Why is there a large cement line joining to extension?

[Villa_Hill]

Hi there,

I’m having an extension added to the side of my house. On one side, they’ve toothed into the existing brick work. On the other side, they’ve done a really weird join with a large line of cement. Is this normal? Looks like they couldn’t align the old brick to the new bricks for some reason

 

[23vc]

It is normal, but no idea if it was the best solution in your build.
Google wall starter kit to see what it is

 

[Villa_Hill]

Yeh seen these online. Thanks for letting me know! I’ll ask the builder why wall starter kits couldn’t be used

 

[Villa_Hill]

It is normal, but no idea if it was the best solution in your build.
Google wall starter kit to see what it is

23VC, when would you not use a wall starter kit?

 

[robinbanks]

Looks like they couldn’t align the old brick to the new bricks for some reason

Competence, attention to detail, Friday afternoon..

Coulda been a whole lot neater; is this going to be on show? At least the bottom few courses line up!

 

[23vc]

23VC, when would you not use a wall starter kit?

If the design detail specified to tooth in. There are reasons for and against. Wall starters are pretty common, and better allow for both an expansion joint and differential movement of each wall.
Toothing in provides a stronger bond, but less tolerant to movement, etc

 

[robinbanks]

Toothing in provides a stronger bond

And, done well, a more seamless aesthetic.

"If it looks right, it is right.."

 

[Villa_Hill]

For my wall, they haven’t toothed in or used wall starters have they? Sounds like toothing or wall starters are the only options, whereas for mine they’ve just put cement down the line - how comes you wouldn’t tooth in OR use wall starters?

 

[robinbanks]

You wouldn't see wall starts if correctly fitted. How did you determine wall starts were not used?

 

[Villa_Hill]

You wouldn't see wall starts if correctly fitted. How did you determine wall starts were not used?

I’ve misread an earlier comment. No worries, maybe I should judge the build once it’s done lol. I don’t enjoy not knowing what I’m looking at, hard for Joe bloggs to know if it’s a good job or a bad job being done beyond obvious stuff e.g does the wall look straight

Thanks for your help!

 

[robinbanks]

A lot really depends on how happy you are with the look of the result. I personally would have been disappointed with that and I'd have been asking questions on the first course and if it carried on, having it re-done by the third!

 

[Villa_Hill]

A lot really depends on how happy you are with the look of the result. I personally would have been disappointed with that and I'd have been asking questions on the first course and if it carried on, having it re-done by the third!

I am going to bring it up with the builder as the thickness of the cement line seems huge to be fair. There’s also a pipe that they’ve not dealt with at the bottom of the original photo that I need to query too!

 

[noseall]

I am going to bring it up with the builder as the thickness of the cement line seems huge to be fair. There’s also a pipe that they’ve not dealt with at the bottom of the original photo that I need to query too!

The bed joints on the existing house are enormous. Measure 10 courses (top of brick - to top of brick) and see what it measures. It should be 750mm if correct metric gauge. I'd have ignored that coursing too and made mine metric, especially if we are using the new rigid 100mm Unilin cavity slabs. Your existing bed joints are awful.

The mortar colour they chose indicates they have very poor eyesight.

The bulky connection mortar joint can be mitigated with care. However, it looks like they had little option as its a very squat connection with little option for jigging about. Should have been sorted when setting out at foundation level. Existing walls below DPC, could have been out of plumb though....?

 

[Villa_Hill]

The bed joints on the existing house are enormous. Measure 10 courses (top of brick - to top of brick) and see what it measures. It should be 750mm if correct metric gauge. I'd have ignored that coursing too and made mine metric, especially if we are using the new rigid 100mm Unilin cavity slabs. Your existing bed joints are awful.

The mortar colour they chose indicates they have very poor eyesight.

The bulky connection mortar joint can be mitigated with care. However, it looks like they had little option as its a very squat connection with little option for jigging about. Should have been sorted when setting out at foundation level. Exiting walls below DPC, could have been out of plumb though....?

I’m not in the trade so only just about following what you’ve put. The mortar colour of the existing house is much darker than it seems on the photo, that’s just dust that’s made it look much lighter.

So I do know that around that area the drainage pipe goes underneath the wall to the main drain.

So in simple terms, shall I ask them why the cement line is so thick? Is there anything else I should ask them to remedy? Thanks

 

[thomp1983]

That's in one of the corners of our extension, you never notice it to be honest once it's finished. We didn't follow the original courses on the right as over the full height of the original wall there's an entire course missing