Padstones required or not? Pics attached

[Sammysid]

Hi all, Ive just had some beams put in and the builder didnt put padstones. He just re used the bricks he removed. Is this normal? Are they not required? Please have a look and advise.

 

[John D v2.0]

Normally are unless the strength of the bricks is known to be enough. What do the calculations say, the SE should have specified the padstone needed if it's not engineering bricks?

 

[Sammysid]

We didnt hire an se. Should i add padstones just to be sure? Also should both beams be bolted together? Thanks

 

[r896neo]

I assume building control aren't involved then.... I hope you trust your 'builder'

 

[Ian H]

Ours were bolted together and on padstones. They were painted red too.

Are you building out backwards or just making a bigger opening?

 

[^woody^]

I wonder if an SE would have designed beams that don't stick out from the wall, and therefore have a full bearing onto the wall that is holding them up?

 

[garyo]

It all depends the loading. Looks like it's a two skin masonry wall above... Correct? Your SE will calculate the material and span, and some roof load.

For example... the two steels I put in last year didn't need any padstone. The SE said to just bear them on the 3.5N blocks the wall was already being built in. I had irrational issues with that so put them on 7N blocks instead.

 

[John D v2.0]

Yes same here on the new walls the SE said build on the 3.6n blocks but the builder used concrete ones anyway. Even the central beams were supposed to bear directly on engineering bricks. But all the existing walls, they specified padstones to spread the load.
It does worry me that all the questions the op has are exactly the ones an SE is trained and insured to answer, as they are critical for the structure of his house.

 

[^woody^]

But all the existing walls, they specified padstones to spread the load.

Loading is not always the issue for many brick or blocks, rather it's bearing shear that needs to be considered.

 

[Ian H]

Block seem much better made than padstones. I bought some 440 X 215 X 102 padstones and had to pick the best ones from the stock at Travis Perkins. Some of them were shocking, I was expected some precision engineering.

 

[Sammysid]

Thanks for all the replies. I had padstones installed by a different builder in the end. How does it look now?

 

[Ian H]

Looks a nice bit of block paving

 

[rssteve]

should there be a bed of mortar between the padstone and the pavers?

 

[tony1851]

That has made the structural situation slightly worse; it would have been better to leave it as it was.

 

[John D v2.0]

The padstone is a thermal bridge as it spasms the cavity. The steel may be OK depending exactly where you install the window. I really feel like skipping a structural engineer and someone who knows about building regs is a false economy here.