noticed some stair step cracks forming in my exterior brick wall. they follow the mortar joints and go up about 4 courses of brick. the house was built in 1985. ive read that stair step cracks can mean foundation settlement but also that they can just be mortar deterioration. how do i tell the difference? theres no cracking visible inside the house
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A few things to look for: 1) Is the crack wider at the top or bottom? Settlement cracks usually widen toward the top. 2) Do you see any separation at window or door frames nearby? 3) Have you noticed any doors or windows sticking that didnt before? If no to all of those, its probably just mortar age and weather damage.
the crack looks pretty uniform width throughout. no sticking doors that i know of. maybe its just mortar then?
40 year old mortar is definitely due for repointing regardless. That generation of houses often used softer mortar that breaks down faster than the brick itself. The good news is tuckpointing is way cheaper than foundation work. Get a mason to look at it before jumping to foundation conclusions.
any idea what tuckpointing costs roughly? trying to budget for this
depends on your area but usually $5-15 per square foot for spot repairs. A small stair step crack area might be a few hundred bucks. Way different than the thousands for foundation work
One easy test - look at your foundation from the inside in the basement. If there are corresponding cracks in the poured concrete or block at the same location as the exterior brick cracks, thats a sign its actually foundation related. If the foundation looks fine inside, the brick is just doing its own thing.
Had this exact situation. Panicked, called 3 foundation companies who all said my foundation was fine. The stair step was just thermal expansion making the mortar crack. Got it repointed for $400 and havent thought about it since. Thats 5 years ago now.