What to do about crack in brick facade seam? (Carrollton: how much, house)

[LifoLove]

My husband and I recently had our house appraised. The appraiser noted we have a noticible crack of maybe 1" along one of the seams of the brick facade.
He didn't ding us on our appraisal for it, but it definitely has me worried- especially since we are hoping to put our house on the market so we can relocate out of state in the next 6-12 months.
The house is only 3 years old, and there doesn't appear to be anything wrong with the foundation- no cracks there or gaps between foundation and house.
Has anyone dealt with something like this? Is this just part of normal settling? I think, at a minimum, we would want the brick caulk at the seam to be redone. What kind of professional handles this kind of stuff? Any reccomendations in the Lewisville/Carrollton area?

[Mister Nifty]

Originally Posted by LifoLove

My husband and I recently had our house appraised. The appraiser noted we have a noticible crack of maybe 1" along one of the seams of the brick facade.
He didn't ding us on our appraisal for it, but it definitely has me worried- especially since we are hoping to put our house on the market so we can relocate out of state in the next 6-12 months.
The house is only 3 years old, and there doesn't appear to be anything wrong with the foundation- no cracks there or gaps between foundation and house.
Has anyone dealt with something like this? Is this just part of normal settling? I think, at a minimum, we would want the brick caulk at the seam to be redone. What kind of professional handles this kind of stuff? Any reccomendations in the Lewisville/Carrollton area?

You are really in a pickle. If you ask an expert, then odds are you might get an answer that best serves their best interest. In regards to your best interest, I'd say that your foundation has cracked because of a fault line that has become more pronounced during the recent hot weather. My recommendation to you, with this according to the experts, is to do nothing at the present time. Instead, water up next to your foundation daily to moisten the sand which is up beneath the concrete of your foundation. This action could make the crack less pronounced by lifting back up the foundation. If it does, then that would imply that you have a crack somewhere. Regardless, if the house isn't in danger of toppling over, then it is best not to worry about it at the present time until after the heat of the summer.

[LifoLove]

That's worth a shot... better than paying thousands of dollars for a repair I might not need, at least.
Should I water all the way around or just near the crack? How much should I water? Isn't there a danger in over watering?

It's hard for me not to worry. All I'm thinking is nobody is going to want to buy this house with a big crack down the side, but I will try to calm down.

[Mister Nifty]

Originally Posted by LifoLove

That's worth a shot... better than paying thousands of dollars for a repair I might not need, at least.
Should I water all the way around or just near the crack? How much should I water? Isn't there a danger in over watering?

It's hard for me not to worry. All I'm thinking is nobody is going to want to buy this house with a big crack down the side, but I will try to calm down.

Yes, water all the way around the foundation. Some people actually have put in a watering system to do this for them. Try watering moderately and then see how much of it is soaked up. Is the crack in the brick wider at top than at the bottom. Try measuring a certain part of the crack so you can go back next week to see if it is less.

[BigDGeek]

I agree with the others; sounds like a foundation crack. Water your foundation and see if it goes away. Do not try to cover it up with caulk. Would you want someone to disguise a possible foundation problem on a house you were going to buy?

[loves2read]

do you mean this crack is 1 inch wider than the normal mortar line and it goes from the top of the facade to the bottom--on one side of your house?

if you have an inch wide gap that is pretty big--
if watering your foundation does not bring relief pretty soon--I think you better get someone else to check it out
maybe a brick mason--
there are times when a house is constructed and the wall of the brick is too wide to be laid in one continuous sweep--
it is bricked in sections--maybe this is one such time--and they did not mortar the seam--just oversight--it is called a brick expansion joint--and is basically done to try to prevent brick/mortar cracking from slight shifts in the foundations
if this link will post it is example of brick expansion joint

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=...ed=0CCcQ9QEwBg

look around the rest of your brick exterior--
if you live in neighborhood where other homes were done by same builder--look at your neighbors on either side and see if there s something similar...

frankly when I have seen homes with foundation faults the cracks in the mortar/bricks are not usually straight up one wall -- unbroken-- or that large
cracks usually runs in sort of a zig-zag trail and if more often in CORNERS where wall meet than along a straight wall...

it even could be that you have a bad brick job and NOT a foundation fault--
check the room/wall directly behind where the crack is--are the corners cracking, is the tape pulling off the sheetrock, do you have a wall crack around the ceiling or baseboard?

