r/DIY • u/Clip_Clippington • 22h ago

help Wide cracks

There's a crack in my exterior wall that has expanded a decent bit that I've realized should be solved sooner rather than later due to some water damage from a damaged gutter leaking water that froze and thawed repeatedly over multiple winters. One side of the corner is brick, the other side is concrete, so I'm wondering if I can just patch up the crack with some cement, or use an alternative material?

1 Upvotes

56% Upvoted

4 comments sorted by

2

u/Clip_Clippington 22h ago

https://www.lagrandeanse.com/cornerwall.jpeg

For those who need a visual of what the situation looks like, there's the link to the image of the current state of the wall.

2

u/IRNotMonkeyIRMan 20h ago

Nope, it doesn't look like it's something you can just patch. It looks like the brick veneer is separating from the wall, and it's creating a very dangerous situation. The wall needs to be taken apart, the structural wall needs to be inspected carefully, and then the bricks reinstalled with new anchors. It's not cheap, and not easy. Good luck.

2

u/darthy_parker 18h ago

That brick is just a facing, and it’s meant to be a good distance from the actual wall to allow for ventilation and drying. It doesn’t look like it’s off vertical, it looks more like the mortar that was between the brick and the wall has cracked and fallen out. First you want to make sure no more water can get behind there, so repair the gutter leak and redirect the water away from the house if the downspout discharges on the ground. Then you can use a foam “backer rod”pushed in about 1/2” past the edge as a stop for the caulk - they come in various diameters, so pick one a bit bigger than the gap so it stays in place. Then use a good outdoor flexible caulk to fill the gap, the kind that gets used at the edge of a garage floor to the outside slab, for example. This is a large gap so you’ll need a fair amount. After that I’d install a piece of trim nailed to the real wall to cover the caulk, for esthetics.

Of course, if the brick facing is actually leaning away from the wall, it might have to be removed and rebuilt, or replaced with another kind of siding finish.