Oven support wall cracking

[ikhan42]

Originally Posted by Unofornaio

I'm just curious. You mentioned that the proportions were wrong for standard block, but from what I've been able to learn (remember that incompetent part - 'cause I am) mortar-less block at least sometimes comes in exact sizes and not the standard, adjusted for the mortar, size (i.e. 16 in. block are really 16 in). I'm just wondering if maybe he used that kind instead? (Why the mortar, I got no clue - I'm just asking.)

>>> I see your logic but 5' still doesn't work out for 16" it would be 5'4" I dont know what he did..
If I recall correctly (asking a lot from a tiny brain), the one article I saw where they were straight stacking and not staggering (okay, that part stood out - I know just enough that straight lines up look really scary to me) they were using interlocking (mortar-less) block. The blocks were subsequently filled with concrete before the walls were capped (the thing was a house. I would never buy a house like that because you would never, ever convince me that was safe! But, whatta I know?) and rebar was running up through them.
>>>Vertical steel in CMU (concrete masonry units) is something that is very common here in CA and engineered buildings in other parts of the world. As I mentioned somewhere in this thread if the block were bond beam block (standard block with the top half of the sides and webs missing) even stacked in this manor they could work but it still wouldnt be right. The missing web create a continuous (beam) through each series of blocks and is extremely strong especially with the addition of horizontal steel. Bond beam block are designed to hold steel in the missing web cavity.

I'm not suggesting anything here - I'm asking only because there's a similarity and I'm curious. The extent of my masonry experience was watching my cousins and my Dad put up our basement walls (very well, actually - my cousins were all in the construction business and Dad could do anything that involved tools). My one contribution was taking a shovel and scraping the mortar splatters off the slab. Dad said I did a good job.

>>>that was always the funnest part I remember going with my Dad when I was small, the mortar that fell on the sand he put on the concrete was always in strange stalactites or is it stalagmite (can never remember which it is). Just a light sprinkling of sand protected the slab from stains and the mortar sticking to the floor, when your done you just run a flat shovel on the floor against the wall and it comes off with no problems...Just another one of those invaluable, old-timer tricks. Its funny how we see our fathers differently as we mature, the more I experience in this craft and the older I get the more I see him as a masonry GOD...

Ok I am not an expert am basically a newbie but I am a bit of a lateral thinker so I will put my 2 cents in. Once you have added extra footings support under your slab why not lay anoter layer of concrete blocks in a stretcher bond pattern and tie these into the outside wall with bolts/ rebar or something similar. You wont be able to do the internal wall all the way to the slab height but if you tie the 2 walls together wouldnt the internal wall act as support for the external wall ?

Just a thought but as I sai I am just a newbie.

Imran