Nice house, seen yesterday

[William J. Decker]

Did an inspection on a house in an upscale neighborhood. It was built in 1955.

Contemporary style, and all the interior details were the same as when it was built.

The two of the bedrooms liiked like Marcia, Jan and Cindy would come back any minute, and the master bedroom looked just like Mr. and Mrs Brady's.

Some weird, but cool stuff. Internal scuppers and integral gutters. The floor, over a 4 ft. crawlspace, was pre-cast concrete slabs. Large windows on 2 sides. The kitchen has all the original cabinets (Metal) and countertops (lam) and appliances (Thermador, electric). Only the disposer was new (about 2 years old). There was a huge, built in, external fan vent hood. There was even a small door in the base with a timer above it. This was a little place where you could hang any dish towels and hit the timer and a little heated fan would dry the towels. There was a built in cabinet with a built in "hi-fidelity" stero system (record player and reel-ro-reel tape) with a tube, MacIntosh amplifier. Did have newer furnaces (2) A/C and water heater. The buyer is going to keep most of the old stuff.

It was a pretty cool inspection.

[Roy D. Cooke, Sr]

Thanks Will Great to see how some people take good care of their Home .
Nice to back in time and see things we used to have .. All the best ... Roy

[Bob Elliott]

How old were the sellers?

[William J. Decker]

sellers were 2nd owners. The first owner was an engineer with a lot of money and wahted to play.

There were a coupld of things. There was 2 Stab-Loc panels, the service panel was embedded in a built in cabinet (I pointed that out) and the distruibution panel had a couple of double taps. Also, exterior was brick veneer with some lap wooden siding, and the siding needed to be scraped, primed and painted.

Also a couple of roof scuppers that were clogged with leaves. They also used Masonite for one of the bathroom showers. The crawlspace was errie. Precast concrete slab floor supported by concrete piers and steel girders.

All very clean and well taken care of.

[Bob Elliott]

What jargon do you use on the older Brick Veneer Will?
They did not use weeps back then.
Notice the driveway is deferred maintenance.

Please visit this thread from yesterday if you have time....http://www.nachi.org/forum/f2/exterior-65201/

[Jeffrey R. Wicklander]

That size/style looks very much like the older neighborhoods of Highland Park & Northbrook.

Jeff

[Bob Elliott]

Originally Posted by jwicklander

That size/style looks very much like the older neighborhoods of Highland Park & Northbrook.

Jeff

Also many of the southern suburbs have this style ranch.
Did one in DesPlaines off river road last month that was Similar also.

[Roy D. Cooke, Sr]

Originally Posted by belliott

What jargon do you use on the older Brick Veneer Will?
They did not use weeps back then.
Notice the driveway is deferred maintenance.

I have seen some old homes that used Rope to remove the moisture .

I think this was before leaving open holes hard to see now as most are rotted off .... Roy


COTTON WICKS Cotton wicks are used to form another type of weep system. A 1/4 to 3/8 inch diameter rope is installed in joints at 16 inches on center.
The rope should be 10 to 12 inches long and extend through the veneer face and up into the cavity wall above the height of any possible mortar droppings.
Moisture in the cavity is absorbed by the cotton material and wicked to the outside face of the wall where it evaporates.
OILED RODS OR ROPES Another alternative for cavity wall drainage are oiled rods or ropes mortared into bed joints 16 inches apart and then removed when the mortar has set.
The rods function much the same as plastic tube weep holes.

The full text of this article is available as a PDF document. To download the PDF version of the article, click here

[Bob Elliott]

Originally Posted by rcooke

I have seen some old homes that used Rope to remove the moisture .

I think this was before leaving open holes hard to see now as most are rotted off .... Roy


COTTON WICKS Cotton wicks are used to form another type of weep system. A 1/4 to 3/8 inch diameter rope is installed in joints at 16 inches on center.
The rope should be 10 to 12 inches long and extend through the veneer face and up into the cavity wall above the height of any possible mortar droppings.
Moisture in the cavity is absorbed by the cotton material and wicked to the outside face of the wall where it evaporates.
OILED RODS OR ROPES Another alternative for cavity wall drainage are oiled rods or ropes mortared into bed joints 16 inches apart and then removed when the mortar has set.
The rods function much the same as plastic tube weep holes.

The full text of this article is available as a PDF document. To download the PDF version of the article, click here

Roy that is not answering the question.
Maybe you have different construction in your area where they always used wicks.
We all know weeps 101 here I should hope.

[Christopher Currins]

Originally Posted by belliott

We all know weeps 101 here I should hope.

Most of "us" know it, so does the brick industry. Too bad the builders/brick layers/AHJ don't.

I see weeps and head/sill/base flashing at maybe 25% of homes built in last 10 years, including new construction, many in the $500,000 range.

[Jeffrey R. Wicklander]

If the house is 50 years old and doesn't have flashing, wicks or an apparent moisture problem, are you going to call out the lack of a weeping system? When the buyer asks about what is involved to properly install one, they're going to get that deep sinking feeling in their stomachs.


Jeff

[Christopher Currins]

Originally Posted by jwicklander

If the house is 50 years old and doesn't have flashing, wicks or an apparent moisture problem, are you going to call out the lack of a weeping system? When the buyer asks about what is involved to properly install one, they're going to get that deep sinking feeling in their stomachs.


Jeff

No, I don't. There's not much, if anything, that can be done.

Unless it's new construction I don't make a bid deal of it anymore. Again you can't add flashing & weeps after the wall is built.

I do "mention" it on homes built in last 10 - 20 years.

Always look for any type of damage, both exterior and interior, related to lack of weeps/flashing.

[Roy D. Cooke, Sr]

Originally Posted by belliott

Roy that is not answering the question.
Maybe you have different construction in your area where they always used wicks.
We all know weeps 101 here I should hope.

Strange I guess I have not been paying attention .
I do not remember seeing any thing about rope weepers here.
I posted this so the Newer Homies would know about them and would look harder if they did not see any Weep holes .
It has been many years since I saw any . Thanks ... Roy

Too try and add holes later is not a good idea as if there is a tar paper barrier you could damage it

[William J. Decker]

No wicks. There were two walls that had brick veneer over 2 x 4 framing and 2 walls with brick veneer over cinder block (the attached garage was cinder block structure). Other walls were glass windows or lap wood siding. Many older brick veneer walls I see have no wicks or weep holes. I mention it but do not "Defect" them as such unless I see problems.

Good call, Jeff. The house was in Highland Park. It was contemporary style, not ranch.

Hope this helps;

[Bob Elliott]

Will he just knows your territory.. Lol
I brought up the subject because of exactly as discussed.
At what point is it no issue and why if flashing, weeps, etc are needed do we see no signs of water intrusion related issues in many built before 1970s?