Setting out blockwork from foundation

[Lee Edwards]

Hi all. I hope you are well.

I am in the process of building a summer house in my back garden. I have just poured the concrete foundation which didn't go as precise as I had planned. The lads pumping in the concrete were pretty hasty at 6.30pm and kept telling me that being 10mm lower in some places on my level markers is ok and it can be built up in muck.

So I have a couple places either side which have around 1 metre length which is 10mm below the level I wanted. Now I need to think about laying the blockwork (just one course) for the beam and block floor to sit on. Now I need this to be as near perfect as it can be.

The advice I need is, do I set the 1st block at the highest part of the foundation and then add more mortar to get it level


Do I start from the corners 1st?

What mix of sand and cement do I use for this course?

Any advice would be great. Or any Bricklayers in Surrey would be keen to do the job? Thanks

 

[^woody^]

Search for "datum peg" and "setting out profiles".

Start at the corners and work from them towards the middle of each elevation.

3:1 mix ratio.

Make sure your line is not sagging on the sides where the beams will sit

 

[Lee Edwards]

Search for "datum peg" and "setting out profiles".

Start at the corners and work from them towards the middle of each elevation.

3:1 mix ratio.

Make sure your line is not sagging on the sides where the beams will sit

Hi Woody. Thanks so much for the reply and advice. When you say search, do you mean on the forum or actually look it on on the web?

Hopefully you are still sleeping as your reply was nearly midnight.

Cheers

 

[noseall]

Knock a couple of pegs into the ground about a meter from your trench, fix a horizontal batten across them and string your line to it.

You can set these level (fiiddly) when pulling your lines, or have four different datum pegs hammered in close to the corners, for height setting. Set your corner block to the line and the height of it to the datum peg. Do all four block corners and set your line to the blocks.

 

[Lee Edwards]

Knock a couple of pegs into the ground about a meter from your trench, fix a horizontal batten across them and string your line to it.

View attachment 411637

You can set these level (fiiddly) when pulling your lines, or have four different datum pegs hammered in close to the corners, for height setting. Set your corner block to the line and the height of it to the datum peg. Do all four block corners and set your line to the blocks.

Hey, good morning and thanks for the detailed diagram. It is very informative.

I see where setting out is the most important part of a job, get this correct and hopefully all should go well. I imagine it can be quite hard working around all those lines though.

Thanks again for your help.

 

[noseall]

Hey, good morning and thanks for the detailed diagram. It is very informative.

I see where setting out is the most important part of a job, get this correct and hopefully all should go well. I imagine it can be quite hard working around all those lines though.

Thanks again for your help.

Setting out is tricky, yes. We use a builders square and a decent laser level (with 90 degrees built in). You can check your squareness by measuring the diagnals.

 

[Lee Edwards]

A laser level with a square function, does it measure the diagonal then or just square a corner?

 

[noseall]

A laser level with a square function, does it measure the diagonal then or just square a corner?

It fires a laser beam in one direction and another at 90 degrees to it. On a dull morning I can line the beam up on one elevation then put a pencil mark on the adjacent horizontal batten, to get the other. I set up the lines then check with the builders square and diagonal measurements.

Once you have 90 degrees set out, you can simply measure the other two sides parallel.

 

[Lee Edwards]

Ah, that's great. I have a 360 laser level so I should be able to do this. But, as you say, it is hard to see in daylight, especially when sunny. Mine is also red so even trickier.

Thanks so much for your help.