Flashing and Weep Hole HORRORS!!!

In the last week I have inspected four more buildings with huge problems related to the mistakes in masonry and construction detailing while the building was being built. In every case, the required flashing and weep holes were missing over windows and doors or they were poorly installed, sending water into the building.

It makes no difference what you’ve paid for the property or if you have had it custom built. Yesterday’s home was 4 million dollars over looking Lake Michigan, last week was a $200,000 condo, and even the town homes across the street from where live are without flashing and weep holes and they’re 15 years old. In this industry you’ve either got flashing and weep holes or your wet, it’s just a matter of time.

New construction standards allow water to get behind the masonry walls of a building where it is then managed and sent back to the building’s exterior through flashing and weep holes. Simply stated, the building gets built and after a while it settles and the brick cracks which allows water behind the brick where it drops down to a large plastic skirt above windows and doors and above the joint between the foundation wall and the brick above.

The metaphor we use to explain this stuff is simple. In the old days, people picking apples would climb a ladder and throw the apples down to a person with a very large skirt at the bottom of the tree. The apples were then sorted and sold. Flashing and weep holes exist at every point in the masonry wall where water gets thrown down from a crack or opening above. The flashing then sends the water to the building exterior keeping the inside dry. Most of the new construction homes we look at are without the skirts to catch the water and apples and the water goes into the building where it creates mold, mildew, panic, and hundreds of people struggling to find $30,000 to repair their condominium unit or single family home.

Get it?! There is not quality control in the masonry business in the Chicagoland area today. Get real and get your building inspected. Don’t get wet and moldy!!

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