Gap between wall and foundation - InspectionNews

wes owens · #1 (**permalink**) 10-16-2009, 06:19 PM

Found this today.

A gap between the brick veneer wall and the concrete foundation blocks.

There was daylight shining through the gap into the crawlspace, and when I crawled out and looked at the exterior wall, there is a crack in the brick at the same area.

Short of recommending a S.E. evaluate it, what could I recommend for repairs?

Gunnar Alquist · #2 (**permalink**) 10-16-2009, 06:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wes owens

Found this today. A gap betwee n the brick veneer wall and the concrete foundation blocks. There was daylight shining through the gap into the crawlspace, and when I crawled out and looked at the exterior wall, there is a crack in the brick at the same area. Short of recommending a S.E. evaluate it, what could I recommend for repairs?

If this is not structural and there is no other problem, such as cracked or settling foundation, defer to a masonry contractor.

Jerry Peck · #3 (**permalink**) 10-16-2009, 06:42 PM

Wes,

Someone forget that those had to be fully filled with concrete, and have a proper brick ledge on top, and not expose the interior cells to collect water, and the block head joints are not even fully bedded as required, and ... (it just keeps getting worse the longer one looks at it)

wes owens · #4 (**permalink**) 10-16-2009, 06:47 PM

Looking at my post I realized I forgot to mention that there are several cracks in the brick in different areas around the home.

The crack starts below the adjacent window and extends down to the top of the concrete block where the gap is at.

It is the widest at the gap between the block and the bottom of the brick wall.

It looks like the gap was trying to spread because there is no support under the bottom of the brick wall due to the gap between the wall and the concrete block.

wes owens · #5 (**permalink**) 10-16-2009, 06:49 PM

So what would you recommend for repairs?

Could filling in the gap prevent further cracking in the brick?

Jerry Peck · #6 (**permalink**) 10-16-2009, 07:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wes owens

So what would you recommend for repairs?

*I* would not recommend repairs, I would recommend ...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gunnar Alquist

defer to a masonry contractor

... for their repairs.

As I am seeing the photos, I suspect it will be costly to repair, and possibly quite involved.

I'm thinking taking the brick out around the bottom in sections, digging out whatever is in the block (looks like mortar), making sure there is steel in it, properly filling with concrete, may even need to cut the webs out to make bond beam block, forming a proper brick ledge, then relaying the brick to the supported section. repeat around the entire house.

wes owens · #7 (**permalink**) 10-16-2009, 07:13 PM

That does sound expensive.

Richard Pultar · #8 (**permalink**) 10-16-2009, 10:24 PM

remove and replace , any repair is useless..
what would Holmes do ?

Randy Aldering · #9 (**permalink**) 10-19-2009, 03:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wes owens

Short of recommending a S.E. evaluate it, what could I recommend for repairs?

Recommend further evaluation by a structural engineer, your original idea it seems. Nothing less. It appears to be a disconnect, jack, and replace job. Only the S.E. is likely to be able to hammer that home.

Ted Menelly · #10 (**permalink**) 10-19-2009, 04:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Randy Aldering

Recommend further evaluation by a structural engineer, your original idea it seems. Nothing less. It appears to be a disconnect, jack, and replace job. Only the S.E. is likely to be able to hammer that home.

Either an SE or at the least a foundation company. I fr one think an SE is overkill. Foundation comaonies deal with settling concerns and draw up repairs every day of the week. A foundation company can evaluate and also give a quote for repairs. The old addage that you should not have the foundation company do the eval because they are looking for the foundation repair job. I don't hold to that in the slightest. Almost everyone gets at least 2 if not three estimates for repair so the FC is going to be as straight on as possible.

Call for a foundation company to come and take some measurements and visual eval for repairs

"You can see daylight straight into the crawl" "there are cracks on all sides of the home"

Yes a furhter eval and estimate for repairs in definately necessary and yes it is structural.