Support for new brick facade

[Inspectorjoe]

Setting a radon monitor yesterday for a Friday inspection, gave me a chance to get a bit of a heads-up on an unusual house.

I'm told the original portion of the building was built in 1980, as a Cape Cod. Recently, a full second story was added. The front is brick, the remainder is vinyl.

The new brick facade is supported on a narrow concrete 'foundation' (for lack of a better word). At the one area where an end is exposed, it's not attached to the original concrete foundation. You can see 10-12 inches into this area. No ties are visible. It doesn't appear that anything has moved. There are some hairline cracks in the new foundation, but none in the mortar joints of the brick. There are weep holes in the brick, but no flashing. That's not an unusual find around here.

I've never seen an added brick facade supported by concrete like this; they're typically supported by angle iron. I'm not sure if this is a problem. Is anyone familiar with this?

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[kurt]

My guess is the original builder "forgot" the brick ledge, and improvised.

If I was writing a report, I'd be all over it. Looks like crap to me.

[hausdok]

Hi,

I'm guessing that the new brick ledger is probably sitting directly on the outside edge of that footer. It may have been anchored to the original foundation wall with mollys but there's no way, short of asking the builder, how it's been done. In your area, I'd be pretty concerned about the potential for uplift caused by freezing soils.

OT - OF!!!

M.

[Eric B]

Well I would think that it's safe to think that the brick is not original to the house. Addition is recent - I'd expect the brick is too. I wouldn't even hint to my client that it might not be a problem. Put the burden on someone else to prove what this installation is all about. It's unorthodox and is questionable - it's all I would need to raise the question.