Home First Floor Brick over 2x4

Posted by on March 5, 2007, 11:19 am

Hi all,

I'm new here, but am hoping you can help me clarify something. I have
a two-story home with a full finished basement. The front of my house
is brick, as is the perimeter of my house in what would be considered
the Basement Level. The perimeter brick extends up approximately 10
feet and then the rest is siding.

I've noticed on the backside that where the brick stops near the
ground, some of the concrete (applied like a stucco) has flaked away
to reveal that the brick walls appear to be sitting on a 2x4 frame,
which I assume is then bolted to the foundation somehow.

--------------------------------------
| | | | | Brick Level
--------------------------------------
______________________
______________________ 2x4 covered in concrete stucco.
______________________
______________________ Slab

I'm not a brickmason, so I'm wondering if this is normal? Also, the
2x4 doesn't appear to be treated (dear God I hope it IS), so if I ever
had problems with it, how would I go about repairing it?

Thanks in advance.

-Chris

Posted by RicodJour on March 5, 2007, 11:49 am

csouther@mindspring.com wrote:

> Hi all,
> I'm new here, but am hoping you can help me clarify something. I have
> a two-story home with a full finished basement. The front of my house
> is brick, as is the perimeter of my house in what would be considered
> the Basement Level. The perimeter brick extends up approximately 10
> feet and then the rest is siding.
> I've noticed on the backside that where the brick stops near the
> ground, some of the concrete (applied like a stucco) has flaked away
> to reveal that the brick walls appear to be sitting on a 2x4 frame,
> which I assume is then bolted to the foundation somehow.
> --------------------------------------
> | | | | | Brick Level
> --------------------------------------
> ______________________
> ______________________ 2x4 covered in concrete stucco.
> ______________________
> ______________________ Slab
> I'm not a brickmason, so I'm wondering if this is normal? Also, the
> 2x4 doesn't appear to be treated (dear God I hope it IS), so if I ever
> had problems with it, how would I go about repairing it?

Not normal. Masonry should never be supported by wood framing - too
many things can go wrong. Investigate some more. Take some pictures
and post them online and post a link back here so we can see what's
going on.

R

Posted by on March 9, 2007, 7:55 am

I did some more lookin' and what they've done is built the wall as
such:

brick wall
||||||
|||||| |||
|||||| |||
|||||| |||
Slab 2x4 standing on it's edge

So, the brick wall is half resting on the slab, and half resting on
the 2x4. Not the ideal situation, but better than my original thought.
At least this way if/when the 2x4 goes, I can probalby rip it out and
install a new one.

Thanks for the help though!

-Chris

Posted by tmurf.1@juno.com on March 9, 2007, 8:37 am

On Mar 9, 7:55 am, csout...@mindspring.com wrote:

> I did some more lookin' and what they've done is built the wall as
> such:
> brick wall
> ||||||
> |||||| |||
> |||||| |||
> |||||| |||
> Slab 2x4 standing on it's edge
> So, the brick wall is half resting on the slab, and half resting on
> the 2x4. Not the ideal situation, but better than my original thought.
> At least this way if/when the 2x4 goes, I can probalby rip it out and
> install a new one.
> Thanks for the help though!
> -Chris

What they most likely did was fasten a two by four to the slab because
the brick was hanging over the edge too far. Maybe the framing was
put up to close to the edge and they failed to leave enough room for
the sheathing, a little finger room behind the brick and then the
brick. If most of the brick is on the slab you should be ok as soon
as the mortar sets up. If less than half of the brick is on concrete
you might want to remove the 2x4 and replace it with a steel angle
iron lag bolted into the concrete just below the brick, then point
the gap between the steel and brick with some good cement rich
mortar. 2parts sand, 1 part cement, just a little lime for workability

Posted by on March 9, 2007, 9:09 am

Excellent! This work is on my house which is approximately 18 years
old.
I'm toying with the idea of preventative maint. on the areas I can
see, but will probably just end up
waiting and seeing what happens with time.

Thanks for the advice.

-Chris

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