Housing and Community Development

I've noticed (in New Jersey) that developers back in the early 90's (and before then) put up many houses with brick veneer on the front face of their models and they all seem to lack weeps. I looked back at the 1992 CABO One and Two Family Dwelling Code and saw the only reference to weeps was in a diagram (Figure R503.4). Absolutely no other reference or description as to what the weep was. Did building officials at the time just ignore the diagram, was it something developers knew they could avoid? In 1996 the newly adopted CABO 1995 Edition put additional information as well as a description which has been unchanged to date. The IRC 2015 cites it almost the same word for word.
So why was that and has anyone found these development homes to be failing some 25 years late? No legal issues just writing a blog.
Thanks for anyone's insight.

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Aric Gitomer AIA
Principal
Aric Gitomer Architect LLC
Morris Plains NJ
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Aric - This is a good question. My guess is that even if they installed weeps in those instances, the finger space behind the brick would be full of mortar droppings and essentially ineffective. As far as why there are not wholesale problems, a knowledgeable building scientist could probably answer that. And he/she might say that back then, the building paper was much better and more waterproof, the house was sheathed with plywood which disperses moisture much better than OSB, and the houses were much more leaky so vapor drive through the walls was not a concern. The moisture could dissipate more easily than it does in our tighter houses.

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William Hirsch AIA
ARCHITECT
William J. Hirsch, Jr, Inc.
West End NC
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Original Message:
Sent: 10-13-2017 09:57
From: Aric Gitomer
Subject: Weepless? Why?

I've noticed (in New Jersey) that developers back in the early 90's (and before then) put up many houses with brick veneer on the front face of their models and they all seem to lack weeps. I looked back at the 1992 CABO One and Two Family Dwelling Code and saw the only reference to weeps was in a diagram (Figure R503.4). Absolutely no other reference or description as to what the weep was. Did building officials at the time just ignore the diagram, was it something developers knew they could avoid? In 1996 the newly adopted CABO 1995 Edition put additional information as well as a description which has been unchanged to date. The IRC 2015 cites it almost the same word for word.
So why was that and has anyone found these development homes to be failing some 25 years late? No legal issues just writing a blog.
Thanks for anyone's insight.

------------------------------
Aric Gitomer AIA
Principal
Aric Gitomer Architect LLC
Morris Plains NJ
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