Weep holes are required on newly constructed homes with brick veneer siding.  Weep holes need to be located at the lowest course of brick around home (where brick sits upon concrete foundation and where the wood framework/structure of the home begins), and above and below openings, such as windows, doors, garage doors, etc.   The reason for weep holes is because water can make its way behind brick, and when it does, weep holes allow water to make its way back out.  When water can’t get out, it becomes trapped, and ultimately causes wood rot and mold growth on the wood structure that’s located behind the brick veneer.   Weep Holes have been required on brick veneer homes for quite some time now, however it seems to be a building code that was seldom enforced for many years.  I often even inspect homes built in the last 10 years where weep holes are improperly spaced, (greater than 33 inches apart) and missing entirely on one side of the home or another, or completely missing under/over windows and doors.

These are pictures from a recent inspection I did on a 20 year old home on a crawlspace.  Now 20 years is not very old in my opinion, and any mason worth their salt should have known about the affects of moisture and problems associated with missing weep holes back then.  On this particular house, there was not a weep hole anywhere.   They were completely missing, and before I went into the crawlspace, I knew what to expect.  Water stains on all of the band joists, floor joists, sill plates and sub floor.  And mold growth everywhere.  Unfortunately, this was going to be an expensive repair, to not only strip several courses of the brick veneer around the home, install the flashing required, and reinstall the brick with weep holes added.  On top of that, much of the wet and rotted wood structure would need to be replaced, and all mold growth mitigated.

If there ever was a time that the customer appreciated a thorough home inspection, it was this one.  These types of issues are not common defects, and usually not the type of problem a layman would easily see.  If a thorough home inspection had not been done, or an inferior inspection been attempted (meaning someone not getting into the crawlspace and pulling back the insulation around the perimeter), the buyer could have been stuck with the home and tens of thousands of dollars worth of repairs.