Ever seen a building with a giant metal star on the side? Ever wonder what that’s for? Well I’ve got your answer.
Sometimes though, they do serve a purpose. You can often find them on older brick buildings. That star is actually the end of an incredibly long, threaded rod that goes through the entire building. The threaded rod keeps the building from falling apart.
The stars weren’t put on buildings when they were made, but were put on later when owners noticed that the brick and mortar joints started cracking. Without being fixed, a building could actually split in half and crumble. This is a very common problem with brick structures.
The bigger the star that you see on the side of a building, the bigger the problem that the building has. Those stars have saved a lot of buildings from splitting in two and collapsing.
How to tell a cosmetic star from a functional one?
Like I said, the threaded rod is screwed right through the entire middle of a building. So if you see a second star on the exact opposite side of the building, chances are that the stars are functional. If there isn’t a star on the opposite side of the building, it’s probably cosmetic.
