Holes in Foundation Wall, Manchester, NH

Monday, January 3rd, 2022 by Travis Kellogg

Challenge

This homeowner in Manchester, New Hampshire lives in an older home and was experiencing an issue where a retaining wall in the basement was built by the previous owners to stop sand and asphalt from pouring into the basement. However, the wall wasn't finished so the sand is now collecting in the basement. The previous owners left a 6 ' section empty. All the sand and asphalt pour in from this one 6' section. The homeowner would like for EFS to come out and see if we could find a solution to stop the sand and asphalt from shifting into their basement.

Solution

Design Specialist Michael LaMalfa arrived at the home to inspect the basement. After inspecting the retaining wall in the basement, Michael recommended to the homeowner that they should finish the wall. Building a 6' L x 5' H auxiliary wall to tie into the rest of the retaining wall. The wall will be shorter than the surrounding walls. The purpose of the auxiliary wall is to stop the sand and asphalt from getting pushed onto the basement floor.

Crew Lead Spencer Ladd and his team arrived at the home and started setting up to install the auxiliary wall. To install the auxiliary wall, they will need two forms that are sealed tight. The forms will allow them to pour concrete 5' high. The team installs rebar into the adjacent walls to make sure the walls are secure together. Then concrete is poured into the form. After the concrete is 5' high the team waits for the concrete to harden. Once the concrete is hardened, the team removes the forms and begins trimming imperfections off the concrete to leave a smooth finish.