A guy in Omaha showed me why you never skip the weep holes

We were repointing an old brick wall on a house near 72nd Street last fall, and the homeowner, Frank, kept asking if we could just fill the weep holes to 'make it look cleaner'. I explained they're there for drainage, but he was really pushing it. He said his buddy told him it was fine to seal them with mortar on his own garage and now he has a constant damp smell inside. Has anyone else had to talk a client out of a bad idea like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

mila_brown102d ago

Isn't it crazy how people want to hide the parts of a house that keep it working? Weep holes look like a mistake if you don't know better. That damp smell in his buddy's garage is the water with nowhere to go. It's sitting in the wall now, probably growing stuff. Filling them is like plugging the drain in your sink and wondering why it overflows.

cameronjenkins2d ago

Mila_brown10 is totally right about weep holes. My neighbor sealed his up because he thought bugs were getting in, and now his basement wall has a dark patch that never dries out. It's like the house is trying to breathe and he put a bag over its head. You see the same thing with people painting over vent screens or blocking crawl space vents. The building needs air to move, or you're just building a mold hotel.

rodriguez.felix2d ago

You know, I get what you mean about the water, but I've seen weep holes cause more problems than they solve. In my old place, they just let in cold drafts and pests no matter what I tried.