Abstract:
A below ground wall anchoring and straightening device including a horizontally disposed elongate rod member and an earth anchor secured to one end of the rod member. An elongate wall brace plate is attached intermediate its ends to the other end of the rod member and a wall brace plate extends upright in its direction of elongation and this elongate plate is secured at its bottom end to a base portion of the wall structure to be straightened. The rod member includes a fastener for engaging the rod member and thereby pressing the elongate plate against the wall to anchor and straighten the wall.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates generally to an apparatus and method for straightening a basement wall which has been pushed in by hydrostatic pressure, and more particularly to a straightening apparatus and method which utilizes an anchoring device. 
     A very common problem with many below ground basement walls is that water tends to build up on the outside of such basement walls which causes a very high hydrostatic pressure against the wall. If this pressure becomes significant, it causes the wall to be pushed into the basement to some extent. Commonly, a large horizontal crack will appear in the wall. Besides the obvious problem of the unsightly nature of the crack, it will also permit water into the basement and if the hydrostatic pressure continues to increase the wall could eventually collapse. 
     The most common accepted methods and apparatus for straightening a basement wall are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,189,891 and 4,970,835. 
     The former patent relates to a method for anchoring and straightening a wall wherein a hole is formed in the ground at a distance from the wall and an opening is provided in the wall from the inside below ground level. Then an elongated rod member is positioned through the opening in the wall and forced through the ground so that one end of the member extends into the hole previously formed. An anchor structure, such as an anchor plate, is secured to one end of the rod member in the hole, and a wall plate is attached to the other end of the elongated rod member inside and against the wall. The wall plate is then forced against the wall by use of a threaded attaching mechanism for thereby straightening the wall. 
     The wall anchoring and straightening device of the latter referenced patent is in many ways similar, but eliminates the need for digging the hole into the earth at a spaced distance from the wall. This device comprises a horizontal elongated rod member having a chisel point end which is driven through the foundation wall into the earth and carries a plurality of pivotal spade arms adjacent the chisel point. The end of the rod member which is positioned at the interior of the wall is provided with threads. In similar fashion a wall plate is forced against the wall by a nut which is tightened to pull the rod member and chisel arm and spade arms closer to the foundation wall which thereby firmly causes the spade arms to spread and dig in to the surrounding earth to provide an anchor. Further tightening of the nut causes the wall plate to be forced against the wall and to straighten the wall. 
     The present invention pertains to an improvement on these two prior art methods and apparatus for anchoring and straightening a below ground wall. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The below ground wall anchoring and straightening device of the present invention also, as is the case with the prior art systems, incorporates a horizontally disposed elongate rod member and an earth anchoring means or mechanism secured to one end of the rod member. This earth anchoring means may of course be of either type as mentioned in the referenced patents. 
     The apparatus and method of the present invention is characterized in that instead of using the conventional wall plate described by the prior art, the apparatus and method of the present invention utilizes an elongate wall brace plate. This wall brace plate extends upright in its direction of the elongation and includes a securing means or mechanism at its bottom end for securing the bottom end of the elongate wall brace plate to a base portion of the wall structure. Then, as before, a fastener engages the rod member and presses the elongate plate against the wall to be anchored and straightened. 
     The advantage is that the plate is elongate, usually over seven feet tall, and is secured at its bottom end to a base portion of the wall and this wall brace plate is of sufficient rigidity to thereby anchor, brace and straighten the wall for its entire height, whereas the backup plates of the prior art structures engage only a small portion of the wall and accordingly did not guarantee complete and full straightening and anchoring and bracing of the wall as is accomplished by the apparatus and method of the present invention. 
     The elongate wall brace plate is preferably constructed of a rigid steel strip which has a vertical slot therein to adjustably receive the rod member therethrough. Normally the fastener device for pressuring the plate against the wall is a threaded nut, but other acceptable fastening devices may be utilized. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     Since the present invention is an improvement in the structure and methods of U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,189,891 and 4,970,835, the following drawings are extracted from these patent references and are appropriately modified to illustrate the principals of the present invention, thereby rendering it more easy to comprehend the improvements of the present invention. 
     Other objects and advantages appear hereinafter in the following description and claims. The accompanying drawings show, for the purpose of exemplification, without limiting the invention or appended claims, certain practical embodiments of the present invention wherein: 
     FIG. 1 is a cross sectional view of a basement wall which has been pushed in by hydrostatic pressure forces; 
     FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of an anchoring apparatus utilized in the present invention; 
     FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view similar to that of FIG. 1, but showing an initial positioning of the anchoring apparatus of FIG. 2 as utilized in the present invention; 
     FIG. 4 is a view in front elevation illustrating the structure of the present invention as shown in FIG. 3 from inside the basement wall; 
     FIG. 5 is a cross sectional view similar to FIG. 3, but showing the relative positions of the wall and anchoring device after straightening of the wall has been accomplished. 
     FIG. 6 is an exploded view in side elevation of a different or modified anchoring apparatus utilized in the present invention; and 
     FIG. 7 is a cross sectional view of a basement wall which has been pushed in by hydrostatic pressure forces and has applied thereto the apparatus of the present invention as illustrated in FIG.  6 . 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Referring now to the drawings wherein like reference numerals designate identical or corresponding parts throughout the several views, FIG. 1 shows a wall  10  which has been pushed inwardly because of hydrostatic forces against the exterior thereof as indicated by the force arrows  11 . A building  12 , such as a house, rests on top of the basement wall  10  and a concrete slab  13  supports the bottom of the wall  10 . The numeral  14  designates the earth around the basement wall  10 . Attention is directed to the crack  15  in the wall  10  which can allow water from within the ground  14  to seep into the basement and which crack  15  also can become large enough due to hydrostatic forces  11  to cause the entire wall  10  to collapse within the basement. 
