Readymade 1/4 blocks? Getting fed up cutting.

[epsilonGreedy]

With standard stretcher bond corners there is a need for a 100mm wide block and I am getting fed up with the dust, noise and delay of cutting a few of these each course. As this must be such a common occurrence across the country I have begun wondering if there is a special block made measuring say 90 x 215 x 100.

[PeterW]

It’s a concrete brick on its end with fat perps

[epsilonGreedy]

8 minutes ago, PeterW said:

It’s a concrete brick on its end with fat perps

 

 

Got a few of those elsewhere when the coursing maths worked out but when 100mm is ideal those fat perps look ugly and amateurish. As a genuine amateur I have to try harder than the professionals ?

 

Cutting will get more easy once I am laying lighter Plasmor Fibolites (8Kg). At the moment I am laying "paint grade" Hemlites for the car port area of the out building which are the upper end of medium weight @ 15kg per block.

[nod]

Or use a hydraulic block splitter

I bought a Belle splitter which I’ll sell on in a few weeks 

But I did hire one for a week when building the house

Cut through concrete block like butter   

[PeterW]

Forgot this was the garage. 

 

If its 100mm, just crack the end off a block with a bolster and then turn the cut end into the cavity. Three or four whacks and job done

[Carrerahill]

38 minutes ago, epsilonGreedy said:

With standard stretcher bond corners there is a need for a 100mm wide block and I am getting fed up with the dust, noise and delay of cutting a few of these each course. As this must be such a common occurrence across the country I have begun wondering if there is a special block made measuring say 90 x 215 x 100.

Use a common on its end.

 

 

Edited July 10, 2019 by Carrerahill

[epsilonGreedy]

6 minutes ago, PeterW said:

Forgot this was the garage. 

 

If its 100mm, just crack the end off a block with a bolster and then turn the cut end into the cavity. Three or four whacks and job done

 

What an excellent trick of the trade, lateral or indeed rotational thinking in practice. Might adopt that.

[Carrerahill]

1 minute ago, epsilonGreedy said:

 

What an excellent trick of the trade, lateral or indeed rotational thinking in practice. Might adopt that.

My brick layer splits all his blocks with a 4 inch bolster and club hammer - measures, scores first side, spins it 90°, scores again, spins it 90° and this time scores first then repeats, at this the block usually splits cleanly where he wants it - if not he spins it onto the first face and works the score line. 

 

I actually started splitting blocks for him on Sunday as it saved him going up and down the scaffolding. I need to buy myself a 4" bolster! Until now I always just used a 4 1/2" diamond disc and put in a 1/2" score all round then bopped it - as you say a lot of dust and also much more dangerous.

 

 

 

[Brickie]

12 minutes ago, Carrerahill said:

My brick layer splits all his blocks with a 4 inch bolster and club hammer - measures, scores first side, spins it 90°, scores again, spins it 90° and this time scores first then repeats, at this the block usually splits cleanly where he wants it - if not he spins it onto the first face and works the score line. 

 

I actually started splitting blocks for him on Sunday as it saved him going up and down the scaffolding. I need to buy myself a 4" bolster! Until now I always just used a 4 1/2" diamond disc and put in a 1/2" score all round then bopped it - as you say a lot of dust and also much more dangerous.

 

 

 

Wouldn’t get away with that on a big site-mixing materials with different Newton’s plus different rates of expansion for the render. 

Whdre possible,I bond my corners block to block I.e. lose the 100mm piece. For course 2,I cut a 330mm block to give half bond one way,& use the 110mm offcut the other way to give half bond both directions. If not fair faced,you can just judge the 110mm by using your 100mm bolster 10mm in from the end of the block. Saves you getting your tape out constantly & 4 cuts gives your 8 courses worth. 

[bassanclan]

Mixing bricks and running out of course is not ideal in your pic

[epsilonGreedy]

46 minutes ago, Carrerahill said:

Until now I always just used a 4 1/2" diamond disc and put in a 1/2" score all round then bopped it - as you say a lot of dust and also much more dangerous.

