Should I stop this work?

[MattM2021]

I'm have a floating extension built, it's early days. The builders have put up the columns & started to build a load-bearing wall but when I came home & saw the work, it didn't feel me with much confidence. I've attached pictures. There are gaps in the mortar & the fact they have used rubble for some of the brick work can't be right. I wanted to ask people with more knowledge about this than I have. Should I stop this job & find another builder?

 

Thanks in advance for you're help.

[ProDave]

What's the last 2 pictures?  are they going to cast a lintel in place.

[MattM2021]

Yes, they're going to cast a lintel. The last 2 pics are the start of the columns the extension will stand on.

[TonyT]

I would stop the work now.

[joe90]

There is virtually no Mortor between blocks, stop it now.

[Redoctober]

I agree, although no expert, I would not be comfortable or confident that their work is going to improve beyond this standard as the project unfolds. As mentioned, there appears to be insufficient mortar between the blocks and as for the "rubble" used as back filling, I'm afraid it all points to a shoddy and cheap approach by the builder. Tell him so and agree to part ways.

[Moonshine]

Have you got any drawings of what it should be? Its hard to tell what is going on, just to ask is this construction in the UK?

 

What are though columns bearing onto? 

 

Thin mortar and random inserts do not instil confidence.

[Cpd]

What is the right hand column standing on….. all looks pretty sketchy to me and I am pretty bloody sketchy. 

[Temp]

Hard to tell from photos so some of my comments might be wrong but..

 

The foundations look suspect/unclear to me. Have they reused an existing hardcore patio base or did they dig trenches?

 

The design looks odd. Two pillars like that are very vulnerable. Would expect at least one to be tied into a wall. Are Building Control involved? Have they seen drawings or inspected the foundations?

 

The form work for the lintel looks wrong. Doesn't extend far enough to the left? Bearing ends should be 100mm (?) at least so not long enough?  The wood  spacer blocks look to be in wrong place and will create voids in the lintel. Perhaps it's unfinished or not what they plan to use?

 

No cavity wall?

 

DPC?

 

 

 

[Adsibob]

I've never seen a concrete lintel that big. Is it going to be reinforced with metal bars? How does it compare to your structural engineer's design? You have got a structural engineer right? 

[Conor]

6 hours ago, MattM2021 said:

Yes, they're going to cast a lintel. The last 2 pics are the start of the columns the extension will stand on.

Oh god no. you could push those piers over. Unless those rebar columns are tied in to piles below the base of the block work? I don't see any evidence of footings?

[Ralph]

As other have said it's difficult to tell on this without drawings. When you wrote floating extension I envisage something more like a cantilevered 1^st floor with steel columns for support.

Having said that the blockwork looks very ropey and given that I would not be happy with the same people casting a lintel of that size in situ.

 

Take a pause and get some advice before you go any further.

[Faz]

It is horrible mate - knock it all down and start again.  You are diligent or lucky that you picked this up right at the start.

 

Looks like the lintel they intend to cast is only going to have 25mm of bearing too.  

 

Total bollocks.

[Mr Punter]

Has the building inspector looked at this?

 

Don't pay anything for what they have done as you will probably be asked to demolish this.

[Stewpot]

To begin with, I thought some of the other comments were overly harsh, but the more I look at it, the more I feel the need to join in.

 

I disagree somewhat about the mortar beds. What we see is not particularly pretty, but in close-up, I don't think they are overly thin, and a knob-end filling in that gap, whilst not the pinnacle of best practice, is not unusual. The important thing is, is it all straight and plumb?

 

But has the building inspector been involved in this at all? It may come under permitted development rights, but it still has to be built to a satisfactory standard. Who designed it? Others have already asked, but what do you mean by a floating extension? Surely you don't mean one just sitting on the ground, do you? I ask, because suitable foundations are hard to spot in any of your pictures. No sign of any trenching, or of a raft.

