Contemporary and Traditional Wall-System Failures

Prior to the 20th century, building walls were often constructed of stone or brick up to several feet thick. Such massive walls served not only to support the floors and roof but also to keep out the weather. In the early 1900s economic pressures and the need for taller buildings led to the development of thinner, lighter, and less costly wall systems. While these thinner walls did not usually carry gravity loads, they often involved a combination of materials and components requiring more complex leak control and connection/support mechanisms. A wide variety of unanticipated problems, such as accumulated differential thermal or moisture expansion, increased water leakage due to a lack of drainage redundancy, and cracking or displacement related to material incompatibility, sometimes accompanied these new wall systems.