Need Help With House With Failing Brick Veneer
I bought this house a couple of years ago , it was built in 1905 and it has wood frame with brick veneer siding all the way around. The house appeared to be wilting on the rear and many of the bricks were distressed and bulging. I called in a structural engineer and he said the structure is fine but the brick veneer is severely distressed. To rip all the brick off and replace with siding will cost me 29K. I obviously dont want to spend that much. Does anybody on here have an easier, cheaper solution??
Thanks for your reply, I believe it is a combination of age and settlement over time. What does it mean to trick the brick? Does that mean I can side it without having to rip all the bricks down?? I would love to do that if I could.
Thanks I definitely want to fix this but my question is do I have to remove the brick veneer??? This is the costliest part, can I go over these bricks with siding??
It appears that your desire to save money is clouding your better judgment to the extent that you are seeking approval from those who are not licensed / trained to produce a professional opinion.
You need to seriously step back and look at what you readily admit that the engineer stated......."the veneer is SEVERELY DISTRESSED. Your next statement infers that he advised you to remove the brick veneer and install a new acceptable veneer of your choice, be it vinyl, wood, brick or other approved materials.
If you fail to abide my his professional opinion and attempt to HIDE that problem, which is what you would be attempting to do by installing another product over a failing product, you will be doing the following;
1. throwing away good money via means of employing a solution that is going to fail.......and it will fail.
2. your actions not only show great negligence it also shows deception, to wit: hiding or masking a noted problem.
3. this can easily be proved by the extent and lengths you are willing to go to achieve your goals.............ignoring a licensed engineers professional and trained advice and seeking opinions from an internet real estate forum.
Brick veneers such as yours often fail for several reasons, much of it have to do with the mortar itself deteriorating. I suspect the mortar has lost its cohesion which has effected its strength............(its becoming like sand).
The bricks no longer are "glued" together and as a result they are actually coming loose and will eventually start to fall ........the bulging is evident of this process.
The only way to fix this is to remove the veneer. One may think that you simply should remove the failing brick however the problem is not a few bricks here and there but rather the mortar is failing.........eventually all the mortar, even at lower levels will give way. Any material you put on that brick will accelerate the failure. ( Putting more weight on the wall by installing another product will certainly accelerate the failure).
Bottom line, the brick needs to come down.........either you take it down or gravity will do it.
You never did answer my previous question.........did you have this home inspected prior to purchasing it?
If you did and the inspector did not write it up then you certainly have recourse.
NC