Is this DPC lapping?

[stuart45]

I don't think they knew that the brickwork was going to be covered by a render plinth. It would be rough for face work.
One thing I would have done is to rake out the joints to give the render a better key.

 

[^woody^]

Maybe so, but its not really a good reason to do rough brickwork just because it may not be seen.

A good bricklayer only knows how to lay bricks properly, and does not revert to rough brickwork.

A rough bricklayer only knows how to do rough work

Which DPC level is the floor height going in at?

Where is the 10mm bed for the DPC?

 

[indus]

Guys,

I really wish you would actually tell me in layman's terms what is rough/horrendous/poor about the work. These terms keep being used to describe the work but nobody tells me what the issue is.

Is it because there is mortar splashed all over the bricks?


Woody, there is a mortar bed below the dpm and another 10mm bed will be added on top when the first line of facing bricks are added. Does that answer your question or have I misunderstood you?

Thanks

 

[tony1851]

Tbh it does look a bit smeared with mortar, though it will probably come off with a good scrub with a bristle brush and some HCl. Might need a couple of applications as the bricks are rustic.

 

[indus]

Tbh it does look a bit smeared with mortar, though it will probably come off with a good scrub with a bristle brush and some HCl. Might need a couple of applications as the bricks are rustic.

Tony, these bricks are going to be covered by a plinth similar to the one you can see on the left.

As far as I can see there is also a 10mm bed below the dpm.

So is it just the mortar smears that everybody is going on about, or is there something else that makes this work 'poor'?

I'm particularly surprised at the comments because the same brickie made an outbuilding for me last year and the result to my eyes is excellent.

However if there really is something sub standard about his work I would like to know so I can get him to rectify it before we proceed any further.

Many thanks for your help

 

[limerockconstruction]

Indus mate, the brickwork just isn;t up to much, its not massively substandard, just a mess, my boys wouldn't lay like this just because it was being covered up, its not in their nature......also, I don;t know many renderers who like rendering on smooth faced engineering bricks!!

Its been splashed over a lot, doesn't look uniformly gaged and I still don;t understand why the levels of the DPC don;t match....

BTW you should be talking about DPC, there is no DPM in yet. And the idea of bedding it on is that it goes on when the mortar is wet, and the next course goes on on top of it, so that it all becomes one, as it stands your DPC is just flapping about in the wind, the bed underneath is completely separate. We wouldn't do it that way, but I wouldn't be thinking of sacking your builders either.

 

[pred]

The lap in the dpc is OK; it's nothing to do with thermal bridging but just keeping the damp down.

Yes, brickwork is a bit rough but is it to be covered up and what's going on lower down in the pic? A wider-angle pic taken from further back would help.

Hi Tony, just to be clear are we talking about the engineering bricks on the right? If so then yes they will be covered by a plinth. The brickie asked me this.

Which part of the work is 'horrendous' and why?

Below is a wider shot

EDITED BECAUSE I ACCIDENTALLY WROTE THE ENGINEERING BRICKS ON THE LEFT, I MEANT RIGHT

Engineering bricks are all a uniform size 215x100x65 they are not banana shaped or anything so laying them is quite simple, your bricky is using bucket handle joints which can be used to disguise a variety of sin, but as masona says the perps and beds are not 10mm, the bricks are covered in muck, if my eyes don't deceive me the block work is not half bond either, you can tell a good bricky firstly by the tools in his bucket, first and foremost is the Canadian pattern trowel that cost £30 thirty years ago, then if you watch him trying to align bricks or blocks hitting the carp out of his level with a lump hammer this is another giveaway.

I kid you not, on a commercial site where we use a chariot to recess the joints your bricky would be gone by 1000hrs, and as I mentioned earlier, how has he managed to get that much muck on the bricks.

But on the other hand if he is cheap and you don't want to pay more then it's up to you.

 

[^woody^]

Limerock has probably summed it up

 

[noseall]

Why on earth are you having a potentially troublesome rendered plinth on a modern building?

 

[indus]

Thanks to you all for your help.

May I explore a few of the points further?

1) Is it a big deal that the level of the dpc of the new build (right) does not match exactly the existing (left)? Could there be a reasonable explanation for this?

2) In terms of the DPC, there is mortar bed underneath but you are correct it is not bonded on. Should there be another line of engineering bricks that goes on top of the DPC or will the normal brick go on top?


Thank you

 

[indus]

Why on earth are you having a potentially troublesome rendered plinth on a modern building?

Noseall, it is not a stand alone modern building. It is a side extension on a house built in 1902. The existing house has a rendered plinth (as pictured below) The internal floor level is at the top of that plinth



The house is on a slope down from back to front. At the front to match the existing floor level they have had to lay 12 lines of engineering bricks. These would look very odd when seen against the plinth of the original house wouldn't they?

 

[noseall]

The rendered plinth is likely to have been added out of necessity rather than decoration and is not particularly attractive nor it it easy to maintain. It is also potentially troublesome particularly when adding it to the new side.

I would not continue this onto the new side no.

 

[indus]

The rendered plinth is likely to have been added out of necessity rather than decoration and is not particularly attractive nor it it easy to maintain. It is also potentially troublesome particularly when adding it to the new side.

I would not continue this onto the new side no.

Noseall, whatever the reason for the plinth being there it has been there for over 110 years without any real issue.

I appreciate you may not find it attractive but it is a 'feature' of these particular period homes on my street.

The builder asked me if I wanted to continue this on the extension and I said yes. I couldn't see how you could have the plinth all the way across the front and side of the existing house and then NOT have it on the extension.

The last pic shows the front edge of the existing building, the extension is set back about 1.8m. So if I didn't have the plinth on the extension you would see the existing plinth and then at right angles would come the extension's engineering bricks (12 lines of them)

This, to my mind, would make the extension stick out like a sore thumb as being an addition rather than an original part of the house.

Many thanks

 

[indus]

By the way, here are some pics of the outbuilding the same brickie did the work for last year. I thought it looked ok, is the brickwork rough/shoddy on this as well?

 

[pred]

The rendered plinth is likely to have been added out of necessity rather than decoration and is not particularly attractive nor it it easy to maintain. It is also potentially troublesome particularly when adding it to the new side.

I would not continue this onto the new side no.

Noseall, whatever the reason for the plinth being there it has been there for over 110 years without any real issue.

I appreciate you may not find it attractive but it is a 'feature' of these particular period homes on my street.

The builder asked me if I wanted to continue this on the extension and I said yes. I couldn't see how you could have the plinth all the way across the front and side of the existing house and then NOT have it on the extension.

The last pic shows the front edge of the existing building, the extension is set back about 1.8m. So if I didn't have the plinth on the extension you would see the existing plinth and then at right angles would come the extension's engineering bricks (12 lines of them)

This, to my mind, would make the extension stick out like a sore thumb as being an addition rather than an original part of the house.

Many thanks

Why did he not use blocks where the plinth is going?