OldieNewbie

Drew it? How? It is excellent 👌🏼 Can you do it in 450 mm work as well please? With corners.

Thanks for that. Where did you get that diagram? What I find confusing is that on odd course’s and even courses the block on edge is on the same side. Would that not alternate every course?

How would one bond out 325mm thick block work? I assume 2 blocks are is laid on their width and another on its edge upright. If you had a corner how would you set it up so you would still have stretcher bond?

This is fancy blocks. They look nice. The men are using some sort of tool to make it look good. I still suppose the same concept you spoke about still applies though. what would you do if a door or window for that matter is an unusual size?

Thanks for that Russel. In this situation, what would you do? Blockwork goes up in 450mms doesn’t it? What if a doorway is 1000mms wide, which is the case for a lot of doorways in Ireland due to building rules.

Good evening I was out for my lunchtime walk and I came across bricklayers setting a wall out. I was watching them as I was fascinated by it (I generally am with all things construction) There seemed to be some discussion about how the first level of blocks would not work out when it came to building over the concrete heads but yet it seemed to work out on the ground. What did they mean by this?

Thanks declan. from observation I have seen work done both ways. The inner leaf bonding mirrors the external leaf i.e both leafs started with a full block. i have also seen it done where a full was used to start one leaf and a half on the other leaf. Is there any reason why that could be? Or is it personal preference of builder or a case of what blocks are near to them?

Hey all if block work or brickwork is being done with an inner leaf, cavity and outer leaf, does the bond of the outer leaf mirror the internal leaf? so say your building out from a wall and you start with a full block on the inner leaf, should you do the same on the outer leaf? Or should you start with a full block on one side and a half block on the other side?

Similar question with this one guys, What does GFL mean? Am I correct in saying ground floor level? Is ground floor level the garden or patio level where FFL is inside the building? What does the +37.82 mean? Does it mean the area highlighted in the drawing attached is the measurement down to the ground outside? Is the area in the drawing nearly 38mm above the external ground?

Thanks Martin. I’ll do that and get back to you.

Morning all, Thinking about adding on to my house. I have this manhole on the path to the right of my back door. New house add on would go over the manhole eliminating access. How would I reroute this? Go further down the back garden, dig a new manhole, route this line into it and then start digging for foundations? Thanking you.

Hi all, In a residential renovation, why is the original flooring often taken up and a new sub floor put in? Is it because the original flooring is often taken poor quality or is it to allow for new internal walls and services like UFH to be installed? Thanks.

What’s an agent?

Thanks ETC. Curious to know what the other routes of procurement may be?

Thank you.

With extensions and renovations, who specifies the drainage routes etc? It would hardly be an architect would it? Or would it be down to the contractor to know. So for example if the architect specified a toilet here and a sink there, it is expected the builder knows what he is doing? Or would there be drawings for such things? I seen a ground worker on Tik Tok on a large scale site having a drawing.

Thanks. So a contractor gets the drawings for a job. He has two options; A) He gets somebody to draw up a bill of quantities B) He measures the drawings him / her self and adds 10%. Would I be correct with that? Who would build use to produce a bill of quantities?

How does a builder / contractor now how much material to order? Do they use the drawings supplied by design team? Or would that be all on the bill of quantities? A side question- what is a bill of qualities. Where does it originate? Design Team?

So there’s no actual rules or regulations on bridging over windows or doors and steel? its at the discretion of the designer/engineer?

Is a finished floor not in after all of the heights detailed in drawing are set out? do you not have a sub floor in first, and then your finished floor. If so, how could you be taking sizes from something that isn’t there?

Are concrete heads no longer used over doors and windows? it seems that every opening has steel in place where the head would usually be. why is that?

After much searching via several search engines I came across this.

Thank you. When you say if it’s an external wall with no DPC do you mean the DPC that is laid to stop rising damp? Is that the no DPC?

No. This is only a question from a curious construction fan. It is not a project specific query.

I’ll try to a picture of one on the Google and post it.