Chicago's brick buildings in peril
Chicago is, mainly, a brick city. Oh, sure, there thousands of wood frame and brick veneer houses and buildings throughout our city, but travel the neighborhoods (Chicago is also a city of neighborhoods, from Lincoln Park to Beverly). Most of this city was built with bricks and mortar. Properly built masonry buildings need very little repair or maintenance but, as these houses age it is obvious there will be needed repairs.
And therein lies the problem.
Seems simple enough, doesn't it? Take out the old stuff and put in some new stuff, or smear some new stuff over the old stuff. The problems come from the "stuff". Most folks don't realize it, but the masonry materials we use in modern construction are completely different, (like, down to a molecular level different), than the materials our masonry homes were built with several decades ago. And, many times, the new "stuff" is not nearly as good as the old stuff was.
Chicago was built with brick. This is, in large part, because of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Hundreds were killed and over 4 square miles of the city were completely destroyed. The fire's northward expansion stopped at what has become a famous landmark, the Chicago Water Tower.
And, please notice, the Water Tower is built from masonry.
This building boom lead to the use of what has become known as Chicago Common Brick. Made from very high organic clay (a waste by-product of the construction of the Illinois & Michigan Canal) this brick is very durable. It is also softer and more absorbent than modern brick. It also expanded and contracted with atmospheric changes, so it was necessary to use a softer mortar that had similar expansion characteristics. The mortar that was used in the original construction was lime based, either lime mortar, or a mixture called lime putty.
Lime rich mortar has several characteristics that are completely different than modern Portland Cement, additive laden mortars. As water migrates through lime mortar, some of the lime is disolved and will travel with the water and refill small cracks that occur due to normal settlement (called autogenous healing). Lime mortar will expand and contract to account for movement caused by atmospheric changes. Lime mortars cure by carbonization (from contact with CO2 in the air) rather than by hydration, as modern Portland Cement mortars do. It also was compatible with the moisture permeability of the bricks so water was absorbed and evaporated equally from both materials. The older (solid stone) masonry would also absorb some amount of moisture, but the sheer mass of the wall would limit the amounts of moisture & the depth of penetration, and the moisture will evaporate back out of the wall with atmospheric change.
In the 1930s, Portland Cement mortars were introduced. They are hard, brittle, and moisture resistant. When new Portland Cement mortars are laid over the old original lime mortars, the water resistant mortars act to traps water in the wall. When the walls freeze and thaw in winter, the retained water expands and the walls fracture and fall apart. Building owners see the deterioration occurring, and mistakenly think they need to add more and more Portland cement to "keep the water out". What they are actually doing is keeping the water "in"! Additional repairs with modern mortars accelerate the deterioration of the wall, as each new application seals the wall tighter and tighter. The end result is substantially damaged masonry.
I have, personally, seen 100 year old brick buildings, whose parapet walls were "rebuilt" using the standard Portland Cement mortars available today, where the rebuilt portion has literally disintegrated in 4 to 6 years! Modern masonry techniques are, literally, destroying these old buildings and houses.
Many restoration masons utilize modern Portland cement mortars because they are readily available at the big box stores, they are fast to mix and apply, and most significantly, the masons don't have a clear understanding of what is necessary to perform a proper long lasting repair in the first place. In the end, the less savvy building owner thinks that since the entire wall is clean looking and appears to have been "re-pointed" uniformly, he has received a good and very affordable repair. In fact, what they receive was a cosmetic overlay, which in most cases, accelerates the deterioration of the masonry. Also, with the recent influx of Eastern European masons, their common practices are not proper for the Chicago style of building. They, regularly, add additional sand to the mortar, hoping that this will add strength. In fact, it makes the mortar mixture more water permiable. This allows more water to be retained by the building's brick.
The most common result of improper mortar application is that the thin layer of parge mortar cracks & falls off within a few years. In the areas where the new mortar extends deep enough to remain in place, moisture tends to be trapped in both the mortar bed joints and the edge surfaces of the brick. This causes the moisture laden brick to deteriorate through the expansion that occurs as it freezes. This condition is called spalling. Entire faces of brick can literally begin to progressively flake off. In many cases, the trapped moisture will cause entire sections of brick to bulge out away from the building due to freeze/thaw cycles. In both cases, the result is substantially damaged masonry.
And, as icing on the cake, the winter of 2008 - 2009 had a record number of freeze/thaw cycles, and 2008 saw record rainfall levels. Talk about a perfect storm!
