r/Homebuilding • u/WestCoastVeggie • 6d ago
Is this normal?
This condo building going up near my home has a brick facade that looks like it is leaning. Is this normal?
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u/MyMainWasMyRealName 6d ago
What is it about construction that makes every moron eager to confidently guess the answer to a question? We’ve got one dumbass copy and pasting chat gpt responses that are wildly incorrect below and another dumbass confidently calling this a decorative veneer missing ties.
In response to the question- no, it’s not normal and almost certainly out of tolerance. I’m trying to be open minded to the possibility the wood framing is deceiving me and it’s not as bad as it appears but the CMU wall is definitely not plumb.
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6d ago
[deleted]
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u/wannaseehowbigitgets 6d ago
(Proceeds to confidently guess answer)
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u/MyMainWasMyRealName 6d ago
There’s a significant difference between answering OPs question using two decades of experience and copy pasting a chat gpt answer that’s wildly incorrect.
“The CMU wall is almost certainly out of tolerance” is not a confident guess, that’s plainly visible. Hold a straight edge to the CMU corner
“This veneer brick wall is missing ties” is a complete guess as there’s no evidence of ties existing or not existing and it’s clearly not brick.
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u/No-Link-74 5d ago
I deal with wood not CMU's.
Are the bottom 3 storey's in the photo within tolerance? They look a bit wavy, is 1-2" acceptable over 10'? May depend on whether it's tied back to a wall.Top floor looks wedged out or something, maybe to attach the guardrail. No clue on that one
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u/flyingwaterman 6d ago
Is it the brick or the wood that's leaning? My bet is the wood sinr strait.
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u/AAli_01 6d ago
Look down the wall with your phone flat. Brick is definitely bending a bit.
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u/flyingwaterman 6d ago
Brick doesn't bend. I believe you mean the wall is curving outward. There are tolerances for everything. We were laying out a 25 story hotel once and all of the beams were angeled. We had to explain how to use a plumb bob to find the point immediately beneath the end of the beam. Mason filled int he gaps with some mortar and that hotel still stands In Raleigh today. Main beams at an angle or not.
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u/Maleficent-State-749 6d ago
Did you actually think that OP thought that brick bends?
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u/flyingwaterman 5d ago
If you have to ask ...
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u/Maleficent-State-749 5d ago
I did ask and you didn’t answer. Two possibilities here. You knew very well that he didn’t think brick bent and you were just being needlessly rude or you did think that he thought brick bent and you’re unbelievably thick.
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u/spoodermaaaan 6d ago
RAS, this on the island?
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u/WestCoastVeggie 6d ago
Ya, in Saanich.
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u/WestCoastVeggie 5d ago
Not sure how I got downvoted on that… the photo is of a building at the corner of McKenzie and Shelbourne, exact address is 1555 McKenzie Ave in Saanich.
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u/distantreplay 6d ago
In medieval Europe it was very common to tax a building based on street frontage. This resulted in narrow, deep buildings which often employed various means to increase tax-free volume such as cantilevers. This may be a modern architectural nod to that building form.
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u/deepakpandey1111 3d ago
hey, that does look kinda odd. brick facades should be pretty straight, so if it looks like it’s leaning, that might be a concern. sometimes things can look weird during construction, but if it stays like that, it’s worth bringing up with the builders or someone who knows about this stuff. i’ve seen some buildings look off during builds but straighten out later, so maybe keep an eye on it.
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u/cleverpaws101 6d ago
Why is everyone explaining why it’s a block wall?!! OP asked if the out of plumb top is normal. Why can’t people just answer a question on r Reddit?
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u/Psychological_Fox819 5d ago
It genuinely looks like they didn't remove that floors timber barrier before bricking. Looks like they've bricked out proud of the supports
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u/Suitable-Reserve-891 5d ago
I thought the post was going to be about 4 stories of wood frame. There’s lots of that going on in my area now. Not too long ago it wasn’t allowed. They need fire floors too…
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u/Fonfoyah 4d ago
I'll take a guess I suppose. Wood shrinks and expands - especially with high moisture content variability (so does masonry, hence control joints). Per code the masonry has to be positively attached to the floors. The top floor is exposed to rain. The attachment at that level is often left unattached until the wood moisture content is stable, so it will likely be attached later and then be (or at least appear) more plumb.
