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Ok woody. I will lay the arris to the line, that's what I did initially and was conserned because once they dried I realised they weren't completely plumb. Also the second course (corners) I started have 20mm horizontal joint. I have my gauge rod I made to blame for that one. It does actually...

Yes woody, I am lying them to a line and also checking they will line up with my dpc line with a spirit level to be sure but they are all in line correctly. Yes I probably am using a bit too much mortar but I was moving them back and fourth to get the level right. I only used a lump hammer but...

Lol, no I am laying them myself. Being foundation blocks they are very hard to work with and when making sure they are plumb etc any tapping causes the joints to open up and also the whether hasn't helped as the blocks absorb it so much. I tried to keep them at 10mm but it was difficult! i...

Hi, After laying a row of foundation blocks some of the mortar joints (vertically) range from 15mm to 20mm. Mostly it will be a dwarf wall but on ones side it will be a maximum of 2.5m from the blocks. I just wanted to check that should still be structurally ok? Thanks

Looks like a soakaway overflow pipe to me. You can get soakaway tubs that go in the ground and have those pipes sticking up but usually they are smaller and have a cover over them to stop rain entering. Either that or it's a bomb shelter lol

Thank you Woody. Yes I will have to render below the DPC and above, I assume the renderer will use some type of beeding along the DPC. I was a bit concerned about rendering the Aircrete as I read up that it can crack the rendering over time but if a good scratch coat is used then it should be...

Hi Woody, foundation blocks are all in. Everything is still square. Due to issues on the day of when we poured the foundations, we left it 75mm below the original target and decided to make up using bricks. My question is, would you put engineering bricks as the next course on top of the...

Thanks woody, I will give it a go!

Thanks Woody, Do you have any tips on preventing the aircrete blocks from absorbing so much water so quickly? I ended up making the mix a lot wetter which did make it easier to lay them but it doesn't take long before it starts drying. I'm using Plasticiser added into the mix. Mind you, it...

Hi, I am building a dwarf wall for a conservatory using foundation blocks + theremal blocks. I have laid the first course of foundation blocks along the small side and since everything has dried, I checked again this morning and it seems about 3 blocks are not completely level a few mm. I...

Hi Woody, I will finally make some progress this weekend and start foundation block laying. One question, since I exposed the house DPC. Because its an old bungalow the DPC is slate. The thickness of the mortar joint with DPC sandwiched in between is 30mml My question is, should the top of...

I agree Frank, any defects with being square will probably show up on cosmetics rather than causing major issues when fitting. The only exception is the roof but as i've heard, they tend to just pack this out to get it to fit. Any part of the conservatory being secured to the actual bungalow...

Hi Woody. Spent a day over the weekend removing pebbledash and the render right back to the brick on both sides. Then could see the bricks on one side above the DPC were hanging off the DPC. Looks like the wall below the DPC near one side has collapsed in (probably lack of infill). I have...

OK great thanks. I will give it a go and let you know how I get on. I agree with not trusting the bricks down there, I expect thats why things didn't line up above, It seemed as if the wall was not plumb with them. I will try and knock it back to the bricks in a couple of places (That'll...

Thanks woody. I will try tomorrow taking a line down the side of the bungalow (as it is detatched) and line it up with my line that is already parallel to the bricks below the DPC (going across) and hope this is a fairly good right angle. I will then set up the other line again and check the...

Hi, I am trying to square out a dwarf wall for a conservatory against my bungalow (so it will have a hipped back roof attaching to the gutters etc...) The problem is, our bungalow has pebble-dashing on it making it very difficult and to be honest, i'm not sure what I am best to try being...

Yes I will probably use at least one course of them. Do you think there is much risk in getting frost damage if any above ground level are rendered? If you still don't recommend, apart from engineering bricks I assume the only other alternative is dense blocks. Good tip on the timber...

ok thanks Woody. As I said, everything will be rendered so visually i'm not concerned. I was looking at speed mainly. I understand what you mean about the foundation blocks. I may rethink that but I was trying to speed things up and also avoid having to infill too much. Worst case I...

Thank you Woody, I will be using blocks on the inside and outside as I will be rendering it so it will be quicker and easier to use blocks. It is a conservatory with a dwarf wall (except one wall which is roughly 2m high) so exempt from BC and Planning Permission but I would like to do it...

Hi, I am looking at using Trench/Foundation blocks but I have never used them before and I had a couple of questions: 1. Do you only use them to get up to ground level and then build the cavity wall up to dpc? 2. If I were using standard blocks and had a cavity below ground then you...