Single course block, mortar adhesion

[NorthWest1]

Hi,
How much bonding strength can you get from mortar ? Let's say you have a 2m concrete lintel and you wanted to lay a single course of thermolite block to it. The lintel is none load bearing, its just where a wall used to be and the only thing it and the block will hold are a couple of small shelves and a fuse box. Obviously the blocks are mortared to the lintel and the end walls but how secure would they be ?
I know I could build a wooden frame but I just wondered about the block.

 

[Wayners]

If mortar is either side and along the bottom.
If you have some wood along the top to simulate a wall plate then it will be strong enough

 

[noseall]

Hi,
How much bonding strength can you get from mortar ? Let's say you have a 2m concrete lintel and you wanted to lay a single course of thermolite block to it. The lintel is none load bearing, its just where a wall used to be and the only thing it and the block will hold are a couple of small shelves and a fuse box. Obviously the blocks are mortared to the lintel and the end walls but how secure would they be ?
I know I could build a wooden frame but I just wondered about the block.

A fair bit, especially if the walls are then dabbed with plasterboard. Most non-load bearing door openings, are exactly this.

I wouldn't go swinging a hammer at it though. Will they be locked in with the ceiling plasterboard?

 

[NorthWest1]

They would extend slightly above the current ceiling plasterboard and the plasterboard that I fix to the thermolite would I suppose lock in to ceiling. Like I say, I could build a shallow wood frame instead, it just got me thinking about mortar and how strong an adhesive it actually is, I thought most of a walls strength against being pushed through is from it's total weight above not necessarily the mortar glue effect

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

I have a flat-roofed extension. At the edge where the roof timbers met the original house wall, they had pushed/pulled the entire top course of block, detaching it from the top of the wall. You could see the mortar lines of the blocks as cracks through the plaster.

I rebuilt it in concrete common bricks. There are 3 courses, all tied into each other so there aren't any 9" tall vertical breaks any more. I also added more bracing around the edge of the roof. It's been fine since.

Top courses of blockwork can detach, as there's no load on top of them and they're not very well tied together.

I'd use 3 courses of brick instead of block, so it's all bonded together as one entity rather than having those 9" vertical breaks in it.

 

[noseall]

They would extend slightly above the current ceiling plasterboard and the plasterboard that I fix to the thermolite would I suppose lock in to ceiling. Like I say, I could build a shallow wood frame instead, it just got me thinking about mortar and how strong an adhesive it actually is, I thought most of a walls strength against being pushed through is from it's total weight above not necessarily the mortar glue effect

Blocks will be fine if they are bonded/sheathed with plasterboard and locked in with the ceiling boards.