Procedure of Wall Tie Replacement

Posted by County Supplies on December 9th, 2019

Wall ties are used to replace the internal and external leafs of a wall that are installed at the time of construction. Over a considerable period of time, the wall ties installed in the cavity walls corrode and require replacement. This becomes urgent in the places where galvanized or improper stainless steel wall ties were used.  The corrosion caused by the wall ties causes expansion that can distance the mortar joints, this creates cracks in the masonry. Also, it creates bulginess in the walls and the edges of the roofs are lifted. In the severe cases, the wall collapses.

Replacement of Wall Ties

The corrosion of the wall ties are common in the buildings of coastal areas. Also, it is usually found in the buildings where corrosive black ash mortar are used for construction. However, most of the buildings outlast the expectancy of the wall ties, but still replacement will be necessary at some point or the other.

Replacement of the wall ties also become necessary when the original wall ties are used for construction of a cavity wall as for instance, the places where too few wall ties are installed or wrong type of tie is installed or where site control during the installation was poor.

Procedure of Wall Tie Replacement

The procedure of the wall tie replacement can be carried out in five different ways. Those are:

•          Investigation: It include gathering information related the type and recent condition of the masonry, the width of the cavity, type and condition of the wall ties installed at the time of construction.
•          Isolation or removal: This step involves removal of the wall ties from the masonry depending on the condition of the wall tie.
•          Specification: This step involves the selection of the type of remedial wall tie shall be used at for replacing the old wall tie. This also involves the selection of density and layout of remedial wall ties.
•          Installation: This step involves replacing the corroded wall ties with the new stainless steel wall ties.
•          Quality control: Last but not the least, this step involves the quality check of the installed wall ties such as visual checks, torque testing and more.

The replacement of the wall ties are usually conducted by the contractors as they are specialist in their field and also it requires knowledge and equipment that is important for carrying out the important tasks.