Stem Wall Repair in Phoenix
Challenge
Single story home with a conventional 3 pour slab on grade foundation system with reinforced concrete. The rebar used to reinforce the concrete stem wall was corroding and swelling. The forces generated from the corrosion cracked through both sides of the stem wall. The challenge of this project was to chip back the concrete without disturbing the structure that bears the load on the stem wall. Due to the fact that the corrosion was not dealt with in a short period of time, the forces from the expansion of the rebar damaged the entire stem wall. This does not allow for a standard repair of the stem wall since the structure bears its load on this portion of the foundation.
Solution
We had to stabilize the structure with temporary jacks and completely remove a section of the stem wall. The rebar in the entire area needed to be replaced with a void in this section of stem wall. We then poured and formed a new stem wall in this section. The repairs were completed with no damage to structure.
