Carol

We have a 1970's house and noticed that we have about 10 to 15 1/2" to 1" slit openings at the bottom of the brick wall where it meets the concrete floorings foundation. We noticed that there have been wasp flying in and out of them and now they are coming into our bathroom. My husband treated 3 of the slits with wasp killer and I saw on DIY network last month about sealing in these slits which i think they called them air vents, should we fill all of the slits with mortar to keep insects and other small rodents out? We also noticed that cold are is coming out of slits and we have our air condition running.

I hope someone can help us out.

Thanks

Square Eye

Those are "weeps".
They are necessary to drain the moisture out of the space between the brick and the wall behind it. There are several options to close them off to keep the bugs out. One is to place short pieces of Oakum in the holes with the backside turned up, cover them with mortar and pack it in. Oakum will swell and freeze and swell some more though, which may break the mortar back out. Another option is to buy metal louvered weeps at the brickyard and install them. This is very labor intensive, but I have seen some creative ways to fudge the install. Cut the flange off of the top and glue the weep in the space with clear silicone caulking. It beats nothing, or plugging the walls.

The cold air coming out is puzzling. Could just be the cooler ground level air moving through the spaces.

The most air tight fix would be the oakum pieces. 6" long with the end turned up against the wall of the house and the other end at the bottom of the hole.



Welcome to the forum Carol!
Tom

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Carol

Thanks Square Eye for your Help, I will give this info to my Husband so we can get this taken care of immediately.

Thanks Goodness for the Internet!

Carol

inspectorD

Them weep holes....cryin to be paid some attention to....

What I see alot is folks just sticking some left over screen into the holes. This allows them to also cause air to convect up through the holes in the bottom to the soffit or top of the brick wall and dry things out.

If you have air comming out of these holes and it is cold from the A/C...you may have some damage behind the brick from moisture.

Dont forget, bees like moisture too.....

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