O/T who does concrete block/cement work on here?

earlschieb · Mar 31, 2011

Bought a home in Southern Ohio along the Ohio River, not in the flood plain, but anyway. This is a 2 story concrete block building, with the whole first floor being a garage. I am going to put my tools, my Farmall H, and my Little Genius plow in it. My questions are, this building has what appears to be a concrete block ceiling/floor combo, as in, the ceiling of the garage is concrete block, but I see nothing holding it together, or inside of it to hold it together, and I need to put heating ducts through it and need to know if it safe to do so.

Any ideas? This place was built in about 1958, and has a 3 bedroom home in the second story. Thanks for any help.
Picture here of the ceiling and wall

Nebraska Cowman · Mar 31, 2011

I'll be darned. There has to be steel joists between the rows of blocks me thinks.

earlschieb · Mar 31, 2011

No visible means of support, nothing through the outer walls.
Pic of the building

S2710 · Mar 31, 2011

Earl like cowman says there have to be steel beams where the joints are or it would not stay up. If you could talk to a local contractor he may be able to shed some light on the subject.
Bob

earlschieb · Mar 31, 2011

The problem I am running into is that everyone who has looked at it has said, Huh? What? How did he do that? I just had a concrete man, who has done block, and cement for 30 years say he doesn't have a clue.

Pete in MD · Mar 31, 2011

Can you go to the county and see if they still have building plans on file?

My guess is after the walls were built up to the first floor level a temporary false work ceiling was installed. The ceiling blocks were set on the false work, rebar was put in the block cells and concrete was placed in the cells and over the top of the blocks.

jim in N M · Mar 31, 2011

I'll bet that the mason floor (Upper) is poured concrete and the pour was supported by a type of form that is used just like box culverts are done.If you look close you can see the concrete oozing down on the edges, The block was laid down to keep the floor from being to thick or heavy. I'd bet the blocks are 4in ,not 8 in....Also the blocks could have had a hole busted in each to get a "Bite" on the blocks.I'd be interested what you do find out !!..HTH....Jim in N M

oldironman · Mar 31, 2011

Prestressed cable. Do not drill though the blocks and break the cable.

Phil in Pa · Mar 31, 2011

I would suggest not cutting any major holes in it. Even in modern concrete decks we x-ray to avoid the critical rebar in order to cut a hole.

Unfortunately I know this from missing one in a hospital floor, and having to cut it in after the fact.

earlschieb · Mar 31, 2011

Ok, but what is the cable hooked to? Nothing goes through the sides of the building.

DH in Carolina · Mar 31, 2011

I would say that there was a temporary support covered with plywood used to hold up the blocks which are not whole blocks but halves. Rebar or reforcing wire layed on top and concrete was poured. Kinda like metal decking is used today. After concrete set up the supports were removed. DH

oldironman · Apr 1, 2011

If you look close you can see that there is a space between the blocks and the wall. There is a steel plate on the end of the blocks and the cable is past though a hole in the plate and stressed.
They are most likely filled with cement too.

O/T who does concrete block/cement work on here?

earlschieb

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