The homeowner states the brick stays wet for 3-4 days after a hard rain. They are getting water in the basement dripping down from the sill plate. I checked weep holes seem to be OK no signs of anything on the exterior wall to show leaks. Could the water be soaking in the brick and draining down?
Fix- seal the brick??? any articles out there on this?
Sounds like a leaking roof behind the bricks.
House is 6 months old, no signs of water on rafters.
Perhaps the bricks are inferior (seconds) and have not been fired correctly. I assume they are clay brick?
Bad grading, maybe? Or possibly a leak in the roof that lets water seep down to the foundation.
All masonary homes should be sealed on a fairly regular basis to help protect from moisture infultration.
Have you read this recent post? It may be of some use: http://www.nachi.org/forum/showthread.php?t=18388&highlight=veneer
thanks just copied it and will read it tonight.
grading is good, all sloping away from house 4" of foundation showing.
that is my thought. Would sealing them help?
I don’t know of any sealing requirements for brick. Sealing them may work but may cause other problems.
Btw is there sufficent soffit overhang? Also is the foundation concrete or block?
Overhang is proper, and the foundation is poured concrete.
Any windows in the wall?
Maybe problems with the moisture barriers?
Not required, just a good thing to do.
Us Zonies have lots of slump block and brick homes and they realy should be sealed to help prevent moisture intrusion and spalling etc.
No windows where it is leaking, and it is leaking in various places the sameway.
My guess is they could be inferior bricks.
Does it have tyvek on it for a moisture barrier?
Sounds like it is time for an IR scan!
Water does not allways run straight down.
Pictures would be very helpfull.
Some years ago I purchased a new home with brick veneer that leaked water on to our living room floor everytime it rained hard (house was on a slab foundation). The builder wanted to treat the bricks with waterproofing as a solution. I insisted that if the wall had been constructed properly it would not be leaking through as it was. In the end the builder took the brick down and found the problem to be the fact that so much mortar had been slopped down into the lower portion of the wall in this area that there wasn’t any space between the brick and the frame wall which made the weep holes ineffective and allowed water to migrate through the wall.
Perhaps something like this is going on with the house you are looking at.
6 Months old!
Did they maybe put calcium chloride in the mortar and do the job when it was below freezeing?