Chancer Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 It has been quite spectacular here this winter in spite of the dry weather, it would have been even worse had the ground been saturated.This is an external entrance that i dug a few years ago to my cellar, I did take precautions against ground movement hence the ring beam being cast in this photo, the lower part below the parpaings is reinforced concrete cast in place.[IMG]http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff295/jr7man/Houses/CIMG0745.jpg[/IMG]From above it still looks OK but through your feet you can feel that instead of walking on a surface as flat as a billiard table in summer it now feels like walking on the top of the millenium dome.[IMG]http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff295/jr7man/Houses/CIMG2644.jpg[/IMG]In fact it is hiding an extreme situation that I had never envisaged.[IMG]http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff295/jr7man/Houses/CIMG2641.jpg[/IMG][IMG]http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff295/jr7man/Houses/CIMG2642.jpg[/IMG]Anyone else suffering?For those of you wondering about your unheated holiday homes, if the cold can do this to dry earth what hope is their for water filled copper pipes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave21478 Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 Its all gone completely to shit here and frankly I am thoroughly fed up with it. Its -18 most nights and the daytime never gets above -6. Been like this for a long time and everything is buggered.My garage has a large sliding door. The bottom edge hangs in a concrete gutter which prevents the door being swung outwards. This has lifted enough to jam the door. The new gates I built for the access have gone wrong...30mm steel box section frames with boards fitted vertically. They no longer meet in the middle by about 10 cm and one drags on the ground - I am not sure if the metal has contracted and pulled them out of shape or if the hinges have moved. One side is fitted to the side of the house and the other is on a free-standing brick pillar. The cold water supply to the bathroom keeps freezing up. The pipe runs through a disused garage and is very well lagged, but it needs the blow-torch treatment every morning.The back door now catches on the paving slabs outside and wont open beyond half-way.Could be worse I suppose..... Some people I know recently returned from a holiday and called me in to have a look at their large house. In their absence, the circuit breakers tripped and with nobody to re-set it, their boiler remained off. The house is deep cold and 21 out of 25 radiators have burst. They also have under-floor heating in three different areas. I have fiddled with the plumbing to get the boiler feeding just these sections and two work ok but the third will not heat up, however the feed and return pipe get hot. There is a control box with a mixer valve in the room which might be frozen, but the kitchen units (made to measure solid wood fancy things) were built around it, leaving no access so will have to be ripped out to get at this thing to check it. There were lakes of black frozen liquid all over the floors, which I lifted with a wallpaper scraper, but I wonder how much seeped between the planks of flooring before freezing and when it might re-appear. I cant do any more until it thaws out, and with these temperatures set to continue till middle of next week, then only a very slight increase, it could easily be a month before it starts to thaw. The working underfloor sections are not enough to warm the rest of the building up. I spent Friday phoning and visiting every tool hire and sales place within 100 kms and there is not a single space heater of any description to be had anywhere. Well, I tell a lie, I found a wee gas-powered thing for sale in an agri parts shop.....you know the type - a cylinder maybe 1 foot diameter by 2 feet long, burner and fan......€599. Five hundred and ninety nine euros. Seriously. The chap said he would do it for €500 though. The house owner said to buy it anyway as it was needed, so I did so. Drove it to the house, lugged a 47kg gas bottle up God-knows how many stairs, fitted it all up and it doesnt bloody well work. The thermocouple wont hold. I refuse to fudge the safety device on a brand new machine that cost so much so lugged it back to the shop. To their credit, they fiddled with it a bit in-store, pronounced it dead and gave me a refund. Hardly noteworthy in the UK, but pretty decent for French service, I thought.If I can get hold of one somewhere, my plan is to aim it at each rad in turn and thaw them out one by one, which will allow me to catch the spills, instead of the whole house gradually warming and all the rads starting to leak simultaneously day and night.Its amazing what a little bit of cold water can do.[IMG]http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc297/dave21478/short/P1000513.jpg[/IMG][IMG]http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc297/dave21478/short/P1000498.jpg[/IMG]Their house is worth seven figures (and I dont think the first digit is a 1 either!) - I hope it is well insured. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnOther Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 TBH Chancer your heave looks more like subsidence to me.With only one course of blockwork and the concrete casting on top, and the apparent loose rocky nature of the surrounding excavation, what exactly was there to heave. There seems to be no evidence of it in the top photo either where I'd perhaps expect to see some lifting of the surrounding block paving. