How to Repair Damaged Beams and Walls in Load Bearing Construction?

In the load-bearing structure, we can not punch holes to connect two rooms. We will damage the structure if we do so because the weight of the walls actually helps to hold the building together and stabilize it against the external forces such as wind and earthquake, etc.. We follow the following basic principle to improve the ability of the structure:

Repair:

The main purpose of this is to restore the shape of the building so that services start working. It does not improve the structural strength of the building but is important to meet the requirement for another unbalanced forces. It consists of-

• Patching up of defects such as cracks.
• Repairing doors, windows, glass panels etc
• Repairing of gas pipes etc
• Re- plastering of walls, rearrangement of roof tiles etc.

Restoration:

The main purpose of it is to carry out structural repair work for load-bearing elements(beam, columns, etc.). I involves the cutting portions of the elements and rebuilding them or adding more material so that the building’s original strength is restored. Some of the methods to do so are-

• The removal of portions of cracked masonry walls and piers and rebuilding them with rich mortars(like non-shrinking mortars).
• Use of reinforced mesh on both side of the walls to hold it through spikes and bolts.
• Injection of epoxy materials(strong tension) into the cracks of walls, columns or beams etc.

Strengthening of the Structure:

It is the improvement over the original strength, which was before the damage of the structure. It consists of-

• Increasing the lateral strength by reinforcement or by increasing the wall areas or no. of walls and columns.
• Proving proper connections between the resisting elements(like between roofs or walls and roof, or wall and floor, etc.).
• Removing the portions which are the actual source of weakness of the structure(like structures possible of brittle failure, large opening in walls, etc.)