It's funny,

But after buying this house, and learning way more than I ever wanted
to about the various aspects of it (the brickwork, the tile flooring
(another story entirely)), I notice too the scope of the problem.

In fact, when speaking with the various masons, roofers, etc. who look
at the problem, most, at first blush, want to seal the weepholes.
Most have no idea at all the of "science" behind any of it.

Regarding the roof / flashing of the bays being attached to the brick
front by roofing cement, in speaking with the roofer, none of the
builders in this area do it the proper way (by cutting into the
morter, etc). All simply attach to the brick front with roofing
cement. Our windows actually have step flashing on the angled part of
the bay, above the actual angled part of the bay roof. Most houses I
look at don't even have them.

In fact, many houses don't seem to have weepholes at all.

I'm starting to feel the same way as you do about brick houses --
especially any type of roof coming into that brick.

On Sun, 10 Oct 2004 02:55:51 GMT, "Art"
wrote:

It is really shameful that the brick industry doesn't do something about the
poor quality masons out there. I for one will never get another brick
house.


"Dan" wrote in message
.. .
On Sat, 09 Oct 2004 20:11:15 GMT, "Art"
wrote:

By the way, at 3 years you are probably running into the statute of
limitations if you are considering taking action against the builder.
Depends on which state you are in.


"Big Arn" none wrote in message
.. .
Hello,

We have had a problem in our 3 year old home for some time. Our home
has a brick front, with two bay windows, each covered with an extruded
metal roof. During windy, driving rain, the roofs would leak,
eventually causing water to enter the residence.

The metal bay window roofs are attached to the house with roofing
cement. There was not line cut into the mortar, and the roofs /
flashing were not tucked into this line.

We cut drywall inside the house, allowing us to see the inside of the
bay roofs. We can now water test and see where the water enters.

The brick wall just above the left bay window has weepholes installed
directly above the bay roofline. The brick wall above the right bay
window had no weepholes installed (although the flashing was there).
We notified the builder, who had the mason come and insert weepholes.
These weepholes were placed a full course above the bay roofline (as
that's where the flashing was).

The roofer has tried putting new roofing cement on, etc., but when it
rains "just right" or when I water test it with a hose, we still have
some water coming in.

He said that he could cut a line in the mortar above the right bay
window, and tuck the flashing / roof into it, then put roofing cement
on. But, he can't do this over the left, because the flashing /
weepholes are right above the roofline.

So, my first question is should the weepholes / flashing be directly
above the bay window roof? Or, should they be one (or more) courses
up?

Any suggestions for dealing with this problem?

Thank you very much.


Anyone sealing anything against brick with roofing cement is, by any
standard, an idiot or a crook. Brick is by no means water proof, it
needs to be properly flashed and weep holes installed. If this isn't
done no remedial treatment is going to be really effective.