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted February 12, 2012 Author Share Posted February 12, 2012 Subsidence my bottom!!! Actually two and half hours after drinking 2 litres of préparation pour lavage colique that is what I am painfully waiting for [:-))]All my block paved areas that are enclosed by walls or buildings look like the millenium dome, you get seasick walking on them, the gap you see under the top course goes from nothing where it meets the wall of the house to 5cm at the top of the stairs, there is a similar lift from all of the walls around the courtyard to the centre over and above the fall I built in.There is a small paved courtyard it has my flat to one side, boundary walls to two others and the garage to the other, it looks like a whale, i put a 4 foot level on it and it has 3cm m gaps on each and, thats right from nothing to 3 cm in two feet, it was perfectly flat, all my paving is the rest of the year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 Two and a half hours, mine was to be drank asap. And then I felt bloated, but OK, then I ran faster than I have in a few years, still you are fit and have been training for your races, not the evening to be wearing a few a full wet suit though.[Www]Will you weigh yourself in the morning before you leave?Good luck anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted February 12, 2012 Author Share Posted February 12, 2012 I weighed myself after drinking the 2 litres, there is another 2 litres to be drunk tomorrow morning, looks like I need to be up really early to avoid a problem in the transport VSL.My waters broke 10 minutes ago and I thought the bottom had fallen out of my world or to be precise the opposite but I am only 300grammes lighter so I think that was only the prelude.Must rush.................................. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
just john Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 Talking of drains Chance, where do the steps drain? . . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted February 12, 2012 Author Share Posted February 12, 2012 Straight into the soil, in 3 years including some torrential downpours no water has entered the cellar and the area inside the door does not get any damper than the rest of the cellar which is pretty dry as it goes.It was a gamble but it paid off, the doors at the top stop a lot of rain from falling, the paved area falls away from the black paved border in all directions, unfortunately straight to my front door but that was unavoidable, if I were to have subsidence there then surface water would indeed flood into the cellar so in a way I am glad that it rises in bad weather.ANother, it lifts up every winter when it freezes but this is an exceptional amount, it always falls back into place in the spring but inevitably there are bits of sharp sand, small stones etc that have fallen into the gap so there remains a small crack.If there was some super sticky super elastic gloop like Sikaflex that would also come out of the tube and stick in sub zero temperatures I would pump the gap full of it right now but it would have to cope with 40:1 compression and it would probably bankrupt me as well!!The reason that you cannot see any evidence in the photo is the trump card of block paving and why I use it, it can cope with huge ground movements without showing any sign like concrete or paving slabs would, I know the camera can hide things but even with your eyes you cannot see it but you can feel it through your feet, the spirit level test shows the amplitude. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 And tomorrow it'll just like you're passing water, just water and gallons of it, not just two litres.It is beyond me that anyone would have colonic irrigation for 'pleasure'? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quillan Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 [quote user="idun"] And tomorrow it'll just like you're passing water, just water and gallons of it, not just two litres.It is beyond me that anyone would have colonic irrigation for 'pleasure'?[/quote]Nor pay £400 per night in Thailand excluding flights and transfers for the privilege of having somebody stick a tube up your *rse. My daughter goes there at least once a year but then she's a banker and has more money than sense. You get to take the 'pipe' home with you. I think it's crazy but then I thought why not, find a reiki instructor, buy a 50M x 25mm drum of garden hose from Gemme Verte for 50 Euros (possibly cheaper from Brico Depot) then charge the suckers £200 a night. Foods cheap as well, buy a cabbage, stick it in a big pot with water, boil the life out of it, strain it off leave water to cool, pour it in a glass, give it a flash name and call it lunch. Seems like money for old rope to me. Mental note to self, must find out about getting a bigger fosse tomorrow and have a word with my business advisor at Mandela House, Peckham. [;-)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Théière Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 Definitely heave (no not your bottom Chancer, don't do it!) [;-)] subsidence causes the blocks below to part and you can see they haven't the top has raised. Usually attributed to clay soils though, well drained soils won't generally heave, no tree roots nearby?Q couldn't your daughter hold a suppository party where