You found a gap. At the corner of a window, along a door frame, or up where the wall meets the soffit. Once you see it you can't unsee it, and the question underneath is whether the whole wall is coming off.
Almost always, it stays. Separating brick is one of the most common calls Anglin's takes, and in most cases the brick you already have goes back where it belongs.
Brick pulls away from a house for one of three reasons: the wall ties holding it to the framing corroded and gave way, the gable moved because it carries the least support, or the footing beneath it settled. Which one it is decides the repair, and the wall can usually be saved without rebuilding it.
Your brick is a skin, not a support wall
This is the part most homeowners have backwards, and it changes how the whole thing feels.
On nearly every house built in metro Atlanta since the 1950s, the brick is one layer thick. It isn't holding the house up. The framing behind it does that. The brick is a weather skin hung on the outside, tied back to the frame with small metal straps called wall ties.
A gap at the wall isn't the house coming down. The brick skin has come loose from the frame behind it. The gap still needs attention, because water gets into the wall through it, but the framing behind is usually doing fine.
Three reasons brick separates
The wall ties gave out
Wall ties are thin metal straps bedded into the mortar joints and nailed into the framing. They rust. Enough of them let go and the brick has nothing holding it back.
There is a standard for how many there should be. As the owner puts it, "The brick mason should install wall ties every 6 courses, or 6 rows, all the way from bottom to top, and then on 16 inches on center." When a house was built with fewer than that, or with ties nailed into sheathing rather than into studs, the wall starts moving sooner than it should.
Failed wall ties matter because they have nothing to do with your foundation. In his words: "Without a wall tie holding the wall in place, you do not have to have a foundation problem for the brick to pull away. They're not designed to hold up without a wall tie."
The gable went first
Gable ends separate before the rest of the wall does. They sit highest, they take the most wind and sun, and there is less structure behind them to tie into.
If the brick you are looking at is up in a gable or above a garage opening, that is a common place for this to start and it doesn't mean the rest of the house is going.
The footing under it settled
The third reason is the ground, and it's worth correcting something you'll see repeated everywhere. Metro Atlanta's red clay is dense, but the USDA rates it low for shrinking and swelling. It isn't expanding and contracting under your wall with the weather.
Water is what moves a footing here. A downspout dumping next to the wall, a grade that falls back toward the house, or a stretch of ground that was filled rather than cut when the lot was graded. The soil gives under one section of footing while the rest of the house sits still.
When the footing drops, the brick above it goes along, and the crack usually runs at an angle rather than straight.
Is it the veneer or the foundation?
This is the question that decides everything, and it's worth knowing how it gets answered.
In the owner's words: "there's two different differentiations with settling and cracking and moving. One, is it structural, or is it veneer? Structural is related to what we talked about with water on compaction, thick footings, too thin footings. Veneer issues are issues where it was a building flaw, and the brick mason did not install enough brick ties."
The reason it matters to you is money. A veneer problem doesn't need piers. Anglin's will push the wall back and anchor it without putting a single pier in the ground when the footing is sound, so you aren't paying for foundation work your house doesn't need.
What to look for on your own wall
A few things you can check yourself before anyone comes out:
- A gap at a window or door frame, especially one you can slide a coin into
- Caulk torn loose from the window trim
- Cracks that climb in steps through the mortar joints
- A wall that bulges or leans out when you sight along it from the corner
- Brick that sounds hollow when you tap it
- The same crack showing up on the inside of the house
The last one is the useful one. Cracks on both sides usually point to the footing. Cracks only on the brick usually point to the ties.
Can it be fixed without tearing the wall down?
Usually, yes, and this is the answer people most want.
The wall gets pushed back into position with hydraulics first, then held there with anchors countersunk through the mortar joints into the framing behind. The order matters. Anchoring a wall that's still out of position locks in the gap rather than closing it.
The anchors go through the mortar, not through the face of the brick, and the joints are pointed back over them afterward. That's the difference between a wall that's stabilized and a wall that actually goes back where it was.
Will I see where the repair happened?
That's the part homeowners ask about most, because it's the part they live with.
The anchors are set into mortar joints and covered back over. The new mortar gets matched to the old, and the brick gets matched too. Here's a customer describing it:
"We had Anglins come out to correct our sinking brick veneer, gaps and cracks. Scott was able to have the job done the same week. My expectations were exceeded by Ignacio and Sebastian's workmanship. The wall looks great now. You can't even see where the gaps were. Even the new mortar is matching. I am very happy to have chosen Anglin's."
Jamey Hill, 5 stars
Keeping your original brick is the point. Brick made in 1965 doesn't exist at the supply house anymore, and a rebuilt section rarely matches the rest of the house.
Frequently asked questions about brick pulling away
How much does it cost to fix brick pulling away from the house?
The price turns on how much wall has to be pushed back and how many anchors it takes, and it is far less than rebuilding the wall. The brick wall repair page has the numbers.
Is brick pulling away from the house dangerous?
It deserves attention rather than alarm. The brick isn't holding your house up, so a gap isn't a collapse risk in the way people fear. What it does do is let water into the wall, which works on the framing and the remaining ties, so it gets more expensive the longer it sits.
What are helical brick anchors?
They are anchors driven into the framing behind the brick to take over for wall ties that have failed. Anglin's sets them through the mortar joints rather than through the face of the brick, so the repair can be pointed over and disappear.
Can I just repoint the mortar instead?
Repointing fills the crack without addressing what opened it. If the ties have let go or the footing has moved, the wall keeps going and the crack comes back through the new mortar. Pointing is the finish on a repair, not the repair.
Does one cracked wall mean my whole house has a foundation problem?
Not necessarily, and often not at all. Brick can separate on a single wall from failed ties alone while the rest of the house sits fine. That's exactly why the veneer-or-foundation question gets answered before anything else.
Does the warranty transfer if I sell the house?
Yes. That matters more than people expect, because separated brick is one of the first things a buyer's inspector writes up.
Find out which one your wall is doing
A mason can stand at your wall, look at where the crack runs and whether it shows inside, and tell you whether it is the ties or the ground. That answer changes the repair and the price, so it's worth getting before you do anything else.
Anglin's has been repairing Atlanta brick since 1930, and they were bricklayers before they were foundation contractors. If the crack turns out to run deeper than the veneer, signs of foundation problems covers what else to look for.
Call 770-422-2924 for a free look.