Well, here's the deal. The concrete footings are stepped due to the slope the house is being constructed on. On the high side the slab is 3 8" courses above the surrounding grade. On the low side it's 5 courses. When the final grade is established, the slab will be approximately 18" above grade all the way around the house. This will allow a minimum of 6" drainage slope of the grade away from the house. I have approximately 85' of footing that will have brick veneer on it that is 4 courses from the slab to the footing. Then I have approximately 50' of footing that is 5 courses below the slab. What I should have done is had the block mason run a course of 6" block along side the 8" block and tied it into the foundation wall with ties when he laid the foundation walls. I did not do that because I was planning on just running the brick veneer all the way to the footing all the way around, figuring 16" of extra brick veneer for 50' and 8" of extra veneer for 85' was not worth the trouble of raising the brick ledge with another block wall. After the block foundation was in place the guy doing that suggested the dry stacked block to raise the veneer. This did 2 things. 1) It saved a few brick...No big deal, you're correct. 2) It allowed us to go ahead and slope the dirt away from the house to keep water from collecting around the footings when it rains.
So I run this idea by a local structural engineer. He said he didn't have a problem with it so long as the footings were level, which they are, stating that there wasn't much weight on it anyway and it wasn't structural and should be fine. So we did it that way. I on the other hand never really liked the ideal and still don't, but was assured by everyone I asked that it was fine to do it that way and they did it that way all the time on multi-million dollar homes on slopes and have not had any issues or complaints.
My problem with it is, as it is, the blocks are just dry stacked in there, not a thing holding them other than the soil on one side and the foundation wall on the other. It looks to me like they could tilt outward under load and all the brick veneer come tumbling down. Plus when it rains the block voids fill with water (remember there is no roof yet, just a slab and framing has begun but is no where near complete). Guess where that water sits, right smack on top of the footings..Bad...Bad...Bad... Granted I insisted the footings be over built by alot. They are 4' deep with 30" on crushed compacted stone and then 18" on concrete with 6 runs of 5/8" rebar. In places, namely the area where the steps are the concrete is up to 30" or so deep. The footings are also 30" wide. So the house isn't going anywhere. Also this is in an area of the country where the frost line is maybe 10" deep during a very bad winter, usually the ground freezes maybe an inch or 2 deep 3 or 4 times a year.
Now, everytime I look at the dry stacked block for the brick to set on on that 135', I get a sickening feeling. So I know it needs fixing. I need to have someone come in after the framing crew is finished and dig that section of the footing back out and remove the dry stacked block.
After that's done, then I figure I can fix it right 2 different ways.
1) Have the mason lay the 6" block on the step downs and tie it into the footings with brick ties, bring the entire brick ledge to the same height. Fill the block with concrete, grout, or mortar and then lay the veneer on top.
2) Have the mason just lay brick veneer on the step downs and bring it all up as he goes, filling the void of the portion of the veneer that is below grade with mortar.
I think either way will be fine. Laying the block may be a little cheaper, but probably not much, especially after you grout them solid. How would you fix it if it were your house?