In short: Brick veneer is the usual wall in Pakenham, and its weakest points are joints. At handover we keep finding them open under window sills, where water arrives first.
The sill is where rain collects
Rain running off a window lands on the brick sill below it. The sill is laid sloping and every joint filled so that water is thrown clear. On Pakenham handovers we have photographed open perpends and gaps along those sills, and gaps between the window frame and the sill itself.
Voids elsewhere in the wall
The same houses often show voids and holes left in mortar across brick panels and around feature piers at the entry. Each one is small. Together they are a lot of openings for wind driven rain to find.
At the base of the wall
We have also recorded a base bed joint thicker than the 20mm allowed by the Guide to Standards and Tolerances 2015, expansion joints packed with mortar instead of sealant, and slab edges standing proud of the brick face. All three are about water and movement at the bottom of the wall.
Fix it before keys
Raking out and repointing a sill, filling voids and clearing an expansion joint are a bricklayer's short job while the builder is still responsible. Put them on the handover list for your Pakenham home, from Lakeside to Cardinia Lakes, and check them again at the reinspection.
Written by our local inspection team from work carried out in Pakenham. Licensed building practitioners, Building & Plumbing Commission registration CDB-U 53425.
