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Showing results for tags 'brickwork'.
Found 16 results
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Hi All, Just need some advise please, the blockwork for my extension went up back end of last year when we had rain pretty much every day through October, so the blocks got wet. I've now got many cracks in the mortar vertically, some step in places, some go horizontal and some split blocks vertically. Most are hairline, a couple slightly wider about 1mm. They're around every window, and on every wall, in some places only 2-3m apart. The long wall of the house, 13m, has brickwork on the outside skin (blockwork inside) and doesn't have any cracks in the external brickwork but cracks on the internal blockwork. The other walls with blockwork internally and externally have cracks in both skins. No cracks go below damp course, none are wider at the top, they're all pretty consistent. My understanding is the cracks are very likely to be from materials shrinkage which would make sense given the weather when the blockwork was completed. I was hoping to wet plaster the walls and the external blockwork will be rendered. I read thermal movement cracks shouldn't necessarily be filled as can stop the house returning to the original state which then leads to larger cracks over time, though if this is likely shrinkage (thoughts?), I don't believe I'm likely to see any further movement anyway. Would obviously like to avoid having to scrape out the mortar and/or replacing blocks if unnecessary. In summary: * Does this sound like normal shrinkage? * Assuming shrinkage, will plastering straight over the cracks lead to cracking of the plaster in the future? * Would future cracking in the plaster be reduced if the cracked mortar was scraped and filled, the cracked blocks were replaced or silicone simply be run in the cracks? * Would dot and dab be a better plaster solution or do the board joins just crack if the walls move anyway? Thanks in advance for any support!
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Hi all, Thanks for letting me join your forum. I've recently moved to Lincolnshire. I'm not doing a full self build but renovating/refurbishing/altering an ex-MOD property that I've bought. First of all I need advice on brick walls, which I'll ask in the relevant forum, but wanted to say hello first.
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Hi my neighbours builder has knocked down one wall of their brick and concrete slab outhouse and retired for the weekend. This can't be safe can it?
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Hi all, I have already posted a similar question in another forum but I decided I'll ask here as well. I would like to get to know as much as I can about building houses and extensions etc. I am looking for the most comprehensive resources (mainly books) that are available on the market. I want to learn as much as I can from arriving on site and clearing the site, digging the foundations, the civils, the waste, the storm water, the water connections, pouring the foundations, the rising walls, floor slabs, blockwork, brickwork, dry lining, skimming, plastering, plumbing, electrical, joinery, roofing, and everything in between. Any recommendations? -
I took the window sill off the bay to make it airtight and don't know what to make of the state of the outer brickwork inside the cavity. Does this need attention or is it okay to ignore and carry on? Here's the outside. The horizontal cracking is at the wall tie level (tried painting them to waterproof the cracks with paint that didn't match). And now for inside
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Hi all i know zero about house building and bricklaying so thought I would see if I could get some advice please we are just about to complete on a new build home by Bellway and this is the side of the house. I have attached a photo of the side of the house and the brickwork. is that normal? Is it likely to match up over time? Am I being too fussy to expect it to match up?
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Hello. 3 years ago we had 2 new upvc bay windows fitted by an established company in the London area. The ground floor window has sealant between the sill and the brickwork, the first floor window does not. We have damp on the first floor interior wall below the window but not on the ground floor wall below its bay window. There are large gaps between the first floor bay window sill and brickwork and 2 packing strips can be seen from street level on both sides of the bay window. (cant get photos to upload to site). I have several questions and will appreciate any thoughts. 1. Am I correct in thinking that this is how water is getting in? 2. Is it normal to seal gaps under a ground floor window sill but not a first floor sill? 3. Should I ask the installers to come back and seal the gaps? Regards DaveAF
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Hi looking for advice please landscape building a curved wall with piers outside to go around a patio agreed width is 400mm as it will be used to sit on also with some flat coping stones. my plan was a half-brick skin either side with a 200mm void. could I use brick ties to hang over into the cavity and infill with a dry mix of concrete - is this too much, what would be your advice please also does the wall have to be built into the piers so the bricks overlap into the piers and would I need to use ties or could the piers be freestanding with ties and tie the wall into the piers? thanks In advance
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In the process of renovating an 1810 bungalow (cottage). Having ripped some plasterboard off the wall I was greeted with this horror show. This was the original exterior wall of the house. It was all very damp because there used to be a toilet here and a previous builder decided to just lay DPM and a thin concrete slab over the waste pipe without bothering to cap off the unused soil pipe. All the bricks in this section are very loose (I could probably pull them out by hand). Struggling to know where to start with it. I was thinking of putting in some 6mm helical bars along the dotted red lines in the picture and then rerouting the plastic pipes so they don't go through this wall and slowly replacing/adding in missing bricks leaving each part to set as I go. Does this sound sensible or like a stupid plan? The wall will eventually be rendered so I am more interested in structurally sound than pretty. Any advice very gratefully received.
