Bricks pulling off dwarf wall - timber frame

[88v8]

So, here's the start of the timber frame of our double garage, graded 4x2s on a 9x2 sole plate, fixed to a brick & Bradstone & block wall with 130 x 8mm coach screws in 12mm plugs.
Treated timber, was quite fresh when the frames were made up.

Fixed about 3/4 days ago, by packing it up, with the intention of pointing in later.

Today, I noticed that some of the bricks and Bradstone have pulled off.







I guess.... the builder overtightened the fixings, given there is no mortar bed yet.
Or, perhaps we should have put it on a wet mortar bed as he first proposed - if so, that was my fault as the packing up was my idea because I thought it would be easier and I'd done it before. But that wasn't with newly treated timber.
Or perhaps some of their bricklaying was careless, they didn't seem that particular about brushing off dust & debris before laying the bricks.
Or...

Anyway, we have more framing to put up - what's the best way to go about fixing the frames to the wall?

Ivor

 

[ree]

If, indeed, a professional builder "made up" your framing and built the knee wall, then much of the work is either wrong or amateurish.

Not least, why have a 2" x 9" sole plate, and then go chopping into it?


masonry is laid to within mm's of all around level. The rough dirty pointing is a red flag to any BCO.

Bent (not clinched) nails indicate a lack of skill. Plus a butt wall frame is nailed from the face side. Why has an angled wall brace been used?

Where is the DPC?

Is there a clear, clean cavity? Is there a footing?

How could the coach screw hex heads have been socketed down when the plate holes look tight? Perhaps they were hammered down - some masonry is cracked?
You could have pre-set threaded bolts and dropped the framing sections on to them. Google pics of: setting mud cills.

If BCO is involved they will possibly pull this work.

 

[tony1851]

Just to add to ree's comments: unless my eyes are giving up, it looks like you have used C24 grade timber - is that right?

Although stronger than the usual C16, that stuff usually warps significantly and it will twist and pull up on the fixings. The fixings won't give but the mortar will as it can't take the tension, hence the bricks lifting.

 

[88v8]

Thanks.

The pointing in the third pic is messy because I wanted that part to look 'old'. The overall effect is supposed to be Old Barn.

We notched the sole plate to get a better fixing for the uprights than just skew nailing. The walls are 9" with a block inner skin and wall ties, we used 9" sole to cover them. In the first pic, the wall (of the workshop on the back of the garage) is single skin so the sole plate is 4".

That bent nail is the only one in the framing, but you're right, it was done by the apprentice, who isn't the best.

The angled braces are so the wind won't blow the building over. Overdesigned, one might say.

DPC is 6" above ground, the wall is 24".

Cavity, not really. It's a free-standing garage. If it had been me building it, I would have built 9" solid brick. The cavity is about a half inch.

Footing... 3 - 4ft x 18" concrete, and a 8" raft with two layers of mesh.

I wasn't there when he put the fixings in, I presume he used a thinwall socket, I shall find out tomorrow when we have to take them out.

No BCO, as the garage is below the size limit where BCO gets involved.

So, other than threaded bolts which we can't do now the walls are up, what other method of attaching the frame to the walls?

Ivor

 

[88v8]

Just to add to ree's comments: unless my eyes are giving up, it looks like you have used C24 grade timber - is that right?

Although stronger than the usual C16, that stuff usually warps significantly and it will twist and pull up on the fixings. The fixings won't give but the mortar will as it can't take the tension, hence the bricks lifting.

Just went and looked, and nothing wrong with your eyes.
The architect didn't specify any particular grade. I ordered 'treated structural' or some such phrase, and that's what arrived.
Some of the unfixed timber has indeed twisted so it's only good for noggins.

Well, C24, that's something else I didn't know I didn't know. Guess we'd better slack off the fixings.

Going to order some more wood on Monday for the joists & rafters, should I not use C24 ?
Otoh, we're going to set the rafters up and down to make the roof wavy /old looking, so perhaps warped timber is just what we want. Humph !

Last time I built a woodframe, the timber was sawn, not treated, not graded, it's all become rather overcomplicated in the intervening 30 years mutter mutter.

Ivor

 

[Norcon]

You should have strapped it down to the inner blockwork.
Lego construction is weak!

 

[catlad]

You would have been better off embedding the the frame ties into the concrete slab.

 

[ree]

When i say masonry is laid to mm's i'm referring to how it is professionally laid.

FWIW: skew nailing is stronger than face nailing. The "uprights" are studs.
However, in stud framing construction you build your wall flat on the deck. Nailing bottom plate to studs to top plate.
You then lift the whole framework onto the pre-set threaded bolt heads and bolt down.

Angle braces are to prevent racking, nothing to do with wind pressure. Except in special circumstances, your type of a/brace has not been used for years.

A bit confusing: one minute you are talking about what "we" did, and then its down to some builder?

What to do now: more of the same drilling and bolting, or take it down to re-lay a level top course with grouted masonry and threaded rod.
Or, as suggested above, strap the sole plates down to the inner wall.

 

[tony1851]

Angle braces are to prevent racking, nothing to do with wind pressure.

The outside walls will be acting as shear walls, the horizontal force in this case being wind (or in US, wind + seismic). To perform their function, the walls should be properly tied down to the base, so that wind load can be safely transmitted to the foundation.

For this, fixing into brick/block is not as good as fixings set in the concrete base.

If the walls are clad with ply or OSB, that would give them sufficient rigidity and the diagonal bracing would not be necessary.

 

[ree]

Sheathing of timber frame is taken as a given.