bankers take it in turn to insert them into each others orifice as they are all up themselves anyway. All that's needed is a 5ml serving of lactulose or for the full effect picolax (tastes like a lucozade sport drink) any way so useful for the gym set. reiki.n,it,in [:)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quillan Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 [quote user="Théière"]Q couldn't your daughter hold a suppository party where bankers take it in turn to insert them into each others orifice as they are all up themselves anyway. All that's needed is a 5ml serving of lactulose or for the full effect picolax (tastes like a lucozade sport drink) any way so useful for the gym set. reiki.n,it,in [:)][/quote]I could charge people to come and watch, sell them raffle tickets, the prize, you get to shaft a banker. [;-)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted February 13, 2012 Author Share Posted February 13, 2012 Hey all this stuff should be on my other thread entitled "Thank you NormanH"My carriage should arrive in 20 minutes trouble is things are sub-critical at the moment, its touch and go.This is your last chance for some toilet humour.Quillan you arent Italian by any chance are you? You could call your new venture innuendo [:P] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted February 13, 2012 Author Share Posted February 13, 2012 The active ingredient in the colonic lavage preparation is polyethylene glycol, it sounded rather like anti-freeze to me so I put some outside last night and it didnt freeze!!!!I wonder why we have always been sold anti-freeze in fluid form, I guess we mugs would not pay as much for powder as we would for a litre or gallon of the stuff [:(]Of course it could just be that the temp was above zero last night Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Théière Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 It's probably too late for this advice, Stop putting stuff in the top! and it will stop dropping out of the (your bottom) just let it all calm down for a while.Good luck today [:)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quillan Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 [quote user="Chancer"]Quillan you arent Italian by any chance are you? You could call your new venture innuendo [:P][/quote]Nop, I only go forwards and never back. I always thought Innuendo was a short fat Argentinian fella with a moustache. [8-|] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolybanana Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 No, it is what a gay caballero shouts as he does what comes naturally to him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIG MAC Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Hadn't spotted this thread ..first off....nice piece of work originally...you must be proper narked at the expansion of water in the upper layer of the soils creating 'Frost heave' not the same as conventional heave which is usually a result of the rewatering of soils previously dessicated. For now I would suggest leaving it...the lower levels should be ok?...once the weather turns you could try to place some wooden folding wedges in the 'gap' then dig around your ring beam outside. once the beam and blockwork are exposed outside you could 'gun in' some mortar then knock out the thicker wedges, just leaving those required to restablish the bed joint thickness (They can be knocked out once mortar has gone off) You could then galv strap the outside using non ferrous fixings and insert a vertical layer of something like thin kingspan insulation backed out with pea shingle...this should help prevent adhesion in subsequent years and the very obvious 'heave' to which the structure has been subjected. The shingle will 'self compact' and allow reinstatement of your paving etc. The pavoirs may well lift above your cellar in future bad weather but short of putting in a deep sub base you may have to live with that one.Hope it helps....if it doesn't at least somone likes your efforts.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted February 14, 2012 Author Share Posted February 14, 2012 Hey ho you live and learn [:(]I will wait till the summer and if it has dropped right back into position as before then I am just going to cut an expansion joint in the blocks around it, I had designed it so the blocks would butt up diagonally against from both sides, it is really the sideways expansion (I assume the frost in the joints that allow it to be gripped tight and then the frost heave (thanks bigmac!) can do the lifting.In fact maybe I will try an expansion gap around the 4 walls that enclose the courtyard first (on one of these a cemant border has also suffered) as it is such a shame to spoil the perfect work around the hatches.When I did it I worked outwards in all directions from the aperture hence it had to be spol b******k.I will mark it down as a future project and put in some acco drains at the same time, something else I didnt think of.7 years into a 2 year job and I already having to re-do some of my earlier work, methinks this is going to be like painting the Forth road bridge! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIG MAC Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Laughing with you here, not at you...What I proposed should work and not be as orrible as it sounds...couple of days work maybe, given the confined space. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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