Brickie

That cabling & the timber either side are going to give you a headache. How come the builder’s not installing the pad stone?

My understanding is that bonding shouldn’t be used on an exterior wall but @nod is the person to ask.

Is it not hanging tiles on the bays?

Possibly you’re thinking of Tuck Pointed brickwork-a fairly common practice at one time to give the illusion of very accurate,thin jointed work.

+1 Treat the movement joint as you would a door or window reveal with the ties in to the frame @225 vertical spacing both sides of the mj.

I have a mate who carries out basement digs on this basis at times,and I believe the percentage is tiered as an incentive to keep costs down (I.e. 15% to £150,000 dropping to 10% thereafter,just as an example.) At first glance it might not seem like much of a carrot but bear in mind that if he ‘milks’ the job & breaks the threshold then,come the end of the job,he’s still tying up all the annoying loose ends,but earning a far smaller commission for his trouble.

You should be fine to remove the infill beneath the arch. Going forward,the chimney stack will need ventilating with an air brick,top & bottom.

+1 to that.

Make sure you get absolutely spot on dimensions from the window company. Not done a TF myself for years but we used to have to leave a gap top & bottom around the frames to allow for differential settlement between the TF & masonry-worth checking what’s required now as the bricklayer will need that info too.

I was taught that the mix should get weaker from first to second coat or it’ll pull- @nod?

I’d think you’d want a decent scaled drawing. Might not be the thing to attempt early on.

Saw this on Social media-very clever! Never done anything similar myself. intrigued by the bond used-assume it’s a ‘Wild Bond’ that the lads who went to the continent in the 90’s used to talk about. The only rule appears to be not to repeat the same course for a nominal vertical distance.

Swap that half block out for a full one & have two 100mm pieces either side of the next block along. The small cut on the RHS isn’t the issue here-leaving very little bond at the corner on LHS for the next course is.

‘Paint grade’ might be the phrase to use when asking merchants.

Couple of thoughts (apologies if I’m repeating anything @Russell griffiths or anyone has said-skipped through the thread)- 1/ you’re overthinking,the runs are long enough that the perp joints could be opened or tightened slightly to make it work bricks,especially if they are ‘new’ imperials-likely to be longer than 215mm. Just make the piers brick dimensions I.e 890mm,1340mm etc but check brick dims with your manufacturer. 2/ unless you’re footing is going to spot on forget about trench blocks. 3/ if it’ll work for the maximum lengths,hide the mj’s round the corners behind the down pipes from the roof.