Bricks, Masonry, Asphalt and Concrete - planned gaps between bricks in foundation
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michaelnelson
05-15-02, 05:55 PM
A quick question about a house I recently bought which was built in 1998.
The house is standard wood frame with a brick facade on the front side of the house. Towards the bottom of the brick front, there are several gaps between the some of the bricks. They seem to be spaced out evenly and we are only talking about one space every seven or eight bricks. The space is where the builder opted not to put cement between the bricks. Other than that the construction is fine.
Is this a normal construction method? If there are reasons for doing this, does anyone know what they are?
Any help or direction to where I could get this answered is appreciated.
Michael Nelson
The house is standard wood frame with a brick facade on the front side of the house. Towards the bottom of the brick front, there are several gaps between the some of the bricks. They seem to be spaced out evenly and we are only talking about one space every seven or eight bricks. The space is where the builder opted not to put cement between the bricks. Other than that the construction is fine.
Is this a normal construction method? If there are reasons for doing this, does anyone know what they are?
Any help or direction to where I could get this answered is appreciated.
Michael Nelson
BRICK4U
05-15-02, 07:06 PM
You answered your own question! You've described WEEP HOLES perfectly. WEEP HOLES are always "HEAD JOINTS" (vertical joints) typically placed on the same course. Don't fill them in! You'd have serious moisture problems without them.
michaelnelson
05-16-02, 07:03 AM
BRICK4U,
Thank you so much for responding. I did a quick search on google.com for "weep holes" and found a lot of information about that. Thanks!
The reason I posted the original message is that when I arrived home yesterday, my overly helpful father-in-law had already acquired some cement and filled each of the weep holes!!!
So my follow up question is, what would you recommend for the removal of this cement? I'm hoping there is something that will dissolve or break down the cement used as filler...From what he said, he picked the cement up from a home construciton site down the street.
I imagine using some type of hand tool will be rather muscle intensive and I don't want to damage the bricks surround the filled weep holes.
Seriously, thank you for responding. The information was very helpful.
Michael Nelson
Thank you so much for responding. I did a quick search on google.com for "weep holes" and found a lot of information about that. Thanks!
The reason I posted the original message is that when I arrived home yesterday, my overly helpful father-in-law had already acquired some cement and filled each of the weep holes!!!
So my follow up question is, what would you recommend for the removal of this cement? I'm hoping there is something that will dissolve or break down the cement used as filler...From what he said, he picked the cement up from a home construciton site down the street.
I imagine using some type of hand tool will be rather muscle intensive and I don't want to damage the bricks surround the filled weep holes.
Seriously, thank you for responding. The information was very helpful.
Michael Nelson
pmg
05-16-02, 09:51 AM
That's what father-in-law's are for!!Mine is much the same.Anyway,the mortar should still be relatively soft-just take a hammer and an old flathead screwdriver that you don't mind pounding on and you should have the joints out in no time.Be careful not to damage the bricks.If you want to get fancy you can go purchase a joint chisel but for the size job you have a flathead screwdriver works great.Good luck