[Janon]

Hey all,

I've been pondering the purchase of a century old (at least) house which is "triple brick" construction. I'm assuming this means there is no wood in the walls... and some of the interior wall are actually still exposed brick (as opposed to covered in plaster). Can anyone tell me anything about this type of construction? There do not appear to be any interior walls which are actually perpendicular to the floor joists... so I'm assuming there are no load bearing walls aside from those on the perimeter. So far, google and other searches have turned up very little.

cheers and thanks,

 

[moopups]

After an hour of searching, useing wording such as 'triple brick building method' and similar phrases, I find no listing for such a thing with the exception of an Australian product which fills the space of triple bricks. Suggesting you speak with local old time brick layers conserning it, in that it is not widely found elsewhere.

 

[Janon]

From what I think I know... it is bricks, air gap, bricks, air gap and then bricks... with no insulation. I'd assume it would be quite sound proof. I've no idea why they built like this or how the floor joists are tied into the structure. The ground floor joists may actually be tied into the foundation somehow. From a very quick inspection, it would appear that the walls are almost 12" thick in total... the foundation is massive.

cheers and thanks,

 

[BrushBuster]

most of the old houses that were with triple brick were built with brick made on the premises.an exterior wall, an interior wall, and they used the cull brick for fill in the center. the brick are most likely fine and will be for a long time. the mortar is another story. it may be fine, but alot of those houses have deteriorating mortar now as the mortar was mixed there also. most of the time with an abundace of lime. it is supposed to cure for the first 50 years (maybe 30....i forget) and start a slow deterioration the following years. we have cut the joints out back 1/2-3/4" and pointed it up with new mortar which will most likely outlast our lives with a few minor pop outs from ice along the way. that is very very time consuming and very very costly. if you can't rake the mortar out with your fingernail you're probably ok. a few sandy grains would be ok but not alot of soft powder. as far as the bearing walls, most likely it would be any brick and the interior walls would more than likely be built stouter than any today. it was common to lay the joist, rafters ,what have you, right in the masonry and they should be fine as long as it was protected from water and/or bugs.