ᐅ Are drainage joints at the base area necessary?

Hello,

we are building a detached house using solid construction with a well-known developer who has a very good reputation. The roof is in place, and the shell structure will be completed next week.

On Monday, the independent site inspector came for the first inspection and criticized the absence of drainage openings in the base area. The site manager responded that the masonry standard DIN EN 1996-2/NA no longer requires drainage joints.

What is your opinion on this? I am not interested in legal aspects but in the technical side. Our inspector considers the construction questionable in this regard and clearly stated this in his report. I forwarded the report to the developer; their response again referred only to compliance with the DIN standard (although the inspector questions the site manager’s interpretation of the standard, but I won’t go into details here). Such a response raises warning signs for me because I cannot assess whether the standard (as interpreted by the site manager) makes technical sense.

Since then, I have been very worried and have strong difficulties sleeping. Will a problem house be built if the standards are met? Of course, there is a warranty, but I now feel uneasy about the house. The excitement about our new home is gone. Retrofitting drainage joints by drilling is very delicate because the vapor barrier film should not be damaged.

Does anyone have technical expertise on this matter and can contribute some insights?

Thank you in advance.

P.S.: We have cavity walls with a facing brick, air cavities, insulation material, and aerated concrete blocks. The insulation naturally includes a vapor barrier film.

I’m definitely not an expert... I just have a brick-faced house. In our case, the "holes" in the mortar were left—one at every brick in the bottom row, then two rows above, and also above and below windows and patio doors.

Take a look at ventilation / drainage openings (drainage openings according to DIN 1053-1).

I just heard something similar from a neighbor who built a bungalow, and according to his structural engineer, ventilation slots in the facing brickwork are not necessary there.

I’m not aware of the details or how this might apply to your construction project, but it doesn’t seem entirely unreasonable.

Try to get hold of the DIN standard and have a look yourself.

For clarification: I am not concerned with any DIN standard or similar; the walls and the water that has penetrated are completely indifferent to any DIN standard. The question here is whether proper drainage is ensured or not.

BeHaElJa schrieb:
I'm definitely no expert... I just have a brick-faced house. In our case, the "holes" were left in the mortar—one per brick in the bottom row, then two rows above that, and also above and below windows and patio doors.

Take a look at ventilation / drainage openings (drainage openings according to DIN 1053-1)

In my opinion, the holes two rows above are unnecessary because the water will flow all the way down anyway; it won’t flow back up two rows just to exit through those holes. However, it doesn’t cause any harm.