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Hi, don’t know if anyone can help me unpick this. We pulled out the gas fireplace that was previously installed and removed everything back to the original chimney breast brickwork. As we did that it became apparent that the person who installed it hacked the right angles off the fireplace brickwork. We are planning on lining the recess with Hardie board, but I am worried that where the board meets at a right angle the void behind it will render the board unstable or prone to break. I think the best option is to pack it out, but I have no idea what to pack it put with… (apart from mortar but I am concerned it won’t key in enough and wouldn’t know the correct mix for what I want, and would I have to shutter it etc…) Any help or suggestions would be great. Lots of pictures attached. The Ply is just for demo purposes
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Have these blocks been used in the UK? Anyone know more about this? The Irish Times.. "Muscovite mica has led to apparent defects in building blocks used in at least 5,000 homes in the northwest, causing cracks to open up in thousands of buildings. Videos posted online show load-bearing blocks crumbling in homeowners’ hands." https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/q-a-what-is-mica-and-why-are-people-protesting-over-it-1.4593301 and https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-49109158 What a nighmare for the home owner.
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Hi all, I am new to the group and new to building work in general. I have just purchased a 1900 victorian end terrace with a large gable end - thought to be a result of neighbouring house being bombed in WW2 My concern is related to penetrating damp on the internal walls. I have had a variety of opinions from local damp proof specialists and builders. The damp proof course is 15 years old. They are solid walls not Cavity walls and the damp appears in wet patches on the lower walls after heavy rain. I am fairly certain this is related to the exterior gable end wall, which is rendered in sand/cement render. The rendering extends too low - potentially covering air bricks, it is uneven and there are cracks and some visable damp in the render itself. The chimney stacks also need pointing/flashing/ capping. A full replacement of the external render would be a BIG job - I've had quotes around £10,000 for silicone (K rend) but the exterior wall is HUGe and the render extends along the kitchen wall too which would all need replacement if I start. Ideally I would love to go back to the original brickwork. Questions would be - does anyone have experience of doing this? I wont know what the quality of the bricks is like until the render is removed - would restoring the brickwork beneath the render be just as expensive as new render and is render always the best protector for the brickwork anyway? Thanks in advance for any suggestions
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I'm looking for some guidance on how to join a new timber frame to an existing wall. The timber frame will be clad with timber feather edge board so no brickwork to tie in with a wall starter kit. Do I just fix the timber stud to the brick wall with resin anchors, a vertical DPC and then some sort of flashing in the corner? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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This may be daft question, but how do you conceal the outer part of a window or door lintel in brickwork. The brickwork above the lintel is sat on top of the lintel and I don't want to be able to see the metal underside of the lintel when finished. What are my options? I know you can get special soldier course lintels but we don't want a soldier course. Feels easier to hide it in walls that are rendered, but bare brickwork walls feel harder to hide the lintels in. Do people just paint the lintel? More RAL charts with the wife if so which isn't my favourite activity.
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Hello all, Hope everyone is well. Sorry if this has been discussed elsewhere on here, I searched but couldn’t find anything - but I have limited knowledge of technical building terms. A year ago we brought a Victorian property that had been empty for around 20 years. We had traders come and do the main jobs but are currently doing the smaller jobs and making the place in to a home. I want to build a small workshop - roughly 14 ft x 9 ft. The area I want to put it has three existing walls - two ‘garden’ walls and the other being the exterior wall to our kitchen. In the one corner there is also an old privy, I am unsure if it would be best to knock down or try and integrate it into the plan, it is a solid build. The garden walls are two bricks in width and around 6.5 foot high, in good shape other than needing to be re-pointed. It would be great to get some advice on areas before trying to move forward with attempting this, so thanks in advance for any help. Would it be possible to tie in to these walls and use them for part of the structure, and would I just use a wall starter kit? (The brick is accrington brick) The garden walls would need more height, I take it I could just add more brick to that to increase the height? Would I have to dig down and see what the foundation is like on the garden walls? I would be digging down to put a foundation for the new front wall, would I lay a new foundation around all sides? As they are walls built at the same time as the house (1901) I would presumably have to put in a DPC, and then build block internal walls? I know I will need to check with my local council but presumably I could build it as high as the privy? I’ve included a photos so people can see what the area and walls look like. One last question (for the moment) - a foolish project for someone with minimal amount of building experience? Cheers for the help and advice. Dave
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We are thinking about installing a woodburning stove in the middle room of our renovation. After having a quote of £3k for just that one stove, liner and fitting, we are hoping to do it ourselves. The opening is quite wide and has been built from old bricks. however, some of it needs pointing and a few extra bricks. I have been told to use Hydrated lime, is this correct for an old Victorian house, which we suspect had lime mortar used origonally. But the main question is how best to clean up the bricks. It will look lovely if we can clean them up rather than lining with cement board. I am worried that if we just try things, we could be making it worse.
