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[Chief]

Good luck Chuck,

I would love to know the spec on the lintel that was put in place, the architect would have listed the spec for the steel to be ordered (length, width and thickness) on the blueprint and the general contractor would have ordered the steel. The brick guy just uses whats there.

Roy.....

I tried to get a set, but no go on that one. I could mic it out, but I'll venture a guess that it's undersized. I'm pretty confident on that. Of course this is based purely on empirical data collected in the field.

[reo]

I tried to get a set, but no go on that one. I could Mic it out, but I'll venture a guess that it's undersized. I'm pretty confident on that. Of course this is based purely on empirical data collected in the field.

I don't have knowledge of what is protocol in your area but I can tell you if you would have a house in this area what happens, maybe it can help you. the towns cities here generally have a building commissioner and the house doesn't get started on till they have a blueprint and it is approved. With how old your house is that print would still be available. Even if you could come up with the architect that signed off on the project he should be able to come up with the print. I would start with the city/town avenue first as all the subs involved in building your house probably won't be cooperative. In our area another avenue is contacting a realestate attorney, one that specializes in realestate, they will know the shortest course of action.

[Chief]

I don't have knowledge of what is protocol in your area but I can tell you if you would have a house in this area what happens, maybe it can help you. the towns cities here generally have a building commissioner and the house doesn't get started on till they have a blueprint and it is approved. With how old your house is that print would still be available. Even if you could come up with the architect that signed off on the project he should be able to come up with the print. I would start with the city/town avenue first as all the subs involved in building your house probably won't be cooperative. In our area another avenue is contacting a realestate attorney, one that specializes in realestate, they will know the shortest course of action.

Reo,

You've got some good ideas. Thanks.

[SBB]

Good luck Chuck,

I would love to know the spec on the lintel that was put in place, the architect would have listed the spec for the steel to be ordered (length, width and thickness) on the blueprint and the general contractor would have ordered the steel. The brick guy just uses whats there.

Roy.....

Roy

The lintel is supplied by the masonry contractor in a turn key job.
And there's the possibility that the plan didn't specify the size of the angle.
And I hate to say it but some masons will say, "nothing on the plans  so I buying the cheapest lintel I can"


So Chuck, try to get a copy of the building permit.
That may show who did what work and may include the plans and specs if there are any.
Just another thought!


 

[The Mysterious Q!]

On spec homes its a race to get it finished. And being in a Burb of Hotlanta the area is on fire and the inspectors probably have a full plate and do "drive by inspections" because of the work load. i have seen it happen anytime we are in a boom.  Later,Q

[reo]

Roy

The lintel is supplied by the masonry contractor in a turn key job.
And there's the possibility that the plan didn't specify the size of the angle.
And I hate to say it but some masons will say, "nothing on the plans  so I buying the cheapest lintel I can"


So Chuck, try to get a copy of the building permit.
That may show who did what work and may include the plans and specs if there are any.
Just another thought!


 

You could be on to something, my mason supplied all lintels above the windows and I had no brick going to the second story so that was not an issue. My garage did have brick going above to a header two stories and I bought the steel for above the garage doors with the beams and lally columns for the supporting the structure over the basement. My plans had spec's for steel I previously referred to excepting the windows.

I would think even if it wasn't on the print if the gereral knew what he was doing he would have got the steel to support the brick over windows garage doors going two stories up.

Roy......

[The Mysterious Q!]

You could be on to something, my mason supplied all lintels above the windows and I had no brick going to the second story so that was not an issue. My garage did have brick going above to a header two stories and I bought the steel for above the garage doors with the beams and lally columns for the supporting the structure over the basement. My plans had spec's for steel I previously referred to excepting the windows.

I would think even if it wasn't on the print if the gereral knew what he was doing he would have got the steel to support the brick over windows garage doors going two stories up.

Roy......

  Like I said earlier there should have been some structural dwgs to go with the build plans. But when its a spec lots of things get "over looked"

[reo]

  Like I said earlier there should have been some structural dwgs to go with the build plans. But when its a spec lots of things get "over looked"

I totally agree with you BigDaddy, your post slipped in there somehow. We had a case some time ago during a big housing boom here where a county wasn't ready for it and had no inspectors to keep up as you said earlier. There was all kinds of lawsuits hinging on lally columns not being set correctly, brick issues like in this thread and dryvit not being installed correctly (like we want to start talking about dryvit here), it was absolute kayos and making the newspapers here I felt sorry for all those people that had to deal with these issues.

Roy...

[Chief]

Today I had a structural engineer come out and look at the brick cracks. His preliminary analysis is long term beam sag leading to cracks in the brick veneer.

I'll be peeling the inside of the garage wall this weekend to get an idea what the underlying structure looks like so we can get a clearer picture of what exactly needs to be done.

Currently we're looking at jacking and adding extra support, LVL or other engineered product. Removing the sheet rock to the ceiling and replacing with plywood would also lend a huge amount of support and become a stressed skin wall to help out whatever we wind up with as a final beam. I've got 4 feet of wall above the garage door, so that is definitely an option.

His thoughts are that we can close up some of the cracks by jacking, but probably not all of them. We'll strengthen the structure and then let it sit for a couple of months and then re-point the masonry after any new settlement has subsided.

He says it does not look like anything has actually failed, but the sag was just more than the masonry could handle.

This weekend will yield a lot more answers to all of my questions.

[SBB]

Chief

As I said before, your issue doesn't look like a "major" failure.
I also doubt that the cracks will disappear even with new support.
After the Eng. has given his report and the corrections made then point up will work best.
Check the thickness of the drywall on the garage door header wall and if it's 5/8's then use 5/8's for the new support material. That will also help!

S
  /
    B

[Chief]

Failure analysis is done. There is a problem with the lintel attachment allowing the lintel to sag and tilt.

The main beam is made up of two LVL beams 1 3/4" x 24", way more than is needed to support everything. That's some beefy chit at 24" tall.

The problem is happeing because the masonry contractor did not adequately tighten the lintel against the beam. The lintel was shimmed away from the beam for spacing and left a gap around the bolts. The lag bolts are visible when looking up from the bottom. It is thought that without proper clamping between the lintel and beam, the lag bolts have pitched down from the load allowing the lintel to sag.

To remedy the situation, the lintel will be lifted with jacks and a few bricks will be removed to gain access to the bolts. The lag bolts will be removed, proper shimming installed and new through bolts and washers will be installed to adequately clamp everything together.

Once the mechanical fixes have been performed, cosmetic repairs will be done to repoint the bricks and be done with it.

I appreciate everyone's willingness to offer opinions on this non-motorcycle topic.

Thank you.

[reo]

Good to hear you finally got a solution to fix this problem Chief. Something like this could have developed into a nightmare had you not fixed it at this point. Very interesting story of how a simple shortcut someone takes can cause big problems much later, thanks for keeping us posted.

Roy.......

[SPIDERMAN]

Great news. Sorry if I went off, but I was thinking you had a masonry wall and not a veneer. Who's picking up the tab ?

[Chief]

Great news. Sorry if I went off, but I was thinking you had a masonry wall and not a veneer. Who's picking up the tab ?

No sweat. I appreciate everyone's input. I thought about everything everyone said.

Uh, that would be me, all the way around. $400 for an engineer's report and then the repair. I'm hoping to get out for under a g-note.

[iski]

All in all, not too bad, Chief.  Peace of mind is worth more than that.