How to reinforce support columns in cellar?
Can anyone weigh in on whether it is a good idea to reinforce brick support columns in a brownstone cellar by injecting them with cement? A contractor recommended this in addition to repointing. The support columns definitely need some strengthening — our brownstone is more than 100 years old — but this is the first…
Can anyone weigh in on whether it is a good idea to reinforce brick support columns in a brownstone cellar by injecting them with cement? A contractor recommended this in addition to repointing. The support columns definitely need some strengthening — our brownstone is more than 100 years old — but this is the first we had heard of this procedure.
The columns support the center beam. If the brickwork is simply in bad shape and needs pointing that’s one thing. But if the center beam is sagging that’s different. The best solution is to pour new footings and use a laly column. Not sure if you’re just looking for a decorative solution or a structural one.
I can’t speak to specifics but I had what sounds like a similar procedure done on the interior side wall of my townhouse, supporting my stairs. The cement between the bricks was dusting away, I could actually push a screw driver right in, many inches deep. Rather then pointing my contractor injected a liquid throughout the wall and hardened the cement throughout. My only goal was to strenghten the wall and this did the trick.
Your question seems to indicate that you or the contractor thinks the brickwork is built such that there’s a void at the column’s center. If that is indeed how the brick is, then the chances are that it’s merely a decorative surround to a support column that was already there, possibly steel, but probably wood. When you think about it, why on earth would anyone build the brickwork, if it were intended to be the sole means of beam support, with a void in the middle. If you’re thinking of having the brickwork re-pointed (suggesting some deterioration), then maybe it would be pretty easy to remove a brick or two to see what the condition of the support column at its core is. Just because the building is over 100 years old does not mean that the columns “need some strengthening”. The columns in the cellar of my 130 year old house are still the original posts made from whole tree trunks and are still perfectly functional.