Crack in brick

wiz561 · 08-06-2011, 11:02 AM

Hi,

I was hoping to get some opinions on if this is bad or not. On the one corner of my house, there's a small (hairline) crack in the brick that runs up about three bricks high. We just had our house built and I'd say that the bricks are about 10 months old. They are just a veneer. There are no cracks on the inside of the house, and there are no visible cracks in the foundation.

Is this bad? Is there a fix? I'm thinking that because the crack starts at where the brick hangs off the foundation, that it may not be terrible and just not enough support for the brick there. I'm no expert, but there are people on here that are.

Here are some pics.

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TrapperL · 08-06-2011, 11:33 AM

You need to turn in a written warranty request to the builder. Whoever for whatever reason almost missed the brick lug with the brick. This is going to be an on going deteriorating process if not addressed. While the brick is a cosmetic, it weights a lot and this is sloppy work at best. We figure a strap of brick at 700 lbs. A cube, which is a pallet, has 4 straps. A strap of brick covers 25 sq ft normally. So an 8' tall wall by 3' long weighs 700 lbs prox plus the mortar. If the builder decides to add on to the foundation for a bigger brick lug, make sure to get an engineers letter BEFORE the work starts. Doweling the foundation might be enough but sometimes it isn't. This is your house, make sure the builder fixes it correctly.

wiz561 · 08-06-2011, 11:42 AM

Thanks for the response.

So, how would one go about repairing this? It sounds like there would just need to be more support attached to the foundation for the bricks, so they aren't overhanging ~1". But you're saying that before any work is done, an engineer should check it out?

Thanks!!