     Referring now to FIG. 2 an anchoring structure  16  is shown. The anchoring structure includes a shaft or elongate rod member  17  which is externally threaded on the ends  18  and  19 . An anchoring plate  20 , comprised of a pair of plates  21  and  22  welded together, has an opening  23  disposed centrally thereof. A pair of flanges  24  are welded to the plate  22  and are spaced so as to allow a nut  25  to be received therein and held from rotating so that the rod member  17  can be threaded into the nut  25 , thereby securing the anchoring plate structure  20  to the rod member  17 . An elongated upright wall brace plate  26  is provided for the other end of the rod member  17  and includes a central vertical slot  27  for allowing the end  19  of the rod member  17  to extend therethrough. A washer  28  and an internally threaded nut structure  29  is provided for holding the wall plate  26  from moving outwardly with respect to the rod member  17  once the nut  29  is threadably received on the threads  19  of the rod member  17 . 
     In order to straighten the wall  10  shown in FIG. 1, a hole  30  is first dug into the earth  14  as is shown in FIG.  3 . Then from inside of the basement  31 , an opening must be formed through the crack  15  to allow the rod member  17  to be driven therethrough so that the end  18  extends into the hole  30 . Normally this would require the use of a drill or chisel or the like in order to make an opening through the crack  15 , but it is entirely possible that an opening large enough to receive the shaft  16  would already be present if the wall  10  had buckled to a large degree. Once the rod member  17  is driven inwardly to the position shown in FIG. 3, then the nut  25  is utilized by placing it between the flanges  24 , aligning it with the threads  18  of the rod member  17  and then rotating the entire anchoring plate structure  20  so that the nut  25  is firmly secured onto the rod member  17 . While this is a preferred embodiment of the invention, it is to be understood that other anchoring structures could be used instead of the specific anchoring structure  20  shown, as will be explained in more detail hereinafter, and likewise fastening structures other than the threaded one shown by threads  18  and nut  25  can be utilized to secure such anchoring structure to the rod member  17  and still be within the inventive concept of this invention. 
     The next step for straightening the wall  10  is then to slide the elongate wall brace plate  26  onto the rod member  17  such that the slot  27  surrounds the threads  19  of the rod member  17 . Then the washer  28  is placed over the end  19  of the rod member  17  and the nut  29  is threaded onto the threads  19  resulting in the structure as substantially shown in FIG.  3 . Next, the foot  40  at the bottom end plate  26  is secured with concrete bolts  41  to concrete slab  13  at an interior base portion of wall  10 . 
     Once the structure shown in FIG. 2 has been positioned substantially as shown in FIG. 3, then a large wrench (not shown) or the like is utilized to thread the nut  29  further onto the threads  19  of the rod member  17  so as to force the wall plate  26  towards the wall  10  and thereby force the wall  10  back to the straight position as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. At such time then the hole  30  can be refilled and the job is complete. 
     Elongate wall brace plate  26  is a stiff steel plate provided with forged elongate stiffening ribs  36  to further stiffen the plate. 
     Referring to FIGS. 6 and 7, similar elements are indicated with the same reference numerals. With the exception of the innovative elongate wall brace plate  26  and method of attachment utilized for the present invention, this embodiment otherwise follows the teachings of prior art reference U.S. Pat. No. 4,970,835. 
     Here the anchoring structure  16  comprises a hollow horizontally disposed elongate rod member  17  with a pointed chisel end  30  that is threadably engaged with the elongate threaded rod member  17 . A sleeve  31  is provided to be inserted through the foundation wall  10 , if desired, as a sealing means, but rubber grommets  32   a  and  32   b  may be optionally used as a wall sealing means. The sleeve  31  and/or grommets  32   a ,  32   b , are provided for arrangement on the elongate threaded rod member  17  at an opening bored through the foundation wall  10 . The hollow tube  17  carries pivotal spade arms  21 ′ and  22 ′, which are trough-shaped and arranged to pivot away from hollow tube  31  for anchoring engagement with the earth. At the opposite end of threaded elongate rod member  17 , an elongate upright wall brace plate  26  of the present invention is provided to be placed against the interior of foundation wall  10  so that nut  29  may be threadably tightened on the threaded rod member  17  to pull the hollow tube  31  toward the foundation wall and thereby fully pivot the pivotal spade arms  21 ′ and  22 ′ outwardly to dig into the earth as is more fully explained in U.S. Pat. No. 4,970,835. 
     In this embodiment, elongate wall brace plate  26  is a steel plate of greater thickness than that illustrated in the previous figures and accordingly is not provided with the forged elongate stiffening ribs  36 . Also, in this embodiment, as is best illustrated in FIG. 7, the securing means or mechanism at the bottom foot  40  of elongate plate  26  is secured directly to the foundation support  37  for wall  10  instead of to the slab floor  13 . In this embodiment, the outer edge of slab floor  13  has been removed to expose foundation support  37 , which is commonly done in any regard to provide drainage for any water which finds its way to the interior of the wall  10 . 
     In practice, the threaded elongate rod member  17  is driven into the soil  14  through the opening provided in wall  10  and on into the adjacent earth, then the elongate brace plate  26  of the present invention is applied together with securing nut  29  and foot  40  is secured with bolts  41  to foundation  37 . Securing nut  29  is then turned against elongate brace plate  26  which causes the spade arms  21 ′ and  22 ′ to be pulled inwardly towards wall  10  and in turn causes the spade arms  21 ′ and  22 ′ to spread and securely anchor the distal end of rod member  17  into earth  14 . Further engagement and securing of nut  29  then causes elongate plate  24  to press against the interior of wall  10  for substantially its full height causing the wall to be straightened.