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Hmm looks like you could be right (just been googling as well). Will see what the Engineer makes of it all tomorrow.
another +1 for belly blocks in the piers bonding across.
I'm lousy at bricking but even ive learnt better technique than that just watching a mate on a job.
99% of corners are built using this bond so that 1/2 bond is created
[img][url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/bikes_and_stuff/8100985595/ ]corner[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/bikes_and_stuff/ ]bmclynskey1[/url], on Flickr[/img]
On the pier thing, lots of 'piers' in garages are built like this on large sites because a) its quick and easy, b) lots of site brickies dont know how to do it correctly c) nor do plenty of forman/site agents and d) it looks 'better' from the face side as there are no tying in blocks showing on the outside.
The specs state fully bonded, which it's not, so I guess it'll all come down and start again. Engineer can confirm that first thing tomorrow. Partly my fault as I'm PMing it and was really relying on tradespeople a bit too much, still live and learn, only lost a week and a few bags of cement.
Argh! why isnt this picture working!?
[img][url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/bikes_and_stuff/8100985595/ ]corner[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/bikes_and_stuff/ ]bmclynskey1[/url], on Flickr[/img]
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😉
😯 I hope you've not given this guy any money, and you tell him to bolt when he asks for it.. I'd have words with the neighbour aswell
I'm not a brickie, never have been, but that looks like basic stuff!
Thanks guys appreciate that. Makes perfect sense.
Cheers
I'm not being funny but I did flag his work up straight away. Guarantee the reason he's only got 1/4 bond is because he's not got closures on his corners, ie 100mm pieces as the photo above!
Also the floor/dpm design is poor and I didn't mention this previous but I don't think the idea of the entire front leaf of brickwork being tied in by furfix/crocodiles is good practice either!
Hate to call other folks work but what I hate more is seeing folk getting turned over!
I don't think the idea of the entire front leaf of brickwork being tied in by furfix/crocodiles is good practice either!
I did discuss this with the engineer and it's not ideal but we discussed using L plates on the inside to tie both together, so it wouldn't be a problem. As it is I suspect we'll be starting again on the whole thing, so might go back to the original plan and overlap bricks and blocks.
Said to myself that I wasn't posting on this thread but seriously, throw that guy off site now and don't be paying him a penny.
His block work is totally novice, I am a building control surveyor and if I walked onto that site I'd be telling him to pull that down and start again, the block bonding is just lazy and the piers are not piers at all, just stacks of blocks inside the main wall.
Why don't you build it cavity? Why aren't you putting a damp proof membrane and a screed in the floor? You are spending a fortune on a shed that will be damp and cold, especially if you aren't plastering the blockwork. Please stop wasting money on this, you could have the job done much much cheaper
As for the floor / DPM, it's only a workshop and pretty dry here, so I doubt there will ever be a damp issue. NB Building Control were quite happy to leave the DPM out as its not habitable so isn't required to have one, same for U values / insulation, they don't apply.
I'm getting my bathroom done in a few weeks time.
I'm going to start a thread like this, it's like having the crew off Cowboy Builders on tap for free! Good work guys, and hopefully the OP will be better off at the end of the day.
Looks like it will be the ultimate man-cave when it's all done.
I'm going to start a thread like this, it's like having the crew off Cowboy Builders on tap for free!
There's a good mixture of responses, some very helpful, some less so.
but for £40 of dpm why wouldn't you?
the piers are not piers at all, just stacks of blocks inside the main wall.
Yep, but in fairness that was also my interpretation of the plans, so I'm as much to blame as the brickie. Actually more so as I'm 'in charge'. I'll just write it off as a lesson learned. No big deal.
but for £40 of dpm why wouldn't you?
There is a DPC in there as per the plan. It was optional. As for £40, at trade is was something like £15 for 50m, I only needed 8!
I don't know you but im genuinely trying to help as are some of the others above. The floor detail is shit! You've got two course of handmades which will have the same resistance to water as a sponge, you've already stated slab level is ground level, you will therefore get water/damp in. it may only be a shed but itd be nice for it to be dry. The piers need sorting, and question again the detailing for the front leaf. I'm sure you're paying good money for the engineer so make him bloody earn it!!
Pace wise, if i was doing it on my own, then if you had loaded out the blocks that's not even a days work, even mixing for myself.
Which is saying something, as i spent all day standing around telling other people how to do it now rather than getting my hands dirty myself 🙂
I don't know you but im genuinely trying to help as are some of the others above.
Your responses are very helpful. I'm 99.9% convinced it will all come down and start again, as I said the Engineer is here at 9, so I'll add his opinion to the mix (it's his design). Now I know what a Fully Bonded Pier is, it's fairly obvious they are (EDIT) [b]not[/b] good enough. Esp as the whole roof is hung off four piers on two RSJs.
You are letting him off too easy in my opinion, he is the supposed professional and should have done the job properly for you, consider building it in cavity when you knock it down. You are correct that you don't need insulation but a cavity wall will be much drier and won't need internal piers. I know you will loose a bit of internal space but in my opinion it's worth it. Rain will penetrate 100mm block work pretty quickly.
Your cavity could be reduced down to 50mm if you want to save internal space and you would also have the advantage of being able to insulate at a later date if you chose to.
And the dpc in the walls, get the brickie to use 300mm dpc and leave it long on the inside so it can be lapped with a dpm in the floor
Well seems like a good idea the thread. Great pool of talent here on STW.
