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General Rules for Planning Expansion Joint Placement During Design of Brick Repairs
Good Building Design with Brick or Concrete Masonry creates movable joints where expansion and contraction forces have the best chance of being controlled by allowing the movable joint to absorb building material movement. An interesting note- kiln fired brick goes through irreversible moisture expansion while hydrated concrete products shrink as they age. Image courtesy of the Brick Institute of America.
But each homeowner lives with the design built in when their home was built.
So each of us lives with the design built in and the individual characteristics of our homes’ brick and mortar to move and crack.
Brick Doctor is in the brick and stone masonry repair business. We work to create stable and long lasting repairs while creating as much value as we can for your money.
We fix what needs to be fixed, and we add a variety of movable joints as necessary for long term brick and mortar stability. Our Brick Doctor team does not go overboard with extra repairs and expansion joints as per an optimized design; but, instead works to stay practical and cost effective to fix what needs fixing for long term stability.
As an example, irreversible moisture expansion of bricks is most rapid when bricks are new and slows down, even stabilized after a number of years. The age of your home helps dictate to the smart and conscientious mason what masonry issues needs repair and what brick and mortar elements need a movable joint.
Suggested placement of movable joints
Each of these types of brick design are shown in the image at the top of the page, and described in much more detail on our page describing brick and mortar movement due to natural forces.
Accommodate brickwork movement by placing expansion or control joints, as needed
- For brickwork without openings, space no more than 25 feet apart
- For brickwork with multiple openings, consider symmetrical placement of expansion joints and reduced spacing of no more than 20 feet apart.
- at offsets and setbacks
- at wall intersections
- at changes in wall height
- where wall backing system changes
- where support of brick veneer changes
- where wall function or climatic exposure changes
- at or near corners
- placing expansion joints around elements that are rigidly attached to the frame and project into the veneer, such as windows and door frames
And remember, the brick repair company you choose should have the experience and right attitude to discern from your home’s design and how your home is presenting a brick and mortar cracking problem- to add the right number of moveable joints to solve your problems reliably without abusing your budget.
A Conscientious Mason matches moveable joints into the wall as inconspicuously as possible
Window lintel has busted out the mortar joint
Here the lintel joint has been repaired with a sanded joint over a horizontal expansion joint installation.
Here a planned control joint was merely filled with standard caulking. It did not hold up well and looked quite unattractive.
Caulked joint has been cleaned out and an expansive joint has been added. Matches up pretty well and will hold up long term.
This is a well-match control joint which helps absorb the elastic deformation in the underlying garage lintel.
Corner crack with a well matched expansion joint to absorb the stress caused by intersecting walls of brick undergoing brick expansion by moisture absorption. Make sure you see our page on why brick and mortar moves and cracks.
Our Brick Doctor Masons work conscientiously to match expansion and control joints into the appearance of the existing brick and mortar. We add moveable joints where they are most inconspicuous but will still control the movement in the wall contributing to the brick and mortar cracking.