And now, they proudly present, INVISIBEAM lol

Carolina basement solutions, previously called Masters Services

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WTF? More glue! Moreeee Glueeeee!

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what could possibly go wrong with that???

Talk about professional…

You’re too hard on 'em, Mark. :crazy_face:

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This specific product has actually been evaluated and verified for use as a masonry wall repair, and as long as the design and installation both comply with ESR-3815, it complies with both the IRC and IBC. But there are three reasons why I would never sign off on this with a residential foundation repair: 1) I have no control over the pull-out strength at the mortar joints (which have been shown to have less than 50% of the bond strength of the face of a CMU), 2) any future water penetration will weaken the CMU to the point the carbon fiber matrix will prematurely pull off from the masonry, and 3) I have no control over the installer’s performance of the required substrate testing.

Other problems that I have are with the actual warranties for carbon fiber strap repairs:

  1. Typically voided if the block gets subjected to long term moisture penetration.
  2. Warranties typically don’t cover installations affected by vertical settlement (since they have zero shear strength).
  3. Warranties are only for the strap itself. If the wall fails and the strap is still intact, guess what.
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Will there be a shear force on these vertical straps if foundation settlement is vertical?

Ditto what Darren said. Carbon fiber has a place in strengthening buildings under tight controls with verification testing typically found in large commercial buildings, bridges and parking structures. My advisor in grad school Dr. Antonio Nanni help develop the ACI 440 manual on carbon fiber reinforcement. The application of this product is way over the pay grade of these home foundation repair companies.:see_no_evil:

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This home inspector wasn’t afraid to write what he saw and what needs to be done, seems quite a few are afraid to ‘go there’, maybe they’ve recommended the INT system crap so often that it would make them look bad to change now, eh lol. Kudos to this HI

…‘The basement had a perimeter drain and sump pump installed to manage the water…’ lol

Same old nonsense, INT system and sump pump installed when they should have told the homeowner the wall needed exterior waterproofing to STOP the water from entering and reduce lateral pressure against the wall.

Water etc can screw up blocks, click the photo

same wall, bowed in due to clay soil and underground tree roots acting upon the wall

and they poured concrete along the entire side of house/wall which did not help because the weight of the added concrete pushed DOWN on the existing soil and so more lateral pressure was placed/added against an already-weakened-wall (such as when you step on a beach ball)

Interior basement drainage systems and sump pumps, waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay over hyped, oversold, they misrepresent these systems, omit or obscure material facts for self-gain$$$$$

Some don’t think, or care that stopping the water from penetrating block and brick foundation walls is that important? lolol yeah okay sure

Engineering firm…" We believe long term water penetration through east exterior wall led to extensive deterioration and crumbling of at least one course of block…"

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this happens all the time, everywhere, sure does. INT system was installed that did not stop water penetration through wall because there are exterior cracks and other ext-openings where the water has always been entering causing efflorescence etc inside, INT system co’s lie, misrepresent homeowners actual problems and solutions because all THEY do is, install INT systems. Exterior waterproofing done correctly was needed and is still needed

These INT system scammers often attach, cover part-of or much of the interior basement walls with white plastic paneling or a black dimpled membrane which helps hide and conceal deteriorating blocks, water, bowed in wall, mold, efflorescence… right, here in photos above they only attached some cheap-crap against, along part of bottom blocks - they don’t care about homeowners nor the condition of the wall because if they did they’d recommend exterior waterproofing because… lol smfh THAT is what is most often needed!

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#ducttapefixeseverything (almost)

“But the floor is dry and the basement is useable” says Mrs. Realtor. :rofl:

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I had this one this week. Recommended they install vinyl panels to help cover up the ugly, damp, crumbly walls and to mask the musty/moldy smell.

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From my experience, commercial buildings, bridges and parking structures are pre fab poured concrete. I do understand how deteriorated poured concrete can benifit from carbon fiber repairs, however, I do not see how carbon fiber straps have the ability to add strength to a CMU wall structure, especially between the straps

Michael,

Load distribution between vertical straps of carbon fiber relies on horizontal reinforcing steel in the wall. If the wall has no reinforcing steel that’s a problem. In commercial applications carbon fiber strengthening is designed to help strengthen an under reinforced concrete wall or beam. These straps are not intended to be the only reinforcement. Normal reinforced concrete design is a delicate balance between the crushing strength of concrete and the tensile strength of reinforcing steel. To better illustrate this lets look at the graphic below:

When a beam deflects under loading the the top is under compression and the bottom is in tension. Normal concrete is good in compression, but poor in tension. The rule of thumb is the tensile strength of concrete is 10% of its compressive strength. If this beam was constructed with 3000psi concrete it will have a tensile strength of 300psi. With out reinforcing steel the beam is very weak, so reinforcing steel is added in the tensile area to compensate for the low tensile strength of the concrete. The more reinforcing steel you add the more load the beam can carry up to a point where the compression zone reaches our maximum compressive strength of 3000psi in this example. Any additional loading will crush the concrete in the compression zone causing a brittle failure of the beam. Brittle failure for a lack of a better word would be a sudden and explosive event with little or no warning. To avoid this engineers intentionally under reinforce concrete beams, which results in large beam deflections long before the concrete reaches 3000psi in the compression zone. This large deflection creates noticeable cracks in the tension zone, which is another visual sign beam failure has occurred. Basically over reinforced beams cause sudden brittle failure with little or nor warning and kills people, under reinforced beams have noticeable deflection and cracking giving ample time to make repairs and prevent death. That’s why concrete design codes limit the amount of reinforcing steel in a beam.

Now back to carbon fiber straps applied to beams or foundation walls. If a beam or wall already has the proper amount of reinforcing steel adding carbon fiber straps to the tension side of the wall will result in an over reinforced wall, which can result in brittle failure, i.e. the wall basically explodes inward, NOT GOOD. Carbon fiber straps in commercial applications will strengthen walls or beams that were under reinforced, so adding carbon fiber provides the additional reinforcement needed to increase the bending strength. But engineers do the math to ensure the wall or beam is NOT over reinforced.

If you haven’t fallen asleep yet…These foundation companies that apply carbon fiber straps don’t know the concrete strength of the wall, they don’t know how much reinforcing steel is in the wall, if any. Without this information you can’t properly design the amount of carbon fiber you need, if any. If too much is applied the brittle failure I described could occur, NOT GOOD.

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numerous (8 to 10) carbon fiber straps installed inside on 2 walls, can’t remember if an interior drainage system was also installed

walls/cracks got worse and some leaks continued so they hired someone who supposedly excavated the exterior, 2 walls

i doubt they excavated all the way down to footing but even if they did, the walls were not ‘waterproofed’. All i can see they did was install a dimpled membrane which, is not waterproofing

so lots of money $ spent on carbon fiber straps and excavation and problems continued

Pages 6 and 7… most successful repair method is… NOT an INT system, is not carbon fiber straps and so on

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