Anyway my kitchen, well the Mrs Pingu's kitchen is getting done in two weeks time, I didn't know we had one till she said she needed a new one! Obviously wanted the expensive one even though we might move next year but did need doing as it is like a seeping wound on the rest of the house. Think I might post up the progress see what the consensus is as it progresses! Or let everyone tell me the kitchen fitter is shyte.
again, for the minimal cost of 100mm mineral wool bats I'd insulate.
If you want to have the roof design looked at, post the drawing on here, I had just presumed you would be trussing that roof
You are letting him off too easy in my opinion, he is the supposed professional and should have done the job properly for you
Possibly, but I asked him to do it and went through the design with him, so the pier cock up is my fault. In an ideal world he'd have queried it, but I don't think he's the world's best brickie and just my bad luck that he didn't pick up on it. I can't blame him for doing what I asked him to, even if it was completely wrong! As for the slowness, well yes, but in this case it's been a mixed blessing as less work to knock down and blocks / brick to clean up (I'll be doing that all WE).
If you want to have the roof design looked at, post the drawing on here, I had just presumed you would be trussing that roof
I'm OK with it, the Engineer has 12 pages of calculations and BC have approved the complete design, so it'll be OK as long as it's built right - the main issue is as a 1st time self build I'm having a few issues with interpreting the plans. Still, it's all a good learning experience, you never forget things you learn from mistakes!
Basic design:
[url= http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8191/8101096375_e4abb024f1.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/brf/8101096375/ ]Screen shot 2012-10-18 at 23.02.25[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/brf/ ]brf[/url], on Flickr
12 pages of calculations for a shed? At least now I know what not to do if I get one built. 😛
I feel for you though footflaps, hope it all gets sorted happily.
Edit! Pitched roof!
One last wee story before I go to catch up on my beauty sleep
I've all too often seen so called tradesmen do work that they know to be wrong at the request of a client, they get paid to do the initial work, I come along and tell them it's wrong and ask them to undo it, they say to the client that building control are being awkward and that it has to come down and be rebuilt. It's a good way of getting paid twice to do a job. Of course the building control surveyor is named as the bad guy in this. I've seen this scenario far too many times and it really makes me mad how people can get away with it.
Find a good honest builder and you'll have that wee job done for half the price, to a better standard and a lot less stress to yourself.
I'm in the process of building my own bike shed by the way, it has cavity walls and is bone dry inside even before plastering, my previous shed was single skin plastered and really damp internally in humid weather.
Possibly, but I asked him to do it and went through the design with him, so the pier cock up is my fault. In an ideal world he'd have queried it, but I don't think he's the world's best brickie and just my bad luck that he didn't pick up on it. I can't blame him for doing what I asked him to, even if it was completely wrong
I've been asked to do things that are obviously wrong and refused due to pride in my work. The customer is not always right even though they think they are. 😉
Time for the joiners!
I feel for you though footflaps, hope it all gets sorted happily.
Cheers! It's just a bit of a hickup. The whole self build thing is a bit of an adventure anyway, so it's not that much of a surprise that it doesn't go perfectly.
Sorry I can't wait! Who's roof design is that? Is it being done traditional?
Find a good honest builder and you'll have that wee job done for half the price, to a better standard and a lot less stress to yourself.
I did go down that route originally and was getting quotes back north of £30k, which was obviously insane, hence I thought f*** it I'll just DIY, took the next week off and dug the footings on an impulse.....
So without doing a calc, the roof beam is a 178 x 102? Simple enough structure that, remember if your engineer has over specified building control won't tell you that, we just look at minimum standards.
You could use timber for your ridge beam, cheaper and a lot easier to work with, I can't work out the sizes in my head at this time of night but I'd think a 225 x 75 timber beam wouldn't be far away..........
Time for bed
Sorry I can't wait! Who's roof design is that? Is it being done traditional?
Externally it will be tiled, so look traditional. The lack of A frames gives more space for a mezzanine floor and also all the light comes from skylights, so it will look nicer. As for whose design, the Structural Engineer suggested it.
So without doing a calc, the roof beam is a 178 x 102? Simple enough structure that, remember if your engineer has over specified building control won't tell you that, we just look at minimum standards.You could use timber for your ridge beam, cheaper and a lot easier to work with, I can't work out the sizes in my head at this time of night but I'd think a 225 x 75 timber beam wouldn't be far away..........
They've all been ordered already...
and meanwhile, in a paralell universe, there is some brickie on singlebrickworld asking other brickies what they thik of his new bike build. they are all laughing; telling him his fork is on backwards, the brake levers are too high, the stem is inverted and that the reflectors need to come off. oh, and it's an Orange Five.....
seems like a lot of faff for a blingy bike shed.
i still think it would have been a lot less hassle to build a decent wooden shed.
footflaps, listen to the guys above (wrightson, lyrikal, rusty, etc) that build stuff with bricks for a living.
i'd consider 150 a day tight (but then maybe rates are lower for brickies than for chippies), but i'd be expecting more progress than that for my money and i'd expect that the guy doing the job had a better idea of how to do it than your guy does.
Great thread and some good advice being offered - hopefully it should end up with a better finished product.
Is it just me or is this like having our own private Grand Designs project??
Chin up footflaps, it'll all be good.
Scratch that glitch.
Glitch in my crotch.
and meanwhile, in a paralell universe, there is some brickie on singlebrickworld asking other brickies what they thik of his new bike build. they are all laughing; telling him his fork is on backwards, the brake levers are too high, the stem is inverted and that the reflectors need to come off. oh, and it's an Orange Five.....
That is quite funny!
and meanwhile, in a paralell universe, there is some brickie on singlebrickworld...
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