Are these weep holes in the correct level?

ahuang · Mar 11, 2008 10:20 pm

I found a problem with the weep holes in the front porch of our house, but our supervisor said this is "normal" and I don't believe him. Like to hear your opinion on this.

First photo is the weep holes in right hand side of front porch. Notice the weep holes are all on the same level as the concrete slab/floor.
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Second photo is the weep holes in left hand side of front porch. Only the first one next to the door is on the same level as the ones on the right hand side, all the others are 1 brick higher.
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Our supervisor's explanation is, because the area behind the left had side wall is garage, that's why it's designed that way.

My concerns are:
1. why are they in different level, is that a mistake?
2. when we put floor tiles on, as the right hand side weep hole are on the same level as the concrete floor, part of it will be blocked by the tiles. Will that be a problem?

Any comments/suggestions welcomed, thanks!

joaninhac · Mar 12, 2008 12:24 pm

I thought weep holes were so that the 'house' can 'breath'... am i right??

If so, the ones on the bottom row, won't they get water on them when it is raining - considering they are basically on ground leverl?

I must say it is weird that they are on different levels, being on the garage side or not, it shouldn't make a difference, there should be consistency...

oznow · Mar 12, 2008 12:39 pm

I dont know whether this will help. My brickie did not put any weepholes in our garage wall. He said the weepholes wont be needed there as there were no gypsrock on the internal side.

jamiet · Mar 12, 2008 12:58 pm

Hi Allan,

Is the garage floor level above or below the weep holes? If the garage floor level is the same level as the slab under the porch, you are going to end up with water inside the garage if you get a lot of water from rain or sprinklers hitting that brick wall.

Water will seep down through the bricks (the bricks are porous) until it reaches the slab (minimally porous). When it reaches the slab, the water will try to drain out via the slope of the slab - weepholes make it drain faster by removing obstacles. If the slab on the outside and inside of a wall are the same level, you'll end up with water exiting the bricks on both sides of the wall (imagine the brick wall as the centre of a puddle). If the garage has a higher floor level, the water will exit the bricks on the outside only.

I don't know whether this construction is outside the building code but this process was explained to me by someone whose neighbours had their houses done by "budget" builders who didn't use any sort of brick course step down on any of the garage walls. They were all complaining of garage flooding from sprinklers.

Cheers,
Jamie

ahuang · Mar 12, 2008 1:21 pm

Just to clarify: our garage floor level is about 3 to 4 bricks lower than the porch slab level.

My understanding is:
1) using my supervisor's terminology: for "habitable" areas like living room, bed room, ...etc, the inside ground slab is at least 1 brick high and there's a flashing installed between the frame & brick wall to allow any rain/water trapped inside to escape.

2) For "inhabitable" areas like garage, there's only single brick with no flashing or other stuffs installed. And during heavy rainy period, it's possible to get some water leaked through/inside the brick walls. And yes, for our house the brick wall on the garage side is only single brick without any flashing or other stuffs installed.

I checked other side of the garage wall, and there are a few weep holes been installed as well.

But I am still not satisfied with supervisor's "this is normal" comment.

I guess in the worst scenario, I will just ask our inspector during our final hand over inspection and see what he says.

Lex · Feb 27, 2010 8:59 pm

So, should there be weep holes in garage or not, for a garage that is plastered internally?

building.our.first.house · Mar 01, 2010 11:04 am

Lex

So, should there be weep holes in garage or not, for a garage that is plastered internally?

Hi Lex,

Yes, there will still be weep holes in garage.
As the floor level of garage is lower than the the house, you will notice the area that's plastered ends at the same floor level as the huose, it shouldn't go down to the floor level of the garage.

Otherwise if there's any water in your garage, your plaster walls and other timber stuffs will be damaged.

Lex · Mar 01, 2010 6:01 pm

Hi Allan,
So you changed your name?? That's why I couldn't find your posts recently ... Anyway, welcome back, it's nice seeing you here !! I love your blog

, it's a bit of everything

, thoguh it will take me ages to read it all or to find what I'm looking for

... Do you have a 'table of contents' hidden somewhere there, so I can jump to stuff quicker? Anyway, keep them coming ... I hope I can read it all one day, and from the beginning !!
(thanks for the weephole answer!)

building.our.first.house · Mar 01, 2010 11:46 pm

After moved in more than 12 months, I guess everything sort of cooled down a bit. Focusing more on work, kids and other stuffs. Haven't visited the forum for a while...

For my blog, try the "google search" function or the "labels" to help with searching on any topic you are interested.

Or drop me a line by email or post some comments, I will try to get back to you within a few days.