Help with cracked brick on duplex (pictures)

[lfrankl1]

Hello,

The duplex is a small ranch with all brick. Built in 1979. Walking around the outside I noticed several cracks. Most seem to be coming from the corner of a window all the way to the ground. Cracks aren't big, but there's are at least 5 around the entire duplex.

Any input would be great.

Thanks!

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[kurt]

Just a quick guess, but those drop sills (same width as opening, as opposed to lug sills that extend past the opening) let water into the wall....water in the brick could be freezing and causing some of the movement that's cracking the brick.

Or, there's incremental settlement in the foundation/footing and you're seeing it in the veneer. Are there any foundation cracks in the basement indicating movement?

Show us some establishing shots; a bunch of close ups isn't showing the whole story. Patio cracks are not likely related to the "problem", but they could be...show us an establishing shot of the effected area.

Also, Great Stuff/Crazy Foam is not masonry repair material; dig it out and repair the joints with mortar.

[John Kogel]

Yes, the repairs look worse than the cracks do.

The crack above the crawlspace vent Pic 2 is interesting, because it changes direction. I would be inclined to think it is minor cracking of the veneer. We don't know what is behind the brick veneer, but it could be wood frame. If so, some cracks of that type would be normal, caused by some minor settlement.

[Marc]

Yes, the repairs look worse than the cracks do.

The crack above the crawlspace vent Pic 2 is interesting, because it changes direction. I would be inclined to think it is minor cracking of the veneer. We don't know what is behind the brick veneer, but it could be wood frame. If so, some cracks of that type would be normal, caused by some minor settlement.

Normal? Ain't nothing normal about it.

Marc

[Tom Raymond]

It's a rambling ranch set up as a double. I bet it's over 100' long. The veneer has room to expand above the rowlocks but not below them. There should have been expansion joints every 25 to 30 feet.

[kurt]

Normal? Ain't nothing normal about it.

Marc

Looks normal to me. Raymond's explanation is probably as close as any of our guesses. Unless there's something we can't see in the foundation, looks like the normal crappy (no flashing, no expansion joints) brick veneer job to me.

[AHI in AR]

The texture of that brick looks odd. Are they possibly concrete? If so, it's definitely more susceptible to expansion/contraction cracking. A little of that was sold around here in the 90's. Masons hated it since you had to place a lot of expansion joints to minimize cracking.

[Marc]

Normal? Ain't nothing normal about it.

Marc

Looks normal to me. Raymond's explanation is probably as close as any of our guesses. Unless there's something we can't see in the foundation, looks like the normal crappy (no flashing, no expansion joints) brick veneer job to me.

Different semantics. I don't tell any client that brick veneer cracks that bad is 'normal'.

I can understand how 'normal' could be taken in a different way on this forum.

Marc