The other large problem with old masonry is the steel lintels over the windows and doors. Over the years, moisture migrates into the wall, where it attacks the steel and causes it to rust and delaminate. When the steel delaminates, it flakes and expands, very slowly, but with thousands of pounds of force. The expanding steel causes the brick around the windows to bulge, and causes decorative stonework to crack. The most common (and mistaken) repair is to caulk or grout the spaces between the lintels and the masonry and seal the lintels, which the repairman thinks will keep water out of the wall. What is actually happening is that the water is being retained in the wall, and the lintels deteriorate faster.
Another common problem with the lintels is the relatively recent practice of wrapping the window trim and steel lintels with aluminum cladding when windows are replaced. The intent is to protect the lintels, but the aluminum wrap cladding actually holds the water in the wall, which accelerates the deteriorioration of the lintel.
These misbegotten repair practices are so ingrained in Chicago construction trades, it has become standard practice to keep applying new mortars over the old mortars until there is a convex bulging mortar joint instead of a nicely struck concave joint. There are some new masons that have labeled this "European Tuckpointing", as if the practice has some centuries old roots going back to the "olde" country. While the new masons understanding of American marketing is admirable, the practice is a disaster for the buildings because the bulging joint has thousands of little ledges and gaps that trap moisture and actually funnel increased amounts of moisture into the wall.
There are a couple simple lessons in all of this.
First, it is not necessary to "protect" the older mortars. If we don't actively abuse our buildings by applying the wrong principles, materials, and methods, they will last. They have withstood thousands of years of use all over the world, and if the building is reasonably maintained, tuckpointing is most likely only necessary every 25-30 years at most. Yes, there might be miscellaneous spot repairs necessary, or the building owner might want to clean the masonry to make it look better, but plainly and simply, the original mortars will function just fine for decades if they are not slathered with Portland cements, or otherwise abused by not maintaining roofing, parapet wall coping tiles or other waterproofing components of the building.
Second, if one is doing repairs to their masonry building, they should be aware that there are vast differences in the mortar, and using the wrong mortar is detrimental to the building. When talking to your repair mason, make sure they understand these things. If they don't, the likelihood is they are going to damage your building, not repair it.
Which finally brings us to tuckpointing. This is a commonly misused term.
The correct term for this repair work is "repointing", or simply "pointing". What this means to us is even the terms that the new generation of masons not only use the wrong mortars, they don't even use the proper terminology for their work. Call me old fashioned, but if someone doesn't even know the correct terminology for the processes they employ, I tend to be weary of their knowledge and skill for executing the work.
We are blessed with a very unique architecture and building material in this City. If we want our masonry homes to continue on, we must educate ourselves, and then the tradesman that work on our properties. If we don't do these things, we can expect that our homes will fall apart rapidly and have excessive repair costs. It's always cheaper to do things right the first time.
And, a professional and knowledgable home inspector can help in this regard. Much of my work is consulting, both to home and building owners and to contractors.
As a state licensed home inspector, as well as a mold inspector and thermographer, I constantly get calls from people who have "flooded" basements.
Let's get a couple of definitions clear:
- Flooded basement: This is what happens when the ground around the house is a flood plain. Basements flood because there is a high water table and this water enters the basement, either over the foundation wall or, as is common in Chicago, from backing up floor drains. A flooded basement means that you have standing water (a from a couple of inches to a couple of feet) in the basement.
- Seepage: Water or moisture seepage is much more common. Seepage occurs when there are cracks in the foundation wall, between the foundation wall and the basement slab or a porous foundation wall condition (older rubble stone or brick foundation walls).
OK. What can be done?
by drain tiles (which today are plastic, not clay tiles as were originally used) that collect water and direct it to a sump (a deep pit) in the basment floor. The sump pump then takes this water away to an area away from the house. One key point with sump pumps, they should not drain into the local sewer system and, in many localities, this is also against the law. Have the sump drain the water to a low spot in the back yard.
5. Finally, don't install the basement flooring directly on the slab floor. This slab will ALWAYS be moist, either from water seepage through the slab or from condensation. Many carpet companies advertise that the carpet pad will stop this moisture, but this is not true. The carpet pad is just a big sponge, which will soak up the moisture and hold it against the carpet and form mold. Build up the floor, using a product such as Dry-Cor or some similar raised sub-floor product. This will keep the moisture away from the carpet and allow air to circulate and dry any seepage that may form.
Also, remember that a home inspector not only inspects homes as part of a sale, we also do maintenance inspections and can help you to solve some of your house's problems, like basementg flooding and seepage. Home inspectors are not trying to sell you anything, like a contractor would be. Another point is that all the national home inspector professional associations prohibit their members from doing any work on the houses they inspect.
