What are these metal things sticking out from my basement walls? Can they be removed? If so, how?
Walls – Why are there metal tabs protruding from the poured concrete foundation walls
basementconcretewalls
Related Solutions
We had an almost identical situation in a former garage that we refinished to be an office. Our contractor suggested this and we liked the result: he installed a piece of wood about an inch out from the concrete, putting insulation between them and keeping the wood a consistent and level height - a little higher than the concrete. I can't remember if it was pink fluffy insulation or spray stuff. Then a shelf about 6 inches out from the wall - nice and level by being a bit up from the concrete and supported by the vertical wood, and there's insulation under the shelf too. The whole thing is a good looking clear pine and is well varnished.
Looking from the side gives an idea of the distance from the wall:
The shelf runs around the entire room and is remarkably useful for something so low. It hides all the lumpy bumpy aspects of the concrete and while it's not something you see everywhere, no-one has ever mentioned it so it can't be that unusual.
My house was also built around this time, and I have concrete walls under the tiny bed of sheetrock and paint. Back then materials as such were not as expensive and there was more of the material source, thus they used those source materials. As the country grew in numbers (people) certain materials became expensive and may have taken too long to set, so they went with the cheap route of using wood, thus making building a house much faster as well with putting little to no heart in the work. I'm proud to have a house built by a Masonry and for me I find it much safer, having a fireplace and all that could start a house fire if not properly cleaned/maintained. The above statements are merely more of an observation/my thoughts. Here is a link that might interest you. Why Concrete?
Related Topic
- Concrete – What are these metal tags attached to the poured concrete basement wall
- Concrete – Guidelines for poured concrete over corrugated metal
- Concrete – How to attach wooden shelf ledgers to concrete foundation walls
- Walls – Why are cabinets / shelves not built into more walls
- Concrete – What are these metal flaps protruding from the garage’s concrete sidewall
- Basement – What’s this framed concrete rectangle in the unfinished basement
- Walls – ny way to tell if these walls are load bearing from the blueprints
Best Answer
They look like the form clips where large forms were held in place to pour the walls. They can be handy as anchors if you add furring strips to drywall the walls instead of drilling for supports. They were just there for the pour and can be removed.