Comments by "Mikko Rantalainen" (@MikkoRantalainen) on "This is a half a million dollar house in Malverne, NY! Am I being punked? 😞 Part 5 - house hunting." video.

Here in Finland building code requires every 3rd brick space to be empty for the bottom row. It's because there should be around 1 inch empty space behind the brick wall before other parts of the wall and this empty space is supposed to be open upwards. This is required because rain water will wet the bricks, the capilary effect will move the water through the whole brick and you have to make it possible for bricks to dry up after the rain unless you want mold and other nasty stuff. Usually houses that look like made of bricks are in fact made of wood and simply have outer layer made out of brick walls. The structure should have (from the outside) bricks, empty space, waterproof wind stopping panels, wooden wall structure with insulation, water wapor proof lining and interior wall.
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@rossmanngroup A well made house should not have too high humidity without any extra stuff. You should try to keep relative humidity below 63% at all times because that's the minimum value where mold and other nasty stuff can live. Going above that for a day is not a bad thing but even a week above 63% is potentially unhealthy. Going below 30% for long periods is bad for wooden floors (and acoustic instruments) and may cause sore throat for humans. The foundations are probably missing something important if the house has humidity over 63% without a clear reason.
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