Wing Wall Structural Integrity

[jkbemdavis]

Hi All,
I live in my family's 1912 brick farm house. Prior to my grandfather's passing, he had some work done to repair a crack in one of the wing walls that is on the back side of the house. (There are two on that end of the house) I have been living there for 5 years now, and have noticed that the crack has returned and in fact has worsened, although there are no cracks or issues with the brick walls of the house. In your opinion, is the wing wall necessary structurally to support the house, or do you think it was put in place to retain the earth materials that now serve as a flower bed on both sides? My question basically is if I should rebuild the wing wall or if it is just aesthetic at this point? My wife would eventually like for me to build a wrap around deck from the small porch visible in the one picture around to the other side... and it would be above the wing wall.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

 

[Larry EC-OH]

Well, normally when a wall like this fails, it's because water collects behind the wall and the freeze thaw cycle. Unless the cause of the wall failure is removed the wall will continue to fail. I would look into putting a 4" drain tile next to the house, drill a opening at the bottom of the wall big enough for the tile to go through and drain from there.

Good luck,

Larry

 

[Billy NY]

Not likely to affect the house foundation unless the wall is doweled in with reinforcing its connected with the foundation wall reinforcing. Its hard to imagine that size concrete wall cracking like it has, but freeze thaw cycles can destroy quite a bit given the pressures involved. Repeat that over time, it may just be the cause here. You can find a lot of retaining wall details on the web, to give you an idea of what a properly built retaining wall will look like.

Attached is a link to search for these. It's probably easier for you to look at, than to explain here.

You may want to eventually demolish the one in the photo and rebuild it, the details below will give you an idea of what you may be looking at on the design of one.
Concrete Retaining Wall details

 

[MSD]

Looks like it was a retaining wall. If no footing under it, it will never stay put. Other problem I see is a drain spout with a short extension right next to the wall. The ground under the wall might be saturated and causing it to move with freeze thaw cycles.

 

[showcrop]

I agree that it is not likely structural to the house. I be that when initially built they were back filled with sand/ stone in order to allow water to drain, but over the years organic matter built up and made the sand hold water, which when frozen caused the cracks.

 

[Charles in Aus.]

The two unplumbed downpipes are the culprits , the upper one loading the garden bed above, increasing hydraulic pressure on the wall , the lower undermining the wall footing itself .
These need to be plumbed once the wall is removed , even if the wall was acting as a buttress to the house it is badly compromised now and probably worse than useless .
Dig directly under the lower downpipe and expose the side of the foundation/ footing . This is either joined to the main house , cracked at the junction or has been poured separately .
Ultimately you will need an expert opinion from a competent builder but it seems to me that removing it is only going to benefit the main structure.

 

[dpendzic]

if the house walls go all the way down to the basement floor level then the soil is not needed to support the wall
However the front patio and stoop may need the soil as they seldom go all the way down to the floor level.
The wing wall is certainly not needed as a buttress as it is located at a corner

 

[jkbemdavis]

Thank you all for your replies. I am fairly certain as you suggested that the wall is not structural for the house, but rather was simply holding back earthen materials...likely to keep them away from the lower door. I will in any case plan to try to alleviate some of the pressure caused by the water running from the downspouts on the wingwall. My eventual plan is to build a deck over top of it anyway... just didn't want to allow it to be left too long if there were a structural issue.