Located in Coogee in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, this 1920s double storey apartment had suffered from a glaringly obvious structural problem for years. On one elevation, the walls were bulging and bowing.

Many local Eastern Suburbs building companies had recommended immediate repair but their methods had been unreasonably expensive and time consuming. As a result, the owner of the apartment block had delayed remedial action far too long.

Cracks had begun forming in the bulging wall. The owner could wait no longer and sought out our expertise and special techniques for repair.

The corrosion of remedial wall ties is more common in the Eastern Suburbs and Northern Beaches of Sydney than anywhere else in Australia.

Close proximity to the sea, constant exposure to salty sea air and the manner by which many 1920s residential constructions were built have been major contributing factors to corrosion.

Our client's apartment building in Coogee was no exception.

The age of our client's building, the location and obvious bulging of the wall was enough to confirm this. The double skin brick apartment wall was also cracking.

To stop the wall from bulging further and possibly breaking apart, we recommended remedial wall tie replacement. Our client went ahead with the plan immediately.

By using HelicalBars™, our proprietary crack stitching and wall tie replacement system, we were able to repair the bulging wall without removing a single brick.

While the Coogee apartment block was double storey, we didn't require any scaffolding to repair the bulging wall. By simply using ladders, our technicians were able to get where they needed on the wall to drill 5mm holes into the brick.

Brand new HelicalBars™ were inserted through the holes in the outer wall, through the cavity and attached to the inner wall for support and stability.

Before contacting us, one of the recommendations the owner had received, was to knock down the entire outer wall and completely rebuild it.

Implementing this technique would have required tenants of the building to move out for an extended period of time. He would have had to hire builders, engineers, bricklayers and dozens of labourers to fix his wall. This solution would have cost our client a fortune.

With our help, our client didn't need to do any of this.

Our solution cost a tiny fraction of what it would have to knock down and rebuild the wall. With our HelicalBars™ and modern, progressive techniques, a team of 2 technicians were able to repair our client's bulging wall in 2 days.

A bowing or bulging wall on a strata building usually comes down to the ties, not the bricks. A free assessment measures the lean, checks the ties and tells the committee exactly what is holding the wall and what is not.