×
INTELLIGENT WORK FORUMS
FOR ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALS

Log In

Come Join Us!

Are you an
Engineering professional?
Join Eng-Tips Forums!
  • Talk With Other Members
  • Be Notified Of Responses
    To Your Posts
  • Keyword Search
  • One-Click Access To Your
    Favorite Forums
  • Automated Signatures
    On Your Posts
  • Best Of All, It's Free!
  • Students Click Here

*Eng-Tips's functionality depends on members receiving e-mail. By joining you are opting in to receive e-mail.

Posting Guidelines

Promoting, selling, recruiting, coursework and thesis posting is forbidden.

Students Click Here

Jobs

Brick Veneer Bearing?

Brick Veneer Bearing?

Brick Veneer Bearing?

(OP)
I inspected a house where the brick veneer above the front porch area is bearing dircectly on the roof decking!! The builder bricked up to the ceiling of the porch, then framed the porch into the main structure of the home, then started brick again on top of the porch roof!! The home is around 10 years old and the brick is begining to crack and pull away from the home. Is there anyway to resolve this withouth taking down the porch and re-bricking? I am pondering filling in the void space with a short 2x wall if code enforcement will allow it. The original builder can not be found.

RE: Brick Veneer Bearing?

When you say, "pulling away from the house", could you elaborate a bit?  Is the veneer moving away from the back-up wall?  Is it deflecting the supporting wood downward?

The brick should have proper ties back to the wall behind it.  If not, then there is the potential for the veneer to unzip and fall over.   Verification of ties is difficult, but can be done by cutting into the wall from the inside to allow inspection laterally within the (hopefully present) void space between wall and brick.  There are also devices you can purchase that are small optical lenses at the end of flexible tube extensions that allow inspection in tight spaces.

As far as the vertical support, normally one tries to avoid supporting concrete, concrete block, or brick on wood.  In fact it is denied by the IBC but as a residential house, there are provisions within the IRC that allow it.   

Brick can arch so you could start at the inside and create a masonry in-fill between porch roof members to establish a rigid support for the brick above.  Do this in small sections, allowing the brick to arch between its current supports, working your way outward towards the ends of the porch seems to me to be the best sequence....installing the lateral ties first, of course.

This can be tricky and difficult work, not to mention somewhat hazardous.  If there's any question about it, I'd get some good contractors and an engineer to look at it.  



RE: Brick Veneer Bearing?

(OP)
The veneer is vertically deflecting so much that it is also moving horizontally away from the house. There is about a 3/4" gap below the window above the front porch.
I still think that 2x4's spaced at 8"o.c. could bridge the gap between the lower brick and upper brick.

RE: Brick Veneer Bearing?

Instead of using more wood to support the veneer, could you use brick between the porch rafters?

DaveAtkins

RE: Brick Veneer Bearing?

(OP)
Possibly could use masonry infill. However after the contractor jacks the existing masonry up above the porch roof it seems easier to shore everything up with wood rather than trying to split bricks to fit.

Red Flag This Post

Please let us know here why this post is inappropriate. Reasons such as off-topic, duplicates, flames, illegal, vulgar, or students posting their homework.

Red Flag Submitted

Thank you for helping keep Eng-Tips Forums free from inappropriate posts.
The Eng-Tips staff will check this out and take appropriate action.

Reply To This Thread

Posting in the Eng-Tips forums is a member-only feature.

Click Here to join Eng-Tips and talk with other members!


Resources