WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE AND WHY?
Patrick J. Morrissey
Promoting SIP vs ROAR - Stabilize-In-Place vs Rip-Out-And-Replace for Sustainable Maintenance of the Built Environment
WHO - Specifiers and contractors involved in masonry restoration including their clients, both Public and Private.
WHAT - Structural Stabilization, Strengthening, Anchoring including Pre and Post Seismic retrofit.
WHEN - As needed but the sooner the better. we all now it doesn't get any cheaper tomorrow!
WHERE - Every deficiency no matter how small or large which can and will contribute to the demise of the underlying fabric of our buildings and structures.
WHY - It's always about the money but it has to start being about the environmental impact on our structures and not just the roads and bridges even though they suffer some of the greatest restoration needs in our history.
The reason for this now is due to the ongoing confusion on the difference between a wall tie and a wall anchor, especially as it relates to Cavity Wall construction.
HeliFix, for example in addition to providing fire resistant wall ties/anchors provides;
- HeliFix DryFix - Flexible Wall Tie (Tension)
- HeliFix CemTie - Semi Flexible Wall Tie (Tension)
- HeliFix SockFix - Rigid Wall Tie and Anchor (Tension & Shear)
While all three can be used in solid wall masonry construction the DryFix and the SockFix are suitable for Cavity Wall applications as can be seen below.
HeliFix is just one solution there are now numerous socked anchors in the market including Cintec, VoidSpan, Gruenstark, and others which only confirms the return to the cement based anchoring which is now being preferred by many restoration engineers.
Thoughts and comments appreciated.