Expansion Joint Issues

Check out this expansion joint on a new DR Horton house. What yall think? :thinking:


I think it should have gone all the way to the top. Mother Nature will finish the job. I would have offset the joint to miss the brick lintel above the window, otherwise you would have to design the lintel to slide on the right side.

3 Likes

Looks like it’s starting

I agree, we call them slip joints.

Check this out as it can be helpful from the Brick Industry Association. There is a lot of other good information on the BIA WEB site.

Accommodating Expansion of Brickwork

1 Like

This is a fantastic resource! Thank you so much for finding and posting this.

One thing I see frequently is courses of brick mortared through the expansion joint. They leave the short, vertical side open, but mortar between the brick horizontally through the joint. I call it out every time on new construction and of course it never gets fixed. I even spoke to some albañiles about this and they said that’s how they learned to do it (they also said their patrón told them to cut off the masonry flashing before laying their first course. I just rolled my eyes).