foundations yes or no?

Many builders refuse to tooth-in an extension. As it will move, and you'll then get a messy jagged crack and they'll get called back to sort the mess.

An extension starts life as some concrete poured into a trench. Then you add a couple of truckloads of materials on top so, inevitably, it will settle then usually stop moving. So you must allow this movement to happen. Also walls contain gallons of water initially, so can shrink as this evaporates. It's a tiny percentage but, over several metres of length this can add up to a few mm. Also, even years later, buildings do shrink and grow as the temperature changes.

Toothing in is for bricking up windows and doors, where the new brickwork sits on top of an existing old foundation or wall so won't move.

For an extension leave a clean vertical break, i.e. put the crack in deliberately from the start. Often a foam sheet is built in to ensure that nothing rigid bridges the gap. Fill with flexible sealant.
 
can the wall be toothed instead?
It’s not really recommended modern practice.

An extension will be on its own foundation, separate to the house, so even though both might be stable, they may still move slightly, but not together. A wall starter has some degree of flexibility, toothed in brickwork does not.
 
can the wall be toothed instead?
It can as was on my extension on one side but wasn't on the otherside as the original brickwork sloped by about 40mm ( in 8m) so, either a poor level 70 years ago or a bad builder or perhaps the house has sunk??. Talking of sinking if the extension foundations settle slightly with toothing it will show up with visible cracks in the bricks at least with starter bars/joint its not so obvious
 
Years ago the method for toothing was to leave the joints empty till the end of the job to allow for any settlement, and have the new gauge 1/16 higher.
 
thanks stuart and ivor and notch and derekoo what good knowledge people !
 
one question i posted this forum but i did not get much reply was on solid wall but it has small gap in middle why would this be? builder said not cavity but wall is solid but has very small gap in between

comparing to other old house i had it had solid wall but there was no gap in middle.

similiar thread i posted before but i still dont understand maybe someone here tell me thank you.

 
When they built solid 9 inch walls in Stretcher bond, there would always be a 3/8 joint(known as the wall joint) in the centre. With English it was there on the stretcher course, but not on the header course.
The bricklayers made it easier for themselves when building a 9 inch wall with all stretchers by making the wall joint a bit bigger, around an inch. Was easier to get your fingers between the brick and face side when doing the back.
This type of wall was sometimes mistaken for a cavity wall. Some surveyors called it a finger cavity wall.
 
Ducting?

Most vents we fit today are telescopic and have to be extended down to the floor void as the vents sit just below the DPC....

hi again just wondering why is the bricks(on the left) bridged together in your picture? is it no bridging the dpc? thanks you
 
hi again just wondering why is the bricks(on the left) bridged together in your picture? is it no bridging the dpc? thanks you
Cavities are usually filled solid up to within three courses of the DPC. Slightly different detail here with the B&B floor but still filled with lean mix concrete up to a given level.
 

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