Brickwork standard

Yes, it is in fact disappointing that the sloppy brickwork has become the norm here in WA. The bricklayers will pay attention to the outside wall, ie. visible without plaster, anything that will be plastered up is showing holes/gaps. It is not hard to butter up the perpend joints but it is faster laying the brick and saving on mortar without it. As I mentioned above, brick company has a document saying the perpend joints of fast wall don't have to be filled. However, when I talk to engineers, they say that it is not what AS3700/AS4773 recommends. My friend is an engineer, who builds bridge but has knowledge in houses, confirms it for me. That says I suspect any non-filled perpends will pass the inspection if it is less than 10mm (unfortunately). No, they don't come back and grout it. The gap is left intentionally according to my SS because they know that's said on the brick company technical specification sheet.

The third photo looks exactly like our wardrobe. The mortar is very crumbly. I don't know why that's OK. We will be doing a lot of nailing for the shelves later on.

The brickwork on your last photo certainly won't pass the inspection. While i ain't expert, I have seen examples of inspection report. We will be hiring one just to put our mind at ease. We narrowed down to one company but too bad that they don't split brickwork/plate height and roof work. It looks like we have to go with a different company.

Note: they all use 2 courses general purpose brick for internal wall. Faster build time.

Hi Sofia,

In regards to leaving perpends open I believe that in most instances as long as the joints do not exceed 12mm they may be open, although they have to be filled at intersections, corners, and top & bottom courses.

All joints above openings should be filled and extend 200mm either side of the opening, and the overall height of the internal wall should not exceed 2.4m. An engineer should be consulted in instances where wall heights exceed 2.4m or they are used in double storey construction.

This information is freely available via http://www.midlandbrick.com.au/brochure ... b311&scr=4.

I have contacted the other major brick distributors here in WA, although they have not committed to providing the same manufacturers recommendations.

Hope this helps

Thanks. It has been clarified for us based on a similar document from brikmaker. Our inspector also said that it is OK if the wall is less equal than 31c. Ideally, the gap should be even but there is no such thing as a perfect job. We have moved on since then.

Here's my spin as an engineer providing the roof struts and loads are directly vertical over the walls or in plane
then there shouldn't be an issue with the perps not being butter up.
When the struts are fanning off the wall (out of plane) incorrectly then the wall is subjected to bending and cracking. So quite often it is a case of who takes responsibility for the cracking the brick layer or the carpenter? So how many brick manufacturers inspect roofs? ...I find most just pass the buck...so goodluck with that.