Internal brick wall moves when pushed

[champy]

When your house was built there should have been wall ties every 4 courses at opening jambs as this is a weak point in the wall.
When box frames were used the inner wall wasn't returned as the frame closed the cavity. Your's looks like the frame sat behind the external wall which formed a recessed jamb. That's why the inner wall has had some timber to make up the gap.
I've rebuilt loads of jambs in this situation to return the inner wall, but the wall needs ties to the external skin as the inner skin would be separated from the external by a strip of 6 inch DPC.
On modern houses you only have a bit of plastic closing the cavity.

That is a very early cavity wall, possibly they didn't know what they were doing when they built it! A few remedial ties would steady it up and then it should be good for another 100 years. The original windows probably helped hold it all steady.

Thanks for the response guys, this is exactly what I thought. The downstairs section of the same wall had the cavity open in the same way when I was re-plastering (the wall was solid though), I could see all the way down the cavity in to next door. I could also see brick ties that had rusted to nothing, so they had been used, They looked like these top ones:



Would these remedial ties be alright:

https://www.twistfix.co.uk/remedial-ties-helical

 

[stuart45]

Those are the kind of things that are used. Those thicker ties often lift the bed joints when they rust showing cracks in the facework.

 

[vinn]

OP,
concentrating on the room at the front of the house:

The external view looks fine - no bulging or cracks to be seen. However, remedial pointing has previously taken place.
In the room, there's a distinct crack in the inside corner between the partition and the external wall.
The "stones" detail is spanning both walls across the cavity.
The wall plate will sit on top of the "stones" - & the upper ceiling joists and roof rafters should be fixed to the wall plate.
How the "loft room" floor joists might tie-in with the above I obviously dont know. - the loft floor joists might actually be the ceiling joists or separate, larger section joists?

You could, as suggested above, strap the joists & rafter tails down to the brickwork.
You could also use the Twistfix ties (or similar) in conjunction with the straps - taking care not disturb the loose brickwork further.

When the panel of brickwork is secured you could rake out and point up the interior wall.

On site I would definitely want to open up & see whats happening at the wall plate/joists/rafters area.

 

[champy]

OP,
concentrating on the room at the front of the house:

The external view looks fine - no bulging or cracks to be seen. However, remedial pointing has previously taken place.
In the room, there's a distinct crack in the inside corner between the partition and the external wall.
The "stones" detail is spanning both walls across the cavity.
The wall plate will sit on top of the "stones" - & the upper ceiling joists and roof rafters should be fixed to the wall plate.
How the "loft room" floor joists might tie-in with the above I obviously dont know. - the loft floor joists might actually be the ceiling joists or separate, larger section joists?

You could, as suggested above, strap the joists & rafter tails down to the brickwork.
You could also use the Twistfix ties (or similar) in conjunction with the straps - taking care not disturb the loose brickwork further.

When the panel of brickwork is secured you could rake out and point up the interior wall.

On site I would definitely want to open up & see whats happening at the wall plate/joists/rafters area.

Thanks for all the info, really appreciate it.

How can you tell remedial pointing has taken place?

I'm 99% sure I caused the crack between the wall and partition when I was pushing the wall back and forth, the partition upright isn't attached to the wall in anyway.

I'll use twistfix for now, as there should be ties in anyway, they've just corroded away. The only room we're occupying is the loft we're nearly finished decorating the back room, when we have we'll move in there and i'll pull up the loft floor and fix things down, should I just use screws and plugs, or bolts and sleeves?

 

[vinn]

Simply plug & screw the strappings to the wall(s) & screw them into the woodwork.

Remedial because they selectively pointed certain areas not the whole elevation.

Depending on how well constructed the partition is you could also tie-in the partition to the wall?

 

[champy]

Simply plug & screw the strappings to the wall(s) & screw them into the woodwork.

Remedial because they selectively pointed certain areas not the whole elevation.

Depending on how well constructed the partition is you could also tie-in the partition to the wall?

Ah I'm with you, the whole front elevation was repointed with lime mortar a few months ago, they ground out the beds. I think it's just the angle of the photo that makes it look half done.

Thanks for all the advice, whats the best way to tie the partition in after the fact? Some sort of corner bracket that is then plastered over?

 

[vinn]

google: restraint straps and/or wall plate ties.

 

[stuart45]

Shame you just had it repointed, as with your type of wall tie they often need removing to stop them expanding when rusty and lifting the brickwork.

 

[champy]

Thanks for all the advice guys, I got the twistfix ties and started putting them in (accrington brick takes forever to drill), i've done about 5 so far as per the instructions (max 220mm from opening and 300mm vertical). The wall stiffened up immediately after the first one, however it still moves 1-2mm now. Should I just keep adding ties horizontally until it all tightens up? i'd be going past the partition wall in to the other room.