How to fix brick wing

[jayjohnson600]

I've got a wing of bricks at the in the front of my house at both ends, but one
of the wings has pulled away from the house. There has been some movement
of the ground under it.
Wing is 7.5ft long 4ft tall 1.5ft deep, with concrete under it.

How could this be repaired?

My guess:
Dig out around the wing
Lift up the wing with a crane
Level the ground
Put in Xinch deep concrete footing/slab(there's one under the wing already)
Locate the wing back down
Let settle
Re-attach to the house

Is this work similar to how a bricked mailbox is re-leveled?

[Vertnut]

I've got a wing of bricks at the in the front of my house at both ends, but one
of the wings has pulled away from the house. There has been some movement
of the ground under it.
Wing is 7.5ft long 4ft tall 1.5ft deep, with concrete under it.

How could this be repaired?

My guess:
Dig out around the wing
Lift up the wing with a crane
Level the ground
Put in Xinch deep concrete footing/slab(there's one under the wing already)
Locate the wing back down
Let settle
Re-attach to the house

Is this work similar to how a bricked mailbox is re-leveled?

Most of the time, you can't lift a brick mailbox. Sometimes you can dismantle them and reuse brick. If older brick can't be found, you can reuse your brick if you're careful with it. Depending on your soil base, I would think a 2ft deep footing would be more like it. You already know it's been moving around, and we're talking a LOT of weight between the concrete and brick. The best way to re-attach the slab is to use steel pins (dowels) after drilling holes.

[sdun]

They will jack up the wing wall and drill a pier at the end on an angle and dig out under the end of the wall and form it up so that it sits on the pier.
On new houses a lot of the time we will have the wall come out forward from the house and then turn out to make the wall. This prevents the wall pulling away from the house, even with piers.

[miketyler]

Fixed this on my rental in Grand Prairie. It was already detached from the footing. We pulled it away from the house, measured the drop and poured a level but tapered footing on top of the existing. Once set, just slid the wing back in to place. I'd post pics but geez, I think I'm limited to only 1 or 2 MB total.

[miketyler]

On a related note, I had several 6ft stone columns built on my property recently. After some heavy rains, one of them began to lean. I dug down around it and hydro drilled at the base with a waterhose and 24" copper tube. Once I got it plum I let it set and its been good since. So if you have a leaning mailbox or column, there is a fix although you should expect that the structure will drop some in the process.

[Vertnut]

I think we discussed this a lot earlier and you expressed concerns then. The soil there is unbeleiveably unstable, not to mention you have the weight equivalent to two mailboxes on the same size footing. Are you still going to tie in wrought iron fencing?

[kingjason]

On a related note, I had several 6ft stone columns built on my property recently. After some heavy rains, one of them began to lean. I dug down around it and hydro drilled at the base with a waterhose and 24" copper tube. Once I got it plum I let it set and its been good since. So if you have a leaning mailbox or column, there is a fix although you should expect that the structure will drop some in the process.

Could you not get a big ass square piece of steel, like 4 foot x 4 foot and set that on it. Dig down just a little so you could sod over it though. I would think it would be solid solution. I have seen a lot of those things leaning over the years.

[miketyler]

There are probably a few ways to stabilize these. I just wanted to point out that there is a solution that a homeowner can manage besides calling his mason and having a new one built. Not sure if this will last especially in our area but at $500+ a column, it will do.

As for this one, I think what brought this on is this particular column had a 3ft footing with 12" of that footing above grade. You see, this column was in a low spot in the yard. I planned to fill and raise the grade around it prior to the fence install. So unlike the other columns that are 6ft tall with 2ft footings, this one is closer to 7ft tall with a 2ft deep footing.

Could it have been avoided if I had filled the grade? Maybe. I hope to do that this weekend actually. I do wonder if given the known expansive soils we have here if I should have specified 3ft footings instead of 2ft.

I don't plan on tying in the fence to the columns though it might help with stability. Seems like all the ones I have seen eventually work loose and leaves rust stains running down where they attach. Also I have seen some extreme cases where they built the fence and columns on a slope and tied the fence tothe columns. One of the columns at the peak of the slope began to lean and finally the top portion came off and took part of the fence with it. You can see this near the entry to our development. Will see if I can get a pic of this and post it up.

[lincolnboy]

Would attaching the wall to the house not cause damage the exterior of the.house. cause the bricks from either the house or wall to seperate as well. The ground love to move in texas. Your house will probably keep moving. Footings do work but not if it holds water underneath and losens the ground. Try adding underdrain to avoid water settling under the structures.

[miketyler]

When mine pulled away it pulled two shared bricks from the corner of the house. I pieced those in separately when I fixed my wing.