Bricks letting in damp?

[phykell]

I posted a question in the flooring section as I'm tiling my kitchen floor and needed to know what to do about tiling over bricks that get damp. I've noticed that outside the bricks have holes in them as though they're either vents or channels. This picture shows them, you can see the holes just underneath the door cill:

Can anyone tell me the purpose of these are? Are they a method of ventilation?

This is the original thread:

//www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=19605