Wobbley Bricks Outside

[danoid]

Hello,

Can anyone tells me what could be the problem and a rough idea how much to fix? I'm thinking ties

Basically the area marked red there is a loose ish brick, but when you push roughly where the light is the section moves and almost looks like the wall goes up into the suffit and then not attached to anything.

Inside the house looking at the door frame by the handle area there is a small crack aswell

The house is circa 1999 build.

Ignore the fact the garage has been done, this is not my house but one like it and one i'm looking at purchasing

 

[CJRatch]

Its probably lack of wall ties around the window and door, to meet building regs ties should be every 3 courses around windows and doors rather than the usual 6 courses.

Have a search for remedial wall ties. Its a DIY job.

 

[danoid]

Thanks, thats relieved my mind abit, it's a house we love but has this problem and was thinking whether to put in an offer or not, I know the survey would probably find it, but I was thinking if its going to costs thousands to fix then no point going that far and turn away now

I'm guessing to fit this, the suffits will need to removed, which will then show the underneath of that roof then fix that way and remove bricks, re-brick with ties and solid as a rock again?

Whats the likely cost for this?

 

[Adam182]

If it were mine I would just take out the loose bricks, fit a starter tie into the brick wall behind so it lines up with the pointing on the now removed bricks (as simple as drill hole, plug then screw the tie in) then relay the bricks. You would be able to diy it for less than £15 and have a load of sand/cement leftover for future tasks.

 

[CJRatch]

If you go down the route of rebuilding and adding more ties the soffit shouldn't need removing as usually the soffit sits on top of the external brickwork.

Its a minor job and so long as its only located to that area I wouldn't be concerned its as I say probably due to lack of ties and with it being such a small pillar things such as excessive slamming of the door etc could have loosened the brickwork.

 

[23vc]

Would/should there not be an eaves lintel above the door and windows sitting on both skins? Supporting the inner skin and wall plate

 

[CJRatch]

Good point. There will obviously be a lintel on the internal skin to hold the wallplate and roof up. As you say you would imagine this would be an eaves lintel supporting both internal and external in which case the pillar wouldn't wobble however with there being no load above the window and door on the external skin only a single skin lintel may have been used on the inside. Add to this maybe wall ties every 6 courses rather than 3 and you start to see how a 1 brick wide single skin pillar wobbles.

 

[stuart45]

An eaves lintel has a short flange and only supports the soffit board and the wall plate and roof on the inner skin. Concrete lintels on the inner skin were the norm in the past.
Having a 9inch pier between a door and window is always going to be a weak point.

 

[stuart45]

An eaves lintel has a short flange and only supports the soffit board and the wall plate and roof on the inner skin. Concrete lintels on the inner skin were the norm in the past.
Having a 9inch pier between a door and window is always going to be a weak point.

 

[23vc]

What's the point in an eaves lintel then, just the insulation? Ie you could just use concrete on inner skin and nothing on outside like you say (sorry not related to the OP)

 

[stuart45]

There is the insulation, plus it's much lighter and you have got the flange to sit the soffit on.

 

[danoid]

Hello me again!

So we bought the house as they fixed the wobbly wall except for the 1 single brick at the top of the picture

As we want a new front door i’m worried about the wobble and want to get it sturdy before they start ripping it down.

As it’s just the one brick at the top, how would I use a starter tie because when I screw it in I imagine the end will keep hitting the brick below.

I’ve seen some of those drill in remedial wall ties but is silly money especially just for one brick.

Any suggestions?

 

[danoid]

Video there

 

[Ian H]

There's a neoprene one that you could drill right through the brick but it would probably pull the brick off when you tightened it.