A 10mm mortar joint

[staningrimsby]

How accurate is this 10mm mortar gap guys

Im Going to start laying below DPC tonight after work, and i know your not supposed to be below 10mm for structural reasons, but would it matter if it was slightly more as the building will be rendered at a later date???

 

[Shytalkz]

If you're fitting standard doors and windows, then the overall heights (and widths) of the openings need to be right, but if there's a variation in your bed joint width, as you're rendering it, it's not going to be a visual problem.

 

[joe-90]

What if he's not wearing overalls?

 

[Shytalkz]

Oh, hah hah, a "funny"...

 

[^woody^]

Excessive joints can be a weakness, but they would have to be excessive.

10mm per joint is not what you should be aiming for, but rather folowing a guage - ie 4 brick course to 300mm or 4 block course to 900mm. By following a guage, this evens out any slight differences in brick or block sizes.

Following a guage/having even joints is important as otherwise you will have random bed joints at each corner and then the building will be out of level when you come to line the walls through - or worse you will have 28 course to one side of a doorframe and 27 to the other side

What you would do is define your levels (DPC, cill heights, door frame heights etc) and then always guage down and not up. If need be, you then attempt to pick up or tighten down to the guage marks.

With your footings if the distance does not fit the guage very well, then you may find that you need to lay the first course on edge or use cut bricks to get up to the guage mark

 

[staningrimsby]

Well had a go last night for the first time and without trying to sound like im blowing my own trumpet i was really pleased.

But lets see if it all fits together at the end