Hope this helps;
Will Decker
Decker Home Services
Kansas will, in the next 30 days, begin "registration" of home inspectors. This is very contenciuos, given that about 90% of the counties in Kansas have no local or state building codes, that builders and most sub-contractors have no training, qualification, testing or licensing standards and the the Real Estate agents are tired of the proferssional home inspectors finding all the problems with these houses (both newly constructed and repaired, remodeled or modified older houses) and "Killing the Deal".
1) Kansas has most counties that have no building codes. Government dropping the ball with regards to protecting the public. I can, at least in part, understand, because Kansas is, primarily, a rural state with very little local government taxes, and therefore, very little local government revenues with which to fund code enforcment and code inspectors.
Point 1, the local government is dropping the ball with regards to protection of the public, their primary charge.
2) The State of Kansas has no State licensing of general contractors, and the various sub-contracting trades. Therefore, there is no mandatory training, testing or validation of professional qualifications.
Point 2, the state (and local) governments are dropping the ball with regards to protection of the public, their primary charge.
3) With so many new construction houses (based upon the building boom of a couple of years ago) that were built without any government mandated standards of quality, and with, for the most part, so may unqualified and un-professional tradespeople building these houses, they are, to put it mildly, not well built houses. They are not built well with regards to quality, but more importantly, they are not safe, based upon the current, nationally accepted, standards.
Point 3, the state and local governments are dropping the ball with regards to protection of the public, their primary charge.
4) When older houses are repaired or modified or upgraded, the work is usually done by the lowest bidder. The public has an (unwarranted and false) expectation that these tradesman are trained and qualified and licensed (and if they have a buisness license, they can, legally, state that they are licensed, which further confuses the public) but in most cases, they are neither professional or qualified.
Point 4, there are many older houses that have been repaired or modified, so as to be sub-standard in quality or unsafe. Again, the public's expectation is much higher than the factual reality, because the government has dropped the ball.
5) When Real Estate agents try to sell these houses (new or used), the buyer's will hire a home inspector. Most times, these inspectors are trained, qualified, professional and ethical. Given the perfect storm of housing defects out there (both in new construction and in older houses) these inspectors call out these defects. Since most inspectors are good, the buyer gets a bad smell from the houses and either backs away from the deal or demands the seller either fix the problems or lower the price. This makes trouble for the sellers, and for their agents. Sellers, wanting top dollar for their property, and agents wanting the commsission (especially during this depression in housing prices and sales) see the home inspector as the problem.
Point 5, the Real Estate community (which is very well organized and had big political lobbys in the state) try to change the paradigm.
6) Most times, the agents have connections with the builders (preferred listing agents for new construction) and the builders also have a powerful state lobby. Various tradesman groups also have powerful lobbys. Then there are the lawyers, we see a great opportunity for more income through more litigation. Also remember that, many times, lawyers are also state Representitives and Senators and political consulants and congressional aides. So, given all these special interest groups who stand to make more money (and gain more political power) look for a scapegoat.
Point 6, the home inspection industry has very little political clout or money to affect and lobby (read: bribe state officials) to protect their interests.
7) There are some Home Inspector associations whose leadership is more interested in affecting legislation, havings states mandate schooling (which they sell) and testing (which they also sell) and licensing of home inspectors (which they can control, and sell) than they are in actually doing good quality, professional hokme inspections. Since their goals are in accord with the Real Estate, General Contractors, Tradesman organizations and lawyers, they form an alliance. In essence, they are betraying the rank and file of their memberships so they can line their own pockets. This is similar to the various national union leaders who regularly sell their membership down the road in exchange for political power and their own personal, financial gain (i.e., Teamsters, SEIU, AFL-CIO, Autoworkers Union, etc).
Point 7, some national Home Inspector Association leaders get in bed with the other special interests, and betray their membership's interests.
Finally, someone has to be left holding the bag. The government can't because they would not be re-elected. The Realtors can't because they have to make sales and recieve commissions. The builders can't, because they have to pay off the loans the recieved to buy the materials and hire the workers that they need to build the houses. The tradesman can't because they are, usually, working on such a small margin and have to continually work to get more work. Some national Home Inspector associations want to sell their products (rather than represent their membership) and promise their members easy licensing (for a fee).
Who is left? The professional and qualified home inspectors who do not belong to a particular national Home Inspector Association and who do a good job for the client.
Pass licensing legislation (and make it hard for the independent inspectors to obtain a license), and eliminate limits on liability for the small inspectors.
The state makes money on the license fees. The state also sets an SOP where the inspector has to write the report a certain way. Some national Home Inspector associations make money, in new membership, in training, in testing and annual dues. The builders and sub-contractors make money because they can sell their houses and thei services more easily. The Realtors make their sales and their commissions.
