The Damp Realities of Doglegs
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Article and Photos by Dr. Christina K. Wilson
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n the DC area, homeowners likely know all about “doglegs” built into many historic two to three-story rowhouse homes, which share at least one wall side with their neighbor’s house. Doglegs were originally designed and built by 19th and early 20th-century rowhouse-builders to bring some natural light into the middle of these homes. Without the doglegs, neighbors would have no windows on shared wall space. Homes not on the end of the row of houses would have no wall lighting on either side of their homes without them.
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Dogleg Downsides Instead of a dogleg, some homes have extremely narrow footpaths between them, also designed to allow for sidelighting. While each of these architectural styles gets points for effort, there are downsides, too. The unfortunate consequence of having these narrow dogleg courtyards or walkways between homes is that their exterior walls often receive little to no direct sunlight. That means that the brick or masonry making up that section of the outside exterior requires per-
RIGHT: “Concrete parging damages brick structures. – Concrete camoflauge” hides structural issues and water damage. The removal of concrete allows for tuckpointing and restoration efforts to reveal beautiful historic bricks.”
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