

I know it looks like dirt, there's just about a foot of dirt in there at the moment.


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## stadry (Jun 20, 2009)

mortar's not very strong & won't cure your issue


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## MTN REMODEL LLC (Sep 11, 2010)

joed said:


> Might work if you used reinforced concrete instead more mortared stones.
> Just putting on top of the dirt won't be any good either. You need to dig down into the soil below frost line.





stadry said:


> mortar's not very strong & won't cure your issue



JOED STAYDRY ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I'd really go with a concrete knee wall..... well pinned to the slab if not a dug out footer.... and rebarred horizontal vertical.

If aesthetics is an issue.... face it with your rock.


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## Canarywood1 (May 5, 2012)

None of the bandaids you propose is going to work, you need to jack up that end of the barn and find out what the problem is and fix it.


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## MTN REMODEL LLC (Sep 11, 2010)

Canarywood1 said:


> None of the bandaids you propose is going to work, you need to jack up that end of the barn and find out what the problem is and fix it.


Well yes maybe...., but I think a good guess / presume the issue is backfill pressure and the retaining wall of fieldstone and mortor does not make a sturdy retaining wall.

Yes...You could jack up the barn and tear out the wall and put in a new retaining wall, or buffer the existing and put in a sufficient buffer wall..... NO...????????

And I don't think the OP wishes to rebuild his barn foundation.

(I read no evidence of water pressure being at issue).


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## Canarywood1 (May 5, 2012)

MTN REMODEL LLC said:


> Well yes maybe...., but I think a good guess / presume the issue is backfill pressure and the retaining wall of fieldstone and mortor does not make a sturdy retaining wall.
> 
> Yes...You could jack up the barn and tear out the wall and put in a new retaining wall, or buffer the existing and put in a sufficient buffer wall..... NO...????????
> 
> ...


Your right about the op not wanting to tear out the wall, but another option short of that would be to use screw piles or helical piles, that is if he wants to do it once and be done with it.


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## pleary (Jun 8, 2017)

Thank you all for your replies. It's important that I mention that I really want to preserve the look of the wall. Tearing it out and replacing it with blocks isn't an option. There is dirt on the other side of the wall, and it's clearly back-pressure from that sediment that's causing the issue. I thought of removing some of that sediment to relieve some of the pressure that's caused the bulge. I would pull the bulge out and rebuild that area, but I'm worried the whole thing would come down.

Again I want to retain the look and restore so a rebuild wouldn't really work.


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## Canarywood1 (May 5, 2012)

How are you going to remove some of the sediment??


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## pleary (Jun 8, 2017)

dig it out? it's a banked barn, so I could do some re-grading so there's less dirt on that side of the wall. I would think less dirt would be less pressure.


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## Canarywood1 (May 5, 2012)

pleary said:


> dig it out? it's a banked barn, so I could do some re-grading so there's less dirt on that side of the wall. I would think less dirt would be less pressure.


Its worth a try i guess, but it would take time to see if it would work, i remember a job where we couldn't get our trucks to the job site, so they used lime applied to the soil to stabilize it, turned a mud hole into dry dirt, another thought is to stabilize the point of the bulge with grout pumped behind the wall, should be able to rent a manual pump for that approach.


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