FInal point: Does it make sense that the government, who did not set standards for construction or general general and sub-contractor training and licenseing, gets to pass off their responsibilty to the inspectors, AFTER the houses have already been built? Does it make sense that the GCs and sub-contractors get off without any responsibility for their shoddy and sub-standard work? Does ity make sense that the Realtors get off selling houses that are badly and unsafely built? Is the public truely served?
Why is the home inspector, the only person in the whole process who ONLY represents the home buying public in an unbiased way, gets all the liabilty and responsibility when so many others, up the food chain, have already decided that they want no part in protecting the public.
A very sad state of affairs.
With all the forclosed and never sold large houses on the market, and with many of them having been built by, shall we say, less that experienced builders (who use the least expensive sub-contractors they can find), a trend is developing in the houseing market. As sad trend.
I was called by a Realtor friend I know. He and his brother (who is a painter, handyStachman type) have been buying properties and either putting on additions or completing forclosed properties and selling them. Classic flippers.
Well, my Realtor friend had one such house under contract and the inspector found mold in the attic area (bathroom exhaust fans not vented to the exterior. A common defect that is not required by local codes but is still a dfect for just this reason). My friend had his brother "clean it up". As is commonly done, the brother sprayed a bleach solution on the moldy areas and painted over it.
PLEASE NOTE: Bleach is NOT a proper material to use for mold remediation on building products (like wood, concrete and drywall).
My Realtor friend requested a mold clearance test to make sure that all the mold was gone (the buyer's inspector had called out the mold growth in the attic).
So, today the results come back and it was positive. There were even traces of Stachybotrys, the so-called "toxic black mold". The Realtor got very angry, needless to say. He even had his other brother, who presented himself as an "Engineer" (although he refused to say what type of engineer he was) talk to me and tell me that there are no standards for allowable mold levels (true) and that, therefore, the lab report was useless. I, repeatedly, asked him to call the lab who performed the test (Nationally accredited) and speak to the Mycologist. But he got more and more agitated when I would not agree with his contention that the test was worthless.
Here are the fasts:
1) The Realtor and his brother had no business doing construction and flipping house. They had no real, professional training to do so (and general contractors are not state licensed in Illinois. All that is required is to pay $35.00 and to have a General Liability insurance policy. They did the work on the cheap.
2) When presented with the prospective buyer's inspection report, stating that there was mold in the attic, they attemped to clean it up themselves, rather than hiring a professional, qualified and trained mold remediation contractor. They made the situation worse. They tried to do it on the cheap.
3) They vcalled me to clearence test the attic, and my test told them that there was still mold and an even bigger problem. I, strongly, urged them to hire a professional remediation company, but they complained about how much that wold cost. Again, they are trying to do things on the cheap.
In other words, since they are completely unqualified, incompetent and not financially sound, they have to blame someone else for their shortcomings.
Just because they want to do it on the cheap.
As my dearly departed Dad used to say, "A cheap fix will ALWAYS be more expensive than a quality repair
We have been seeing more and more problems with newer condominium buildings in the Chicago area. I have inspected many of these buildings, working for the condominium associations, and have documented the causes. I am, currently, involved in litigation against the builders and in 3 cases, the buildings were so bad that they had to be torn down (mold, rotted floor trusses, etc).
The increased efflorescence seen on this building is caused by the large amounts of water that is in the masonry. When that water comes out, it disolves mineral salts in the brick and mortar and when the water evaporates, the salts are left on the surface of the brick. All the white areas seen on the photo are indications of water in the walls. The recent building boom brought in a large number of inexperienced builderw, who, in turn, hire non-professional subcontractors. These are the results.
The most common path for water intrusion is through the stone caps on the top of the parapet walls. These stones must be flashed (installed with a water impermiable membrane) or water will enter the wall below. Most times, this is not done.
The results are water damage and mold growth between the interior masonry wall and the drywall.
Wooden framed, brick veneer houses are also affected. In the photo below we see another common builder mistake.
Note the efflorescence around the sides of the sliding glass door and the window. Above these openings are the metal lintels that support the overlying stone. This lintel area should be flashed with a water shedding membrane. Additionallty, the space between the stone and the lintel must be left open so that the water can drain properly. In this case, the lintel space was caulked shut. The water from the flashing areas has built up and has overflowed the ends of the flashing, so that the water is draining down the sides. There was substantial water damage above and around the door and window on the interior.
If you are selling condos or houses in the Chicagoland area, make sure that your client hires a professional home inspector who also does thermal imaging. You don't want to have your clients find out that they have bought a waterlogged mess.
Hope this helps;
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