 

And as has been said, if that lintel shuttering is complete and all there is to it, the finished lintel will have badly inadequate overhangs for it to bear upon the columns. In fact, I would feel better if those columns were buttressed in some way, not just a stack of unsupported blocks, one on top of the other. Does the rebar go through into any foundations? Are they going to be tied in to the adjacent structure, and if so, how?

 

With the apparent lack of foundations, and inadequate lintel overhangs onto seemingly unsupported columns, I for one would not want to stand under that lintel.

[Big Jimbo]

2 hours ago, Faz said:

It is horrible mate - knock it all down and start again.  You are diligent or lucky that you picked this up right at the start.

 

Looks like the lintel they intend to cast is only going to have 25mm of bearing too.  

 

Total bollocks.

Tell it like it is Faz. "Total Bollocks" Spot on fella.

[jack1962]

Where do they tether their horses while working?

 

[Pocster]

No expert of course . But , if I can do better then it must be real shit . As others have said stop all work getting BC to look . You sure I didn’t do it ? - can’t remember….

[Big Jimbo]

13 minutes ago, pocster said:

No expert of course . But , if I can do better then it must be real shit . As others have said stop all work getting BC to look . You sure I didn’t do it ? - can’t remember….

Fair play Pocster. You are shite at solweld. That we all know.

[Pocster]

2 minutes ago, Big Jimbo said:

Fair play Pocster. You are shite at solweld. That we all know.

Not so ! My solvent weld is spot on now . Get back to your gang bang shed you pansy !

[Stewpot]

Here's an idea:

 

Talk to the builder about your concerns. As you do so, casually lean against one of the columns. Wear a hard hat.

 

If the column doesn't move, and the builder doesn't flinch, maybe they're stronger than they look.

 

However, I reckon the column will fall, and when it does the builder will leg it. Two tasks completed at once.

[Moonshine]

34 minutes ago, Stewpot said:

Here's an idea:

 

Talk to the builder about your concerns. As you do so, casually lean against one of the columns. Wear a hard hat.

 

If the column doesn't move, and the builder doesn't flinch, maybe they're stronger than they look.

 

However, I reckon the column will fall, and when it does the builder will leg it. Two tasks completed at once.

 

I think the columns are quite strong as they are core filled with rebar, I still dont like the look of them and the constructions though 

Edited September 15, 2021 by Moonshine

[Stewpot]

1 hour ago, Moonshine said:

 

I think the columns are quite strong as they are core filled with rebar, I still dont like the look of them and the constructions though 

 

I could be wrong, but I can't see any foundations. If the rebar isn't connected in to foundations, they may be strong, but the columns will have no stability.

[Gus Potter]

It all look questionable. It looks like the columns and yet to be cast horizontal transfer beam are supposed to stop the extension swaying sideways. The right hand column has the rebar protruding.. as though you are going to make a rigid connection to the "lintel" The rebar sticking out the top of the column on the left is short and won't work to form this rigid type connection if the columns and "lintel" are to behave like a portal frame.

 

It may be that it has been designed so that the columns act as vertical cantilevers with the lintel just "resting" on top. In this case you will need some pretty "beafy" founds.

 

I would get your SE out pronto to have a look.

[scottishjohn]

there is no nice way to say it 

even presuming there are founds big enough for those columns -which there are no signs of

you want to see even mortar joints and if required to get height right ,then cut blocks  and keep joints even

I am guessing his thought process is that using "figure of 8 "blocks filled with concrete  will make good pillars-- and he don,t want to use a bought prestressed lintel  because he cannot lift it up there without equipment.

 the webs to hold shuttering together means the lintel will not go far enough onto blocks and will be very thin at those points--

maybe if he had used threaded rod and nuts nd had lintel ends of pillar  and was twice as deep --but not as it is 

looking at the wood shuttering -the finished beam depth will be only4-5" as shuttering is only 6" deep and overlapped onto the block 

-you wouldn,t even use a solid granite lintel that thin for that span -needs to be twice as deep with lots of rebar in it 

 get professional advice--as in you pay for it  and pull that down