 

 

My approach is the same, i.e. use a disc cutter to run a 3/4" deep score round all 4 faces, then a few gentle taps with a 4" bolster. I might try a light 5mm disc cut score on two faces and then when laying, rotate the blocks around 90 degrees as per the @PeterWadvice.

 

p.s. Block manufacturers, if you are listening... I would pay £2 for a 95mm x 100m x 215 medium block.

[Carrerahill]

1 minute ago, Brickie said:

Wouldn’t get away with that on a big site-mixing materials with different Newton’s plus different rates of expansion for the render. 

Whdre possible,I bond my corners block to block I.e. lose the 100mm piece. For course 2,I cut a 330mm block to give half bond one way,& use the 110mm offcut the other way to give half bond both directions. If not fair faced,you can just judge the 110mm by using your 100mm bolster 10mm in from the end of the block. Saves you getting your tape out constantly & 4 cuts gives your 8 courses worth. 

It is common to mix commons and block to make up lintel heights and sills etc. Yes, brickettes (coursing bricks) should be used but many merchants don't have any so for the sake of 10-20 bricks a common is used. The CTE (although without figures it may be a null point) may slightly differ between clay commons and concrete block in practise it is not going to make a blind bit of different and as I say is done all the time.

 

The actual reason you are not supposed to do it is not because of different CTE but because of cold spots and that is why the NHBC would not accept it - however, in plenty of circumstances it would not be an issue to have this cold spot and therefore it is perfectly acceptable practise - as for the load bearing capacity of the block and brick, the blocks were 7N and the bricks I bought were 25N/mm² so the bricks although on end can actually bear more load than the block.

 

For the OP building a garage, a common on end will be fine and I have never seen render fail due to mixed commons and block.

[Carrerahill]

44 minutes ago, bassanclan said:

Mixing bricks and running out of course is not ideal in your pic

No, it is not "ideal" but there is no serious or even intermediate concern with this in this circumstance - see my post just above to Brickie. In the end it will never compromise the build or give issue. 

 

In the first image, if you look closely the bottom two courses are out in relation to the rest which was my fault, I had to get those courses up for various reasons so I built them myself - when my bricklayer came to build the rest he set the coursing up properly to suit the walls he was about to build thus creating the difference between the bottom 2 and top. Throughout the rest the other 450 odd blocks coursing is bang on. 

[Brickie]

@Carrerahill I’m not making any assertions on the structural rights or wrongs,just relaying my past experience as a foreman & dealing with NHBC,who as you said don’t like all that. Even known some building control to get funny about it. 

Anyhow, @epsilonGreedy‘s garage is fair faced (I believe?) so not an option for him. 

[epsilonGreedy]

6 minutes ago, Brickie said:

Anyhow, @epsilonGreedy‘s garage is fair faced (I believe?) so not an option for him.

 

 

"Fair faced" as in painted? Yes.

 

I purchased some coursing bricks of the same weight and material as the main blocks. If one in 50 blocks is such a matching coursing brick on end would Building Control object?

[Brickie]

I can’t imagine so but you might in years to come as you’re going to see it. Using a coursing brick as a soldier as described is more for work which will be rendered or clad (& hence not seen.)

[dpmiller]

are concrete bricks not a thing on the mainland?

[PeterW]

44 minutes ago, dpmiller said:

are concrete bricks not a thing on the mainland?

 

Yep - concrete commons are available. 

[epsilonGreedy]

13 hours ago, dpmiller said:

are concrete bricks not a thing on the mainland?

 

 

Yes. I had purchased some for those occasions where I had a 75mm to 85mm gap to fill with a coursing brick on end. Given @Brickie's comments I am not sure if I should use them, though I am struggling to understand the reasoning in the case where a concrete coursing brick has the same density and visual makeup of the full sized blocks in the rest of the wall.

[dpmiller]

I think @Brickie is referring to mixing clay commons in?

[Brickie]

Sorry-crossed wires I think. 

[epsilonGreedy]

On 11/07/2019 at 10:12, Brickie said:

Sorry-crossed wires I think. 

 

 

Thanks for clarifying, I am now using a few brick size blocks on end when the gap matches, it reduces noise pollution in the village.