foundation settlement 1

[PSUengineer1]

in regard to the attached pics, I have 2 questions.

1. what is the designation for the brick coursing (soldier coursing)? I rarely see the brick veneer situated in this fashion.
2. are the vertical cracks through the mortar joints in the brick characteristic of foundation settlement/frost heave? I think I can rule out brick ties for the walls are near plumb and the veneer is not falling off of the building.

The soils surrounding the structure are poorly graded and a downspout discharges adjacent to the foundation. Recent construction activity adjacent to the building (sewer line replacement) possibly contributing. The top of the perimeter foundation is shallow.

Thanks for comments.

 

[TLHS]

I don't care what anyone else says, I'm going to imagine that the bricks are oriented that way because the engineer decided that it was time to invent a brick lateral force resisting system.

 

[CELinOttawa]

This is an offset stack bond. It is a bad idea. There are a great deal of resources on stack bonding, along with the reasons why it should not be done.

I've had a designer ask for this, and I've seen an Architect specify it. In both cases, my arguments prevented the brick from actually going in this way.

I blame a combination of ignorance and "You know what would look nice".

 

[CELinOttawa]

P.S. Stack bond can be sucessfully done with reinforced CMU, but otherwise is just a big old 'No'.

 

[racookpe1978]

There is a frequent reader/writer on this forum whose tag line includes words to the effect of ..."There's a reason why everybody does it that a way .."

Yeppers. Vertically stacked bricks do not resist gravity very well.

 

[msquared48]

Looks like a portion of the building fell over.

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering

 

[GeoPaveTraffic]

Based on the photos I don't see evidence of significant settlement.

The crack away from the building looks like a connection problem between the venear and the structure.

The crack between the 6th and 7th courses from the main building may indicate some settlement of the enteryway, but very little settlement would be needed to create that small rotation. Additionally, all of the horizontal mortar joints look even.



Mike Lambert

 

[mfrad]

This wall looks like Garden State Brickface ie exterior cement plaster, or stucco on wire lathe. It is very difficult to set running bond vertically with real bricks since mortar suction will not be achieved.

 

[oldestguy]

My off hand view with this one picture is that the outboard foundation has settled. It is not just the bricks that indicate that, it is the supporting beam that appears to have settled. As to why it settled, you need to provide more info for comments. Any rigid type construction for that wall is likely to show some effects of settlement of the support. Notice the glass below has not cracked (yet). Glazing frames have play and it is amazing how much distortion occurs before glass breaks.

 

[TDIengineer]

I also see rotation of the wall plan with it spreading at the top right and at the lower left as if that exterior wall dropped some. Interesting arrangement. Never seen that.

 

[SteelPE]

These pictures are messing with my mind. I have never seen this done before. This post should be red flagged and deleted so my architect clients don't get any bright ideas.

 

[concretemasonry]

Assuming there was some settlement/rotation, The masonry cracked at the weakest point which is the vertical stack bond brick joint. There is no lateral joint reinforcement (such is the wire used for joint reinforcement in conventional running bond) in that type of construction. Architecturally, vertical brick brick is a nice accent, but not realistic for such a height.

Any lateral movement plus the usual mortar shrinkage would cause the situation.

I assume it was not engineered, but an artsytech decision for effect. It is a veneer that shows some movement of the structure.

Dick

Engineer and international traveler interested in construction techniques, problems and proper design.