hausdok Posted February 5, 2011 Report Share Posted February 5, 2011 Kind of shook my head over this one. Nice home. The mason decided to use actual keystones in the brick veneer. As you can see in the photos, the arches over the windows are not that high but the one's over the overhead doors are ridiculously shallow. Still, our intrepid mason soldiered on. I'm guessing that the Nisqually quake in 2001 jarred this loose. Click to Enlarge 51.13 KB Click to Enlarge 30.11 KB Click to Enlarge 52.94 KB Click to Enlarge 47.1 KB Click to Enlarge 35.57 KB Middle Crack Click to Enlarge 41.28 KB Larger view - middle crack Click to Enlarge 41.95 KB Left Corner Click to Enlarge 34.97 KB Right Corner ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mgbinspect Posted February 5, 2011 Report Share Posted February 5, 2011 Headache!.... Thank heaven for wall ties?... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurt Posted February 5, 2011 Report Share Posted February 5, 2011 I guess someone forgot to tell him that brick veneer isn't load bearing. He's got outward thrust, with nothing to buttress it. Give it another 15 years; it'll be real pretty then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mgbinspect Posted February 5, 2011 Report Share Posted February 5, 2011 Surely the masonry isn't load bearing. Is it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bain Posted February 5, 2011 Report Share Posted February 5, 2011 Surely the masonry isn't load bearing. Is it? There's no lintel above the garage door, and the arch wasn't severe enough to transfer the load. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mgbinspect Posted February 5, 2011 Report Share Posted February 5, 2011 Surely the masonry isn't load bearing. Is it? There's no lintel above the garage door, and the arch wasn't severe enough to transfer the load. Well, more my question is: the brick isn't actually bearing any of the weight of the roof framing - only its own weight. Right? I can't think of too many times that brick veneer doubled as a structural support. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Raymond Posted February 5, 2011 Report Share Posted February 5, 2011 It might have been if that ugly half brick projected 'casing' were detailed flatter with a proper soldier course for the arch. Then again we don't get any real shakers here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hausdok Posted February 5, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2011 The brick is only supporting it's own weight above the door and I'm certain that part of that weight is born by the wall ties. Nonetheless, if not for that piece of 5/4 that's been forced into a bend beneath the arch, I think this all would have fallen down by now. I'm pretty certain the nisqually quake just sped up the process and that it would inevitably have occurred anyway. I found a nice racking crack over an archway between the family room and kitchen; and the wall of the laundry room, which abuts the garage, had been knocked out of plane far enough, and then bounced back, to leave several nice rows of nail pops and cracked seams between wallboard. Nope, not a car collison; just severe rumba-itis. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Moore Posted February 5, 2011 Report Share Posted February 5, 2011 So, there's no direct vertical support for at least three of the exterior walls of that room structure above the garage. Kind of unusual, isn't it? Any idea what they used for the garage ceiling/room floor joists? Were there central posts in the double garage space? Given everything else, I would be surprised if the brick veneer didn't crack, quake or not. I wonder if it was originally designed/engineered to have three single door openings, but then someone decided they wanted a double. Or maybe the bonus room wasn't in the original plans? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hausdok Posted February 5, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2011 Hi, It's all original. There are very large beams with substantial posts in the garage carrying the weight of the room above and the roof structures that abut that are trusses. There really isn't any deflection along the top of the door; the brickwork just couldn't hold itself up because there isn't enough arc to let that keystone do what it's supposed to. I think you're right, the veneer would have failed sooner or later without the quake. Hell, for all I know it lasted fine through the Nisqually quake and failed later, but I don't think so, given the other shake damage I found. A mystery; Animal scat of some sort found in the attic in about half a dozen places and it was obvious that whatever it was had been lying down in the insulation. The owners claim to have never had a cat and I couldn't find anyplace on the exterior that a racoon or 'possum could have gotten in there. Tweren't any rat or deer mouse unless it had been the size of a small dog. Hell, I've got a small dog; he's split himself in half creating something that large. Damndest thing I've seen in a while. Hope whatever it was didn't tunnel under that loose fill and expire someplace. I took my mask off and sniffed around, I couldn't detect anything like the smell of a carcass. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurt Posted February 5, 2011 Report Share Posted February 5, 2011 I took my mask off and sniffed around, I couldn't detect anything like the smell of a carcass. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike Did you shower that day.....(?).......animal carcass smell might not have been apparent.......just sayin'.....[:-angel] That flat arch has to be buttressed by something more than a little veneer on either side of a door. Without buttressing, the outward thrust is going to push brick veneer around like nothing's there. I bet that thing'd be cracking with or without a temblor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Moore Posted February 5, 2011 Report Share Posted February 5, 2011 A mystery; Animal scat of some sort found in the attic in about half a dozen places I had something similar a couple of months ago. Never did figure out what it was or how they got in. This was the photo I put in the report... Click to Enlarge 37.21 KB Like yours, no signs of rat or mouse droppings. I googled images for raccoon & possum droppings. I'm not sure you could tell them apart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mgbinspect Posted February 5, 2011 Report Share Posted February 5, 2011 Around here, squirrels will gnaw straight through trim, hardboard or cedar siding to make a home in an attic or eave. I don't know how they ever learned to do so, but they are extremely tenacious. And, once in very territorial - adverse possession. Click to Enlarge 28.4 KB Click to Enlarge 44.77 KB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Moore Posted February 6, 2011 Report Share Posted February 6, 2011 The size of the poop I saw would leave a squirrel with a very sore ass. It sounds like Mike's scat (not his, the critter's) would also rule out anything smaller than a possum. There is always the infamous Norwegian Roof Beaver, but I'm fairly sure those are mythical. When we still had cats we would feed them on top of one of those carpeted cat towers in the basement. They had a cat door to the exterior and another to the main house. At one point, a possum figured out the exterior cat door and took up residence in the box section of the tower. Nasty, toothy things when you confront them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kogel Posted February 6, 2011 Report Share Posted February 6, 2011 A mystery; Animal scat of some sort found in the attic in about half a dozen places I had something similar a couple of months ago. Never did figure out what it was or how they got in. This was the photo I put in the report... Click to Enlarge 37.21 KB Like yours, no signs of rat or mouse droppings. I googled images for raccoon & possum droppings. I'm not sure you could tell them apart. Possums are the sleepy ones. [] We don't have possums on this island, yet. (we've got your grey squirrels and your cottontail rabbits, so porcupines and possums can't be far behind) So I know when I see cat poop with no attempt to bury it, it is from the bowel of a coon. Click to Enlarge 30.29 KB Click to Enlarge 45.02 KB Squirrel droppings are small and roundish versions of rat drops, with a nutty flavor. [] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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