We recently had a new home built and are seeing rather large cracks in the brickwork. I realize small cracks are to be expected but these seem to be larger than what should be acceptable. I’d like to get some knowledgeable feedback before approaching the builders or scheduling a foundation inspection. The builder was less than helpful during the 1yr of warranty on the home and we are now entering the 3rd year. Pics of the crack are in this link:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B2cI1VgKAcB-ellPZ2hMSnZxakU?usp=sharing
Replies
That's more of a crack than one would like to see, but not enough to get seriously alarmed. More info is needed about the location (relative to foundation shape/features) and whether there are other similar cracks.
That crack is a sign of a failed foundation. Doesn't mean your house is in danger but it does mean the foundation was improperly placed or not big enough. Had the crack stair stepped through the joints it would be one thing but to have split through the bricks is another. At a minimum it will require a skilled mason to replace the cracked bricks and an engineer to determine if the cracking will continue.
Foundation?
This looks to me very much like brick veneer and not foundation (note the weep hole at the bottom). It could be entirely cosmetic. There are lots of reasons that this veneer could crack that don't involve structural problems.
What else is there but veneer? In my view any crack is too much and a crack through the bricks would be a serious problem to me.
Yeah, it's interesting to note that there is no visible crack in the concrete around the weep hole. There's really insufficient info/images to make a definitive call, but it appears that it's the brick veneer that has shrunk, rather than having anything to do with the foundation.
It might be veneer construction but that still doesnt explain why the crack would go directly through the brick. Cracks normally follow the mortar joint... This seems like something more than just a little settling.
Cracks will only follow the mortar joint if soft mortar was used. Whether the crack is as shown or follows the mortar has nothing to do with the cause of the crack. The only aspect that might be related is how rapidly the crack developed.
oh johnnie b...wherfore art thou ?
way too much water in the mortar, eh ?
I'll note that the color of the mortar seems strange for 2-year-old stuff.
And the tooling seems a hair weird. It's almost like it's epoxy stuff.