Is this loose brick a problem?

Dear all,

We have a house in N/W Sydney which was built in the late 1960s. Three years ago we had a builder add on a 5 x 4 m extension to the rear of the house (5 metres out and 4 metres across). The 4m wall furthest from the house is basically brick peer, panel of floor to ceiling glass, sliding glass door, another glass panel and then the final brick peer. The roof is supported by a substantial wooden beam running from peer to peer. Now my problem: an end top row half brick has come loose on one of the peers - the rest of the peer shows no signs of cracks or stress and seems to be getting on well without the half brick. Is the loose brick a problem? If so, how big a problem? If not, is it likely to become a problem? If I need to do something about it, who is it best to call in? As you can probably guess, I have two green thumbs when it comes to building but I am thinking that while it is unfortunate that the brick isn't supporting the beam as it should, given that the other bricks on the peer are doing the job then all is okay from a structural point of view and all I really need to do is reset the brick. I am really, really hoping that my guess is the right one.

Grateful for any advice.

It's hard to give a definitive answer without seeing the pier but basically if the brick is supporting the timber beam - underneath it - then yes it could be a problem & should be looked at asap
If the half brick is beside the beam and in the top course then this occurance is not uncommon and could happen for several reasons including -

A. the brick was laid hard against the beam and expansion or movement in the timber has dislodged it

B. if the space for the top coarse up to the eaves lining was tight there could have been a lack of sufficient mortar

C. the carpenters may have knocked it when installing the eaves lining - if it was installed later.

All this is supposition. Maybe a picture would help.