I am not saying that it is or is not a foundation fault--
watering around your foundation line is good to do--period
if you don't have a sprinkler system then you need to get some soaker hoses -- some long ones--and see if you can do half the house at once then switch it around...

don't get it sopping wet either--that is just as bad as no water...

PS---IF your crack looks like the one in the picture (i.e. making it much more likely to be an expansion line vs a foundation crack)--your appraiser does not know jack about building a house--

[LifoLove]

Loves2read- that picture is pretty much exactly what it looks like. The crack is not a zig zag pattern, but it looks like the joint is spreading apart. There are several brick joints like this in my house, and pretty much every house in my neighborhood has them, but only one of the joints has spread open like this. The builder put a brown putty or caulk at the seam/joint, not mortar, and the other joints have no space between the 2 sides of brick and the putty, but this one area does.
Are you saying the spreading of both sides of the seam or joint is normal? I'm sorry for being so dense. I've never encountered something like this before, the entire relocation situation is stressing me out, and I've got a terrible head cold to boot!
I don't expect the appraiser to know jack about house building (or foundation issues, at least). Most general home inspectors don't deal with foundations. The appraiser did tell my husband it doesn't look like foundation damage yet, but it could be. I went outside to take a look, and was shocked that the gap was big enough to see the sheetrock behind the brick veneer, and noticed the other joints in my house do not have this issue... Perhaps I'm overreating? We do have a sprinkler system, so the foundation is getting regularly watered. I will run a few extra manual cycles this week just in case.

[galore]

If it's an expansion joint it should not be mortared but caulked to allow for movement. Brick is usually a veneer which is attached to the wood frame with metal brick ties. The wood will move and this movement will transfer to the brick veneer which will crack the joint if it is inflexible mortar.

I had that happen in my previous house where after a few seasons (expand/contract due to temperature/humidity changes) the mortar cracked and actually fell out of the joint... In my case it wasn't a foundation problem.

[loves2read]

if it is straight up the side of the exterior wall then it is (pretty sure) an expansion joint--built that way to prevent smaller cracks in morter from foundation shifting and mortar drying out...

as GALORE said it is usually caulked(more flexible substance like a polymer) with something same color as the mortar so that it looks like a mortar seam but it is not a FAULT--
it is a design element...

this link has description of how an expansion joint is filled with backerseal and then caulked...some places say a backer rod--which I assume is something more solid

http://www.emseal.com/Products/Archi...Backerseal.htm

because this is tall wall and it looks like they did not caulk it correctly initially--
it would probably be worth it to call a brick mason and get an estimate for treating them correctly--
I bet you have more than one on your exterior walls--at least one on each of the two longer sides...

and like I said--I am not an expert but having expansion joints are "usually" a sign of decent construction--
they often are city code--depending on where you are located--
my house has them here in Hurst (built about 7 yrs ago) but my house in Bedford--a little more than half the size built in the early 80s--did not--that I can remember...

it should not be open to the elements because water WILL get behind the bricks along the seam--especially if there is not a vapor barrier behind the brick == over the plywood exterior walls-- and start to do damage
and it is opening for termites as well if they make a mound at the foundation line--they can use use the crack and eat their way up the wall...

[loves2read]

in case I did not make my explanation clear--
the expansion joint was designed to be that way--
it might be larger than the others on your house for a variety of reasons without having a flaw/fault in it
it might be that it is on the side that gets the hottest sun or the most rain--so it suffers most damage over time
it might be that it was caulked more poorly because it was larger and they did not want to get a larger diameter backer rod or any backer rod to use--they might just have caulked it and caulked it insufficiently or with a poor quality caulk...

I don't think it means that you have a foundation flaw--and it will certainly be easier to repair
in fact if you get some of your neighbors to go together you might get a better price having them repaired..

why did your appraiser mention it to you at all if s/he did not know enough to be accurate with the information?
that is like having a doctor look at a mole and tell you it is cancerous--
if s/he is not knowledgeable enough to know--they should just refer you to someone who is without making a diagnosis...