I want to block up an external door in an outbuilding connected to my house and trying to decide whether to lay the bricks directly on top of the existing concrete blocks layed in to the floor or to lift the two concrete blocks and create a mini foundation before laying bricks.
The outbuilding is an old workshop and is pretty damp and cold at the moment so planning to do a bit of renovation so that I can use it as a gym - going to lift the old concrete floor and lay a new insulated concrete floor with DPM; getting a new insulated flat roof fitted; block up the external door way and then dry-line/insulate all the walls.
Put a couple of photo's below. First photo shows a general view of the door from inside.
Next photo shows the bottom of the door and the two concrete blocks. So unlike a normal external doorway where you have a row of bricks at the bottom which the door frame fits in to, this door way is really just a gap between two walls, with two concrete blocks in the floor. The gap between the two blocks currently seems to be filled with soil and water comes in through here.
Last photo shows the door from the outside, as you can see the external ground level is the same level as the conrete blocks, so water at the moment can just come in straight under the door.
So back to the original question - should I lay bricks on the existing concrete blocks and risk possible damp getting in, or lift these and lay a bit of a foundation and build on top?
On a side note, I do plan on putting a layer of DPC in the new wall to link in with the existing DPC on either side, although not sure how beneficial that will be.
Thanks
The outbuilding is an old workshop and is pretty damp and cold at the moment so planning to do a bit of renovation so that I can use it as a gym - going to lift the old concrete floor and lay a new insulated concrete floor with DPM; getting a new insulated flat roof fitted; block up the external door way and then dry-line/insulate all the walls.
Put a couple of photo's below. First photo shows a general view of the door from inside.
Next photo shows the bottom of the door and the two concrete blocks. So unlike a normal external doorway where you have a row of bricks at the bottom which the door frame fits in to, this door way is really just a gap between two walls, with two concrete blocks in the floor. The gap between the two blocks currently seems to be filled with soil and water comes in through here.
Last photo shows the door from the outside, as you can see the external ground level is the same level as the conrete blocks, so water at the moment can just come in straight under the door.
So back to the original question - should I lay bricks on the existing concrete blocks and risk possible damp getting in, or lift these and lay a bit of a foundation and build on top?
On a side note, I do plan on putting a layer of DPC in the new wall to link in with the existing DPC on either side, although not sure how beneficial that will be.
Thanks
