ductwork Posted March 28, 2015 Report Share Posted March 28, 2015 Had an inspection today, house was brick veneer, step crack 1/2 wide at points with no displacement, on the interior, no evidence of any cracking in the drywall or baseboards, I am not one to call out a structural engineer since this is brick veneer, no evidence on the corresponding interior location. Click to Enlarge 78.83 KB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Posted March 28, 2015 Report Share Posted March 28, 2015 That's not a step crack. It's a vertical crack that's staggered a little. Was that the only one on the house? Marc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ductwork Posted March 28, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2015 There was a small one near the front, I am not concerned about that one, this is the only one that stood out, this one is on the side of the home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Raymond Posted March 28, 2015 Report Share Posted March 28, 2015 How long was the wall? Looks like an expansion crack to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry Simon Posted March 28, 2015 Report Share Posted March 28, 2015 That void has widened/moved after it was (at least once) patched; pretty obvious from the picture. I would tell a client that if the wall continued to move - and only time will tell if it will - costs to stabilize the wall & perhaps the (moving?) foundation wall below could be significant. Or, like Tom said, could just be an on-going expansion crack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ductwork Posted March 29, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2015 The crack extends down to the crawl space entrance door, it is approximately 3 feet in length , the crack is not visible from within the crawlspace area, the safe way out would be to just recommend a structural engineer however I do not want to sound the alarms . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Raymond Posted March 29, 2015 Report Share Posted March 29, 2015 Got a shot showing the brickledge the veneer is sitting on? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ductwork Posted March 29, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2015 No I do not, I will advise the client to seek further evaluation . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ductwork Posted March 29, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2015 No I do not, I will advise the client to seek further evaluation . The steel lentil on the opposite side has cracked/shifted, the lentil on the side with the crack has cracked Click to Enlarge 21.75 KB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erby Posted March 29, 2015 Report Share Posted March 29, 2015 When you're posting pictures like this, it would help if you would give us a distant shot and then a close up so we can better see the totality of the issue. Kind of like these where the brick expansion had pushed the corner CMU out of place. Click to Enlarge 47.52 KB Click to Enlarge 51.43 KB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Raymond Posted March 29, 2015 Report Share Posted March 29, 2015 No I do not, I will advise the client to seek further evaluation . The steel lentil on the opposite side has cracked/shifted, the lentil on the side with the crack has cracked Click to Enlarge 21.75 KB There is no lintel there. That is the soffit, or a piece of wood trim, covered in aluminum coil. A lintel supports masonry over an opening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjr6550 Posted March 29, 2015 Report Share Posted March 29, 2015 I think Tom is correct, assuming the wall is relatively long. Thermal expansion in long brick walls can cause cracks like that. Here are a couple photos I took last month at a wall in a row of about 10 townhouses with no control joints. Click to Enlarge 46.46 KB Click to Enlarge 51.38 KB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ductwork Posted March 29, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2015 No I do not, I will advise the client to seek further evaluation . The steel lentil on the opposite side has cracked/shifted, the lentil on the side with the crack has cracked Click to Enlarge 21.75 KB There is no lintel there. That is the soffit, or a piece of wood trim, covered in aluminum coil. A lintel supports masonry over an opening. It was a steel lintel, it was not the soffit or a piece of wood trim covered in aluminum, I did feel the material and it was definitely steel . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Kibbel Posted March 29, 2015 Report Share Posted March 29, 2015 The steel lentil on the opposite side has cracked/shifted, the lentil on the side with the crack has cracked Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben H Posted March 29, 2015 Report Share Posted March 29, 2015 No I do not, I will advise the client to seek further evaluation . The steel lentil on the opposite side has cracked/shifted, the lentil on the side with the crack has cracked Click to Enlarge 21.75 KB There is no lintel there. That is the soffit, or a piece of wood trim, covered in aluminum coil. A lintel supports masonry over an opening. It was a steel lintel, it was not the soffit or a piece of wood trim covered in aluminum, I did feel the material and it was definitely steel . Sure looks like a soffit and a freeze board to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ductwork Posted March 29, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2015 The steel lentil on the opposite side has cracked/shifted, the lentil on the side with the crack has cracked Thank you for your helpful response, at least I asked and realized an issue and did not just ignore or tell the client to just throw some caulk or mortar in there, but I guess with your credentials , arrogance is expected and allowed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Posted March 29, 2015 Report Share Posted March 29, 2015 The steel lentil on the opposite side has cracked/shifted, the lentil on the side with the crack has cracked Thank you for your helpful response, at least I asked and realized an issue and did not just ignore or tell the client to just throw some caulk or mortar in there, but I guess with your credentials , arrogance is expected and allowed. Arrogance? You don't know Bill K. He's got one of the most desirable combinations of knowledge and humility that I've ever seen. Marc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inspector57 Posted March 29, 2015 Report Share Posted March 29, 2015 The steel lentil on the opposite side has cracked/shifted, the lentil on the side with the crack has cracked Thank you for your helpful response, at least I asked and realized an issue and did not just ignore or tell the client to just throw some caulk or mortar in there, but I guess with your credentials , arrogance is expected and allowed. Arrogance? You don't know Bill K. He's got one of the most desirable combinations of knowledge and humility that I've ever seen. Marc I think he is just making a point about using the correct spelling for the steel supporting brick at openings as opposed to the similar sounding bean. Tends to make it more memorable... but I still get them confused.[:-dunce] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry Simon Posted March 29, 2015 Report Share Posted March 29, 2015 The steel lentil on the opposite side has cracked/shifted, the lentil on the side with the crack has cracked Thank you for your helpful response, at least I asked and realized an issue and did not just ignore or tell the client to just throw some caulk or mortar in there, but I guess with your credentials , arrogance is expected and allowed. Arrogance? You don't know Bill K. He's got one of the most desirable combinations of knowledge and humility that I've ever seen. Marc I think he is just making a point about using the correct spelling for the steel supporting brick at openings as opposed to the similar sounding bean. Tends to make it more memorable... but I still get them confused.[:-dunce] Sure looks like a soffit and a freeze board to me. Yeah, kinda like spelling frieze board "freeze board". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Kibbel Posted March 29, 2015 Report Share Posted March 29, 2015 I've appreciated folks correcting me when I use the wrong term or spelling, particularly when it's a term used in reports. Spell check won't correct lentil to lintel. I'm fortunate that we pay people to type our reports. It gives me more time to focus on everyone else's writing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erby Posted March 29, 2015 Report Share Posted March 29, 2015 Hey, where would we be without a lintel humor? If you can't have a little fun, usually at someone else's expense, why bother living. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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