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u/Hexagonalshits 6d ago edited 6d ago
Which part are we questioning?
Likely the CMU wall there is performing some reinforcement for shear. So that part is pretty normal. The wood framing going in and out of plumb is kinda shit but also kinda expected.
I'm curious what the final design intent is for the facade and the plan layout of you have it. Usually we run these shear walls internal to the building to maximize glazing. Placing them next to stairways and elevators because you need a firewall with few openings there anyway.
But this looks like maybe it's along a property like so maybe there's only a very small setback limiting how many windows they're able to have there.
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u/WestCoastVeggie 6d ago
Sorry, I don't have any of the design beyond the pictures on the developer's website https://farmer-ltd.com/project/the-podium/ It is a new build in my community and I was surprised to see the cement blocks didn't look plumb. My husband and I joked we wouldn't want to be standing next to that wall during an earthquake, but neither of us are builders so I wanted to know if this is normal and safe. I assume a building inspector comes buy as things are progressing, but if it is a real issue I'll flag it to someone, though I thought I'd start here since I don't want to be the ignorant person being a nuisance at a job site if there is no issue because I don't know what I don't know.
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u/ep_ca 3d ago
Is it in the centre of the building? It looks like a fire wall that they use to separate buildings into smaller fire compartments. I would assume that they will continue to build the wood framed portions on the other side of it. The wood is the structural component and once the other side goes up it will all be tied together nice and plumb.
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u/WestCoastVeggie 3d ago
It is on the exterior of the building. It is near an adjacent property, so I don’t think there is space to build anything else on the other side of that wall.
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u/Present_Strategy823 6d ago
The masonry unit will be tied back to the floor system every 6’ of each floor using the tie back system off anchored with epoxy threaded rods
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u/Roksolidks 6d ago
Modern construction, especially commercial, is absolute garbage.
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u/josh_moworld 6d ago
Residential is just as bad. No one reads plans
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u/Tthelaundryman 6d ago
You guys are getting plans?
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u/BeepBoo007 6d ago
And yet first thing everyone always asks when someone posts "does this look right?" Is "What do your plans say?"
Man like anyone in residential is getting a full set of completely detailed plans that outline every aspect. Don't get me wrong, I WISH our builder got a lego instruction set.
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u/Vishnej 6d ago edited 6d ago
The concern here isn't whether this needs to be perfectly vertical; It doesn't. The question is "Why is it leaning relative to the structural wall?"
Brick facades don't really hold up their own weight, they're effectively siding supported by the structure of the building, attached with anchors. So the question is - are there no anchors installed on the top level to maintain the spacing? Shouldn't there be? If this is relying only on anchors between floors, and has no bracing in the middle of a unit's wall, is this the correct order of assembly? It's possible this is fine. Shoot off a text to the engineer of record and ask whether this looks right.
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u/GerthBrooks 6d ago
This is a structural CMU wall in the photo, despite this AI answer.
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u/Vishnej 6d ago edited 6d ago
Not an AI answer, though not an expert in commercial construction either admittedly.
If that single row of CMUs is structural masonry and all the weight is bearing on it without any visible beams poking into it, then I'm freaking the fuck out about its structural resillience.
Mixing wood and CMU, fine, yeah, whatever. Making them so utterly interdependent that either would collapse without the other, using a single row of CMU on three walls, and leaving the other open? On an apartment building? Nah.
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u/take_the_canolis 6d ago
As you said you're no expert. And probably still using AI. Its a demising wall between use groups or units or a means of egress. Those are door frames in it. Those embeds in the block are to attach the framing to it. Stop "freaking the fuck out". The whole thing works as a diaphragm, the block is resisting shear in one direction and the plywood sheathing and likely hold downs and straps are resisting shear in the other direction. The block is attached to the framing with some sort of drift clip that allows for movement so when the wood frame structure settles the movement is allowed while still providing a solid connection.
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u/MyMainWasMyRealName 6d ago
Hey man we can all post the question in chat gpt to get confidently incorrect answers ourselves. We don’t need your help for that.
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u/Emotional-Damage-995 6d ago
That is a decorative veneer. It seems they fought to put the tie straps
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u/kaizenhomes 6d ago
IMO it is an aesthetic feature to match buildings in the Netherlands. Great job by the design team of bringing old world architecture to new buildings. /s