We are in the process of improving the ventilation in the house and are therefore opening up a couple of ventilation holes in the interior walls in the basement. The first holes went well, but the second hole we encountered the reinforcement bars that I was close to cutting through impulsively. But I managed to check myself and take a step back when I realized that it might not be the best place for a ventilation hole?
There are 2 reinforcement bars, one on each side, and if you tug at them a little, one feels a bit loose, which is perhaps not surprising considering how much I chiseled away.
But the question here is, if you cut away the reinforcement, can this become a risk construction where the lintel above the door might crash down on your head? Maybe it's safest to fill the holes with cement again and place it a little further away (even though it has other drawbacks)?
Another option is to leave the reinforcement as is but chisel out to the other side with a chisel and skip the pipe; however, it will be much harder to keep clean.
Reinforcement bars are part of a concrete structure that help prevent it from cracking. But there is nothing "magical" about them - they are usually not used to "stretch" the structure, I would say.
So if the wall is otherwise okay to make holes in (i.e., is not load-bearing/damaged significantly by it), then it should not be a major issue if you take the reinforcement too. However, a bar being "loose" is perhaps not so good, as air/moisture could get in, which in the long run might corrode it...but for an internal wall, I find it hard to believe it would happen so quickly, though...
You could see that the reinforcement is a bit rusty, but it was minimal and might have been like that when it was laid down. I'll check on it again, but I got the impression that it ended a little bit to the right of the hole if you're standing inside the storage room.
I've noted earlier that the lintel has cracked all the way on the left side where the cable goes. I chose to use tec7 just because it was likely to crack again otherwise.
You can also see that it has cracked a bit on the right side and that at some point someone tried to patch it up. But my impression is that it doesn't go all the way through there.
So how should one approach this? Cut the reinforcement and install the vent, or should it be filled back in and cut a new opening further away, even if it's less favorable for ventilation?
Rebar is part of a concrete structure that helps prevent it from cracking. But there's nothing "magical" about them per se - they're not usually used to "tension" the structure, I would say.
So if it's okay to make holes in the wall otherwise (i.e., it's not load-bearing/damaged) then it shouldn't be too much of an issue if you also remove the rebar. However, a "loose" bar isn't great because air/moisture might get in, which could eventually corrode it...but for an inner wall, I doubt it would happen quickly anyway...
Reinforcement is primarily used to increase tensile strength in a concrete structure. Concrete can withstand pressure but not tensile loads.
Isn't it just a leca beam over the doorway? They usually have iron in them like that. If there aren't any special point loads above the door, it shouldn't be critical in that case.
The rebar is in the LECA block, there is no mortar inside the LECA block. A few centimeters of plaster have been applied on the outside of the LECA blocks.
LECA blocks don't weigh very much, but the plaster weighs a bit, though I believe the weight on the lintel above the door isn't particularly high. However, if it were to fall on one's head, it would cause a troublesome situation.
Even if the LECA block were to crack at the edge by the door on the right side (seen from the inside), it will rest on approximately 7-10 cm of rebar. Is it possible that there are two rebars above the hole I've cut?
To remove the rebar in the hole, I plan to use a reciprocating saw with a metal blade, that should do the job quickly and easily, right? The downside is, of course, that I have to chip around a bit to access the rebar. I need to continue cutting the hole straight through, so the rebar has to be cut far enough in that it doesn't interfere with the saw.
The wall runs perpendicular to the house, so I suspect it is not a load-bearing wall, the house above has a wooden frame.
Most of you seem to suggest that this is not a problem?
You have just cut the reinforcement in a beam supporting the floor above the door. Hope you don't have any significant loads there to cause problems for you.
You have just cut the reinforcement in a beam that supports the floor above the door. Hope you don't have any significant loads there that could cause issues for you.
I can't imagine it has any significance for the construction above; what might possibly be the issue is if the lintel over the door falls down, but that seems unlikely, as many others here have also said. After all, there's about 10 cm of reinforcing bar left on the right side of the lintel (viewed from the inside).
On the entrance floor, there's a bathroom\toilet here, but there's no wall or anything similar standing right there. However, the wall to the left in the picture that shows from inside the room (or to the right in the picture from outside) is load-bearing, and that wall goes all the way up to the roof on the entrance floor.
But I have one more hole to make in the basement in another wall that I know is load-bearing, and unfortunately, it's likely that I will encounter reinforcing bars there too, but if I place the hole closer to a corner, it should be fine.
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Matti_75 said: