Brick and morter issue

[Bryan]

I did a 3 year warranty inspection last week on a home with brick and cement siding. All of the exterior finishes had issues; however, on the east elevation of the home about 4 feet up there was a row of bricks with the head joint full of sand and covered by a thin layer of mortar. The head joint mortar was already failing and there was a horizontal crack in the mortar joint above. The question is, short of a very poor installation, why would the head joints be full of sand?

Bryan

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[hausdok]

The "sand" is just mortar that's gone to Aunt Sadie's.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[Bryan]

The "sand" is just mortar that's gone to Aunt Sadie's.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

Mike, I don't think so. I could dig the whole joint out and it looked like pure mason sand and you could tell where they had "caped off" the joint on the exterior.

Bryan

[AHI in AR]

Here's my guess as a former builder: The mason's laborer mixed a batch of mortar very quickly/poorly. The material at the edges of the batch wasn't well integrated. In other words, you had a crappy batch of mortar. The mason using the mortar didn't care enough to have the mortar mixed more thoroughly...after all, the problem wouldn't show up until long after he had been paid and gone home.

[Jim Katen]

It's a secret door. When enough of the sand flows out, it allow a tumbler to fall and counterweights then cause the entire wall to pivot, revealing the zombie army that's waiting behind it.

[Phillip]

Jim are you sitting at home alone, watching Halloween movies?[][:-dev3][:-bonc01]

[Jim Katen]

Jim are you sitting at home alone, watching Halloween movies?[][:-dev3][:-bonc01]

Not at all. I've organized a loose confederation of neighbors and we're making preparations for the zombie holocaust.

- Jim in Oregon