exterior wall

[Harrison Cheung]

Hi all,

I found a townhouse with all these exterior walls. Is it deterioration or something? all the mortar come out?

Actually, I don't think it is a problem because I can see all other houses in that area with these exterior walls. Or just cosmetic, but I don't think it is nice.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/67785581@N06/6196118860

[Robert Ernst]

They were built that way. They are some times called weeping joints or by other names.
http://www.nachi.org/mortar-joints.htm

[Marcel R. Cyr]

Back in the 70's, I had taken a trip to Rivere' Du Loup Canada and seen this type of trend in masonry facades of residential homes.
It sure struck me funny that one would like this type of sloppy joint look on their Masonry. Besides the fact that it is bad for the brick in collecting dust, debris, I thought it was ugly. Never seen it since.

This link provides an explanation on all joints here and describes this one as;
A weeping joint is when you lay your brick on top of your mortar and do not scrape any of the excess mortar away. While this may sound like the easiest and worst appearing of the joints, for the trained mason this is actually the hardest type of joint. As a mason laying brick becomes second nature like breathing. This means that without any thought at all the mason will oftentimes find his trowel scraping away the excess mortar between the joints in order to apply the mortar to the head joint of the next brick he lays. I speak from personal experience when I tell you it can be quite frustrating to have to relay the same brick several times because you are so used to scraping away the excess mortar as you lay the brick.

http://michiganchimneyrepair.com/Typ...nryJoints.aspx