DPC decision

[turnpike]

I'm building a single skin (half brick) wall where there used to be a door in my attached garage. It's only about 1m long, but 2m high so it ends with piers.

The foundations and first few courses are in place etc but once I got to the right height for a plastic dpc I feel like it's a big mistake putting it in. It just seems to me it's going to make the wall so much less secure, having a sheet of plastic between courses.

I put a thin layer of mortar under the dpc and tried to bed it in a bit, with the intention of adding more mortar above it before the next course of bricks.

Would blue engineering bricks for two courses be a better way to block damp? My concern there is that the damp comes up through the mortar instead. I'm not worried about cost as it's only about 6 bricks per course.

Cheers!
turnpike

 

[r896neo]

Use the dpc, It's rippled like that to aid grip. As long as you either tooth it in or use butterfly ties or similar at the edges it will be fine.

 

[turnpike]

Thanks r896neo.

Is mortar under and above correct? The existing brickwork of the garage seems to be just a dpc sitting on top of the course, then mortar and next course.

 

[r896neo]

Yep under and over is the proper way but many houses are built with it simply rolled out dry on the course below.

 

[turnpike]

Thanks for the advice.

However, I've decided against a dpc layer. In a short (1m) but tall (2m) wall, even with piers, I'm convinced it's going to compromise the strength. The two courses simply aren't stuck together. My plastic dpc layer just lifted right off the mortar under it. Maybe I needed to lay the second course immediately, but I didn't have time to do it the same day.

I can see how a plastic sheet works with a boxed construction.

Surely a hard shove would shift the whole thing.

Is 2 courses of blue engineering a direct alternative to the plastic roll?