Well, the house is nearing completion and it’ll soon be time to grade the lot. There are brick columns sitting on concrete piers which support a raised concrete deck. If the grade is made so as to slope away from the house in one area (there is a slope in the land plus a chimney base stepped out) then the bottom 2 – 3 courses of brick of one of the columns will necessarily end up below grade. It somehow doesn’t seem correct to me to place brick below grade. In the past I’ve seen good-quality bricks placed in the ground virtually disintegrate. Inside the brick columns are HSS posts which support steel I’s , and no weep holes were placed in any of the columns.
My question – should a membrane of some type (waffle type or other) be placed around the brick to protect it, or how else should this detail be handled? What would you guys do?
Thankyou in advance. – Brian.
Replies
Could you use pavers? I have seen brick foundation arond here (C. ILL. )The paving bricks are tough.
I don't see the problem -- in the UK here, the brickwork for a double-brick house starts a minimum of 3' below grade. A clay brick is more likely to disintegrate when exposed to rain and frost than below ground.
IanDG
right or wrong, our 1929 home has the lower row of brick below grade. We re-graded putting the adding row below grade as well.
Not that makes what we did correct, but I figure it's better than water running into/against the brick constantly...especially in the freeze/melt seasons. ;o)
Don - the construction is already done.
I guess a concern is the HSS column inside the brick being continuously exposed to moisture in the ground (brick is very permeable) , rusting, and weakening in time. It's holding up part of 36 tons of concrete under which people will be.
Actually, IIRC the code around here (Ontario, Canada) specifies that a foundation must be 6" above grade before brick, or anything else begins, but I'm not sure if that would be for some of the same reasons as for a brick-on-pier setup separate from the foundation.
There are also different types of bricks, and maybe some would be made specifically for below grade applications. I guess maybe I should check with the manufacturer of the brick. This is a good quality fired-clay brick.
Regards - Brian.
Use something to protect the steel no matter what you use below grade ,
The Brick Industry Association's website http://www.bia.org may have some useful info.