Foundation horiz. cracking / 1st row bricks

[lfoster]

Looked at home today with horizontal cracking on foundation at the first row of brick. Cosmetic corner cracks, also. Slab was coated with cosmetic stucco-type coating.

No movement noted on interior. Doors and windows were square/not binding.

Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance.

[Michael W. Gault]

Looks like cracking in the parge coat (a mixture normally of Portland cement and sand - sometimes tinted)...
Did you see cracks within the mortar between bricks or the bricks themselves?


This appears cosmetic.

[lfoster]

There was no brick cracking,,, only at the top of the slab level / brick row. I've seen it happen on a lot of homes, but this home had more than usual.

[cwillick1]

parge coats are known to have water weep in behind and crack if the water freezes. does it get that cold in Texas?

[Michael W. Gault]

It gets that cold in Texas...
not here in Charleston - 71 and 20% humidity today

Unless you see more cracking above the parge coat; it's a cosmetic issue...

[Kenton H. Shepard, CMI]

That is a crack in the parge coat and it aligns with the area at which the mortar bedding for the first course of bricks meets the concrete foundation wall (brick ledge).

It looks like a good example of what happens when you apply a plaster-like coat accross a transition between two different types of materials. Because the underlying materials (concrete and mortar) expand and contract at different rates, a crack develops along the area where they meet.

It can happen to stucco or any other type of cementicious material or plaster exposed to big temperature swings.

[lfoster]

Thanks guys for the info