Happy Monday All,
A home I am inspecting today has a recent corner “chip” that has come off. It is big enough to hold in two hands. Location is at the union of the brick veneer and the top 1/3 of the post tension slab, exterior corner of the attached garage and dwelling.
Home born on date is in 2003. No signs of settlement/movement, brick veneer is intact with no cracks. Located in Dallas, TX.
The foundation is Deficient due to open cable ports and rusting in a few areas around the perimeter of the slab but otherwise is performing…?
Is the “chip” repairable…? How important is it in the scope of the foundation’s performance…?
• Repair: Typical corner cracks were noted in some areas. Corner cracks are usually not structurally significant. We recommend having them repaired by a foundation specialist as they do support the bricks above.
The picture shows that the mortar, below the lower brick, is not adhered to the foundation slab. This separation seems to show movement of the structure. I would suggest looking at the complete foundation for any other signs of movement. Call it out for further evaluation by a structural engineer.
Simple corner-pop. Typically no structural significance unless the crack crosses a Tendon (exposing the tendon to water) or it’s big enough that there is insufficient support for the brick.
These are typically caused by failure to extend the flashing (poly) between the bottom course of the brick and slab all the way to the corner. The flashing prevents the mortar from bonding to the foundation. When it stops short of the corner the mortar bonds to the slab corner. The mortar bond at the corner can be strong enough to cause the corner of the slab to pop loose due to thermal expansion of the brick (brick heats faster and expands further than the slab).
When the piece pops completely off, it can be resecured by epoxying it back on at the shear face (not the mortar face). It’s mainly a cosmetic repair but will also prevent termites from migrating up through the crack if the lower portion is in the dirt. Unless and until it falls off, I recommend that they do nothing about it, because if they patch it, it will come back and a patch with a crack looks worse than the original crack.
I do mention and explain them in the report as informational so the client doesn’t think I missed a crack in their slab or fret over it.
That corner could’ve been whacked by a mower. Who knows. Worse thing to do is to do nothing. Clean out any loose material, apply concrete fortifier, mix some into mortar, pack the corner and reset the broken off piece. There is no sign of cracking in mortar joint above the first course of brick, only along the bottom joint where brick sits on the slab. Whether the damage occurred due to mechanical interference or freeze/thaw, it should be repaired to prevent further possible damage, including repairing the mortar joint along the slab.
ndegaris
(Neil DeGaris, CMI KY License # 102167)
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