Summary: Pending Project: Tie-Rod Connection Check

WE PLAN TO OPEN UP one of the tie-rod connections, on the outside, at the 2nd column on the north wall, to ensure the sanctuary’s structural integrity. Here is a view from the inside.…

(The function of the tie rods is to hold the walls in a vertical position, while the load of the vaulted roof is, in effect, pushing those walls apart.) 

This particular connection is showing an interior-wall crack, indicating past water intrusion. Here is a close-up.

 

Our structural engineering consultant is concerned that the occasional moisture may have caused the joint to rust — and thus weaken. Because of its structural importance, we want to make sure that the joint is in good condition. 

On the exterior of the building, the tie rod penetrates the wooden post that is housed inside a pilaster (stucco-covered column) that projects from the wall’s face. 

Top of a typical pilaster on the south side

The plan is for our contractor to put up scaffolding on our neighbor’s patio, expose all of the structural components of the tie-rod connection, enable our structural engineering consultant to come and inspect, and then time for the contractor to close it up again. But perhaps repair will be needed.

STATUS: We have just received today an estimate from our contractor for doing the discovery work here, and on the south side (see separate posts). And we have contacted our northern neighbor, to ask for access.

UPDATE, June 2023

Upon my inquiry in September 2022, our neighbor informed me that there had been water intrusion farther down on his side of the wall, so at his expense he had gotten the stucco repaired all the way up. That should have stopped the water intrusion on our side, as well.

I also learned that scaffolding isn’t needed in order to reach the tie-rod connection. A regular ladder would suffice, because the top of the pilaster sits just above the patio of an apartment.

This exploratory project was then put on the back burner in favor of more clearly urgent matters, in light of funding constraints. 

Happily, during the intervening extremely rainy winter, there has been no visible change in the crack on the interior wall surface at the tie-rod connection, as confirmed by a photographic comparison. I.e., the water intrusion is a matter of the past. 

However, according to the structural engineer David Dorier-Sammut, there might still be corrosion in that tie-rod, or dry rot in the wooden post, which could have started during the water intrusion period. These possibilities ought to be checked out at some point.

UPDATE  1/10/24:  See now the details from the exploration of another tie-rod connection here.