Flashed for weep holes, but no weep holes

[Bob Elliott]

Originally Posted by jjonas

Voted...

Agree with others posted above...

Did you report on the spider in pic #1 ???

Never would have even noticed that daddy long legs.
Now how about that twisted and hanging floor joist on the left.?

[Jeffrey R. Jonas]

Originally Posted by belliott

Now how about that twisted and hanging floor joist on the left.?

Where???

(Can't remember the technical term)... all I see is a floor joist where the bottom right corner split off at the diagonal grain.

Maybe your glasses need cleaning, Bob?

[Marcel R. Cyr]

That is not twisted or split, the wain has just come off the edge of the lumber.
You can't buy square edge lumber anymore, the trees are to small.

[Jeffrey R. Jonas]

Originally Posted by mcyr

That is not twisted or split, the wain has just come off the edge of the lumber.
You can't buy square edge lumber anymore, the trees are to small.

Yeah, that's it... what Marcel said!!!

[Bob Elliott]

Bothers me more than the spider.

Ok OK you can"t see from that angle darnit.

[John Evans]

Voted. I recently called our local permit office to question why so many brick veneer homes that I inspect do not have weep holes. The response was weep openings have been required in our county for "at least the past 9 years". Not a very clear answer, but I know at least 50% of the brick and stone veneer homes I have inspected are completely or partially missing weeps. I do not understand why the contractors are not following code requirements. Yes, like others, I do include information in the report regarding the function of weeps and potential issues without.

On another related subject, the local inspector told me that weather barriers (Tyvek, etc.) behind siding have been required only since April 2008!! You have to wonder what took them so long to understand the importance of this very important protection.

[Richard A. Hetzel]

Now hold on!! Here is another issue where code is one thing but good practice is another. I have been designing flashings and weep holes in buildings since the early 1960's. Doing so was good practice, whether those things were code-required or not. We didn't have "house wrap" back then, but we had felt underlayment, which did the same thing...some say not as well, some still say better than house wrap. That's an issue for another discussion.

It is, and always has been, good practice to include those elements in the design of brick veneer. Some brick is fairly permeable, and it can wick water to the space behind it, and that water must be controlled back there, and it needs a way to exit. Mortar joints, especially deeply-raked joints, can admit water through hairline cracks also. This knowledge is ancient. I only started in architecture in the early 60's...the knowledge and the practice was around long long before that.

[Bob Elliott]

Originally Posted by jevans

Voted. I recently called our local permit office to question why so many brick veneer homes that I inspect do not have weep holes. The response was weep openings have been required in our county for "at least the past 9 years". Not a very clear answer, but I know at least 50% of the brick and stone veneer homes I have inspected are completely or partially missing weeps. I do not understand why the contractors are not following code requirements. Yes, like others, I do include information in the report regarding the function of weeps and potential issues without.

On another related subject, the local inspector told me that weather barriers (Tyvek, etc.) behind siding have been required only since April 2008!! You have to wonder what took them so long to understand the importance of this very important protection.

What sort off problems are you seeing from lack of flashing issues?

[Joe Funderburk, CMI]

Just to make it clear so that all understand...

I see weep holes absent quite often. But every time I've seen them absent, there was no flashing. The water could simply drain into the crawl.

This house was unique in that it had the flashing, but no weep holes to allow drainage. Very strange and stupid thing to do.

You'd think any problems would have revealed themselves after 14 years. The wood looked like what you see in the photo. Like new. Didn't see any sign of water damage at the band sill at all.

[Bob Elliott]

Originally Posted by jfunderburk

Just to make it clear so that all understand...

I see weep holes absent quite often. But every time I've seen them absent, there was no flashing. The water could simply drain into the crawl.

This house was unique in that it had the flashing, but no weep holes to allow drainage. Very strange and stupid thing to do.

You'd think any problems would have revealed themselves after 14 years. The wood looked like what you see in the photo. Like new. Didn't see any sign of water damage at the band sill at all.

My last one was opposite the other night because it was 1967 brick veneer in front of a ranch and had masonry weeps (not holes but slots) and no flashing I could see.
Also did not detect water issues at that side of the foundation (crawl)

[Marcel R. Cyr]

Flashing requirements and weep holes have been in place for a long time.

I built this place in 1972 and the brick veneer had those requirements and when visited this year, looks pretty darn good still for it's age.

[Wayne B. Wilson]

Originally Posted by mcyr

Flashing requirements and weep holes have been in place for a long time.

I built this place in 1972 and the brick veneer had those requirements and when visited this year, looks pretty darn good still for it's age.

Attachment 31738

LOL i don't know about that Marcel Front windows look a little low . Just kidding a great looking place.

[Marcel R. Cyr]

That was my home for the first 14 years when I got married Wayne, looks like it was upkepted well and forsale again.

That was built on a slab too!

[James E. Braun, CMI]

Originally Posted by jfunderburk

About 50% are pier and curtain wall crawl spaces foundations. The other 50% are slabs. About 2% are basements. Do the math on that

If the grade doesn't slope away from the house on all 4 sides, there is often water intrusion. And with that, there is often a high moisture content in the wood structures, mold, rot, termites, etc. I like a crawl space. It's easy to run cables, fix and modify plumbing, etc. BUT, the lot grade has to be right.

This foundation appears to be containing brick instead of poured concrete. How do they keep them from leaking. Just a curtain drain would not be enough.

[Joe Funderburk, CMI]

Originally Posted by jbraun

This foundation appears to be containing brick instead of poured concrete. How do they keep them from leaking. Just a curtain drain would not be enough.

It was a brick wall foundation (a curtain wall is what it's commonly referred to as). Water will weep through the brick relatively easily unless you have good drainage (including functioning gutters) at the exterior.

There is no code that says water can never enter a crawl space, but it is undesirable. Most of them do get wet with a lot of rain. The key is that the water should not stand inside the crawl and it should dry out quickly (good ventilation required) and the moisture content in the wood should be < 20% to prevent mold and damage to the structure.

Here's a good photo of the structure from inside the crawl space (this is a different house). Note that the brick wall does nothing structurally: it only serves to keep the possums out from under the house. The piers do all the work.