Browse Forums Building Standards; Getting It Right! 1 Jun 29, 2013 8:48 pm Hi all, as topic says our weep holes are not draining the water out. Sorry for a long post but I'm desperate of anyone's input. In Victoria recently we had some serious rain for 5 or so days. After the first day we were called to say there was water coming in under our skirting boards in 3 rooms & our garage. The garage is west facing and the bedrooms are north west. So they copped it quite bad. The house has no verandah as yet and no eves. We had 2 builders come in and try to find what was happening. The roof was 100% ok, but bricks and mortar will absorb water along with expansion gaps which we temporally filled to stop water from getting in to no avail. The skirts were removed as they were ruined!, the plaster was cut at the bottom as it had been damaged to and the builder needed to see what was goin on. There were 3 holes drilled in the garage wall at weep hole level and the water came out like a fountain !!!!!!! Bricks were also removed on one of the bedrooms and we discovers a lot!!!! Of brickies mud behinds them and further along the wall. I was pulling out handfuls and there were also big chunks connected to the brick work we couldn't remove. 2 builders made the assessment that there was far to much mud behind the brick work for the water to drain and it was filling up and getting over the damp course and out under the skirts. There has been a fair amount of damage that needs to be fixed inside But we will only fix the inside once the outside has been fixed. Our brick layer has suggested putting in more weep holes but my argument is I'm going to have a very holey house and what's to say they will work when the ones that are there already don't work as there blocked!!! I have suggested plugging out sections of brick and cleaning out behind them. Just afraid my house will look like a patchwork quilt. We are so guttered, we spent extra on Daniel Robertson brick for our beautiful home and and I am afraid this screw up will ruin the whole look. Any other suggestions are welcome Its quite awkward as I know the brick layers boss personally and they have a great repuatation , and they do all the work for my brother in laws boss so it's not like they are $honky but we might have been unlucky leading up to Xmas they may have got a little slack. ( At this stage we will have to cover the costs of fixing it ourselves as owner builder insurance doesn't cover bad workman ship) Thanks all Re: Brick weep holes not draining, HELP!!!!!! 2Jul 18, 2013 2:20 pm Hmm that sounds like a nightmare. I think trying to prevent the water coming in would be the best thing to do. I guess if you don't have eves installed yet then that would be a likely entry point. You say that holes were drilled at weep hole height in the garage wall. Does that mean there are no actual weep holes in that section of wall? Also, have you checked that the flashing in the cavity is installed properly? Flashing should ensure that any water coming down through the cavity is pushed out of the weep holes. Perhaps if it was forgotten or it had holes in it etc water could be falling behind it and then penetrating into the house... I see this is a couple of weeks old but would be curious to know what's happened since. Re: Brick weep holes not draining, HELP!!!!!! 3Jul 18, 2013 2:54 pm There were weep holes every 4 bricks as standard. Everything was there as it should be. Just the fact that there was so much mud behind the brick work ment it wasn't draining. There were 7 or 8 bricks removed to check the flashing / damp corse was installed correctly. which it was. But what's happened is the water had backed up so much that it's actually gone over the damp course and onto the other side and under the skirts. It had nowhere else to go. A differently designed slab would have made a big difference but I am also told by old school brickies that they used to put a length of wood down the wall at the start of the day ( with two strings on the ends) and at the end of the day pull it up which brings up all the excess mud that's fallen in. This is totally in heard on now! We have drilled extra weep holes on the worse affected side and will water proof that as it will never have a verandah on it. The rest of the house will have a verandah installed before the carpet goes down to prevent as much water actually hitting the brick work and getting in , in the first place. But I've had 2 older retired brick layers tell me this is what they used to do. Re: Brick weep holes not draining, HELP!!!!!! 4Jul 18, 2013 2:58 pm Sorry the last sentence I posted was mumble jumbled up. But we have just ordered new skirts and will be replacing them so we can get on with things. Crappy it's happened but nothing we can do now. Except for trying to fix it and stop it from happening again. Fingers crossed the verandah fixes the issue or we will be in big trouble. Thanks for your reply Re: Brick weep holes not draining, HELP!!!!!! 5Jul 19, 2013 10:28 pm must be a lot of mud down there, the whole bottom of the cavity must be filled. Im not sure how the bit of wood in a string would work unless they werent using brick ties. Another way to get rid of the mud when laying them is to put the hose down the cavity while the mud is still wet. The cavity must be clear of all mud, if they havent done this it is faulty workmanship Re: Brick weep holes not draining, HELP!!!!!! 6Jul 20, 2013 8:14 am Sadly yep... I was told its normal to have mud down there but I pulled out a fair few handfuls where bricks had been removed!! faulty workmanship it is now we are stuck trying to fix it! Re: Brick weep holes not draining, HELP!!!!!! 7Jul 20, 2013 8:23 am tamz026 Sadly yep... I was told its normal to have mud down there but I pulled out a fair few handfuls where bricks had been removed!! faulty workmanship it is now we are stuck trying to fix it! Knowing the bricklayers boss personally is a bonus, not a disadvantage. He will be the one embarrassed if you tell him, and I would. I am sure he would want to fix this stuff up and be able to tell the culprits about their mistake. If any of our guys make a mistake, I would want to know, especially if they stuffed up for someone I know. Ed "ECOECO" At 'EcoEco', we design windows, we design the best windows, we do it for you, so that when you’re happy we are happy. Tel. 1800 326 326 Re: Brick weep holes not draining, HELP!!!!!! 8Jul 20, 2013 2:39 pm Well I thought this would be the case to, but he would rather bury his head in the sand. When I said about the amount of mud in the wall he said it was normal....... Everyone else who has looked at it has said it is not normal for there to be so much. This is why we have the problem... To much mud but he doesn't like to take responsibility for it. I think his feeling quite guilty and knows there a issue but it's not a easy one to fix so he would rather tell us it's normal and have nothing to do with it. Everyone one else involved in the house came running to help and clear there name of any problems thinking that they may have contributed to the problem . So I'm happy everyone has been so helpful. Re: Brick weep holes not draining, HELP!!!!!! 9Jul 20, 2013 3:13 pm If you can't get water out you can stop getting it in Application of clear waterproofer will seal your wall and prevent or reduce absorption and won't change your brick appearance. Cheers Foremost Building Expert in Australia,assisting with building problems/disputes, building stage inspections,pre-contract review advice for peace of mind 200 blogs http://www.buildingexpert.net.au/blog Re: Brick weep holes not draining, HELP!!!!!! 10Jul 20, 2013 3:22 pm Thank you we are in the process of looking at different brick sealers. Some will change the look of the bricks which I really don't want. So looking for a more natural looking one. Suggestions are very welcome. Re: Brick weep holes not draining, HELP!!!!!! 11Jul 20, 2013 3:33 pm Have a look at Shelleys (i think or maybe Sheldon) in Bunnings Foremost Building Expert in Australia,assisting with building problems/disputes, building stage inspections,pre-contract review advice for peace of mind 200 blogs http://www.buildingexpert.net.au/blog it depends on the natural ground level, if they excavated their boundary wall needed to be built as a retaining wall. If you filled, which sounds like the case then you… 1 7169 I know foam has been around since the 90's and CSR started manufacturing Hebel in 1989, so it's definitely possible 5 5519 You are correct. Just read through all the ncc rules and 75mm is the minimum requirement for me. 4 11208 |