Am I leaving myself enough room for UB insertion?

[pilsbury]

Go a pair of 178x 102 beams on order to support my solid 9" gable end. Been busy prepping today knocking out some bricks above so I can support with props for when I cut out the bricks to place the beam in. Can access from the side so it can just be placed in rather than thread through a wall.

My bricks are 75mm imperials with a 10mm mortar joint. If I remove 2 bricks and the associated mortar, this gives 180mm - The padstones are set 5mm below which would leave a gap of 185mm to slide the UB in.

Am I asking for trouble as I'm leaving myself a 7mm wriggle room? Keen to avoid taking a 3rd brick out above as will be a pain to squeeze them back in after installation.

 

[John D v2.0]

Maybe I'm wrong but you'll need enough space above to pack a dry mortar mix anyway above the beam, I'm guessing less than 10mm would be tough to squeeze it in.
Are your bricks strong enough including the old mortar or should you be casting a padstone in under the beam anyway?

 

[^woody^]

Wedge the bricks in with a thinner joint and slate, or use metric bricks.

 

[pilsbury]

I have already installed a precast padstone for the beam to rest on.

Woody - I certainly considered metric bricks to replace the third brick if I removed. This would give a decent workable mortar joint.

Thanks for the thoughts, but I think I'm going with a bit of a chance by just removing 2 bricks with very little wriggle room. I shall then use the slate packing and mortar method. I fully anticipate that my newly formed hole is not going to be perfectly straight and the UB will foul in several places, so the timber I use to support through the wall on the acros will be a max of 85mm giving me the option of removing the third brick and having an extra 10mm to insert the beam.....

When the beams arrive next week I shall inform you of my "great success" or my miserable woes...... I'm sure a pro would not have my optimism of a virtual hand in glove fit of a steel and would make a bloody big gap and sort afterwards. I however am an optimist and novice at these things...... soon to be less of a novice and more of a pessimist. Called experience.

 

[pilsbury]

Hey Woody - You're in the West Mids.... Why not pop by and have a damn good chuckle at me on a ladder with an 80kg near 4m beam on my shoulder trying to stuff it in a slot with 7mm to spare! You can have 2 laughs when I try the second one....

 

[Ian H]

I would remove a couple of extra bricks above 1 pad so you can slip it in at a slight angle.

 

[^woody^]

Hey Woody - You're in the West Mids.... Why not pop by and have a damn good chuckle at me on a ladder with an 80kg near 4m beam on my shoulder trying to stuff it in a slot with 7mm to spare! You can have 2 laughs when I try the second one....

Stream it live and give everyone a laugh