Joints, mortar and the water you cannot see
The envelope is decided at lock-up.
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In short: Expansion joints, excess mortar and flashings recorded on an Austral lock-up run.
Expansion joints
They let a masonry wall move without cracking. We recorded one not continuous and another not completed. Interrupted, the wall is continuous through the interruption and the movement finds its own crack.
Excess mortar
Dropped into the cavity, mortar bridges the gap between the two brick skins. Water crossing the cavity then has a path to the inner leaf instead of running down to a flashing and out.
Poor workmanship
One record uses exactly that phrase against mortar work. It is a judgement, and it is made against the tolerances rather than against taste.
Flashings
Poor installation at a roof drainage flashing, and a separate item to seal around a roof space penetration. Both are the difference between water leaving the building and water entering it.
Why all of this is one page
Because it is one system. The cavity, the joints, the flashings and the mortar are the parts of the envelope that manage water, and they are all visible together exactly once.
Written by our local inspection team from work carried out in Edmondson Park. Licensed building practitioners.
