poor brick work.. PLEASE HELP!!! WE HAVE RESULTS!!! THANKS!

Hi Everyone,

Our house is being bricked at the moment, and I'm not very happy with the results. We're getting double height bricks with flush mortar. In quite a few different areas the thickness of the mortar varies, in several areas the mortar is nearly an inch thick and others it's lucky to be 5mm thick, it's not all over the place, but there are quite a few like this... Is this a common problem, or is it acceptable.

Also, the weep holes in the bricks are sometimes the height of a full brick, and others are only half a brick high, which means mortar comes half way down the hole...

What do you all think?

Thanks so much!

The weephole need to be clear, a full brick length. This is at least in my case.

The thickness of mortar are difficult to be homogeneous, but in your case the different seems to be too extreme.

Are these the bricks that are the first few courses above the concrete footing and likely to be covered by surrounding soil? This would also explain the weep holes?

If so, then this sometimes occurs when the strip footing hasn't been set to work brick heights exactly. The brickies need to 'humour' the bricks to a straight line over the first few courses. It looks as rough as bags but 90% of homes built in Melbourne would be like this.

However, if these are the bricks in your feature or face brick wall then ....'Houston -we have a problem!'

build can be correct, can you post some pics ?

when you take your photos, make sure you put a measuring tape/ruler next to it to make it easier to understand...

Thanks guys... I'll try and take some pics this afternoon and put them up... I don't know if I'm just being picky, I suppose you see EVERYTHING when it's your own house and you're spending a fortune on it...

I've gone around to the house again today, and the bricks look even worse.... We're absolutely devastated about them! I've spoken to the building supervisor, and he said they'll be trying to fix it, but I'm sure they can't... Can anyone give me any advice?
Please see below photo's and tell me if I'm blowing things out of proportion.

This one below is an example of how messy the work is... Please tell me if I'm being too picky, but I haven't seen brickwork this messy...


Again, this work looks really messy to me... this is meant to be FLUSH mortar, not all over the place!



This is an example of one of the smaller mortar joints... about 5mm...


This is an example of one of the thicker ones... this one being 20m. There is a couple that are 25mm...


Messy???


Should we be able to see this gap?


So what do you all think??

First question = What bricks are they? They only look half size, unless it is an issue with the image on the forum?

They're actually a double height brick. It's the Bianca Presto by PGH.

That makes sense. Possible stupid question but are these bricks being rendered?

If not, the perp joints (vertical ones) should be around 10mm and generally in a pretty straight line vertically. Of course, they do vary a bit but you are right, these look pretty rough.

What State are you in? Some of the regulators have guides to Standards and Tolerances and this will give the guide to what variation is acceptable. Use it to present to the contractor before too much longer.

The bed joints do look OK and much better than what I was imagining from my earier post!

No they're not being rendered... Well they weren't going to anyway, now that they've done a rubbish job I'll be asking them to render it...

I'm in QLD. Does anyone know where I would get a copy of these tolerances? I'm desperate....

Only offering an opinion as a customer, not a builder, but I wouldn't be happy at all with the job. In particular, in the second photo, the horizontal levels look all over the place, and the mortar doesn't even look as if its bonded to the bricks in many places. Also, what's happening in the second photo where the bricks appear to step down from the slab? What is under the bricks on the left hand side of the photo?

The part that looks like its off the slab is a front pier of the house. It has a seperate foundation... Thanks for your feedback, the more I get the more i know I'm not being picky. Does anyone else have any Advice?

Seriously consider getting a building inspector in. They can tell you exactly what is acceptable and what is not under any official standards. The sooner you do this the better. It'll cost you maybe around $300 but is well worth it for the piece of mind.

Drag your finger along the mortar. If "crumbs" come away, the brickie didn't use enough cement in the mortar mix.

The maximum tolerances for brick-mortar joints are:

VERTICAL MORTAR JOINTS
If documented, the documented thickness +/- 5mm OR 10mm +/- 5mm if not documented.
In a single wall, the thickness can only vary by a maximum of 8mm.

HORIZONTAL MORTAR JOINTS
If document, the documented thickness +/- 3mm OR 10mm +/- 3mm if not documented.

These details came from the Guide to Standards and Tolerances document, available from the NSW Office of Fair Trading or the Victorian Building Commission.

Ditto with MrT as a customer I'd be pretty disappointed in the brickwork, it's a pity it may come to rendering as you probably put a fair bit of thought into your brick selection and were after a particular "look" with the double height bricks.

From my understanding of "flush mortar" (http://building-our-first-house.blogspot.com/search/label/Mortar%20Joint%20Styles), that's indeed very messy.

I would be more concern about some the gaps between the mortar and the bricks. looks like they are not joined together properly??

Also the last photo, the timber timber is supposed to cover up the gaps. If the gaps is so big that it can't be covered, your builder should have fixed it first before putting on the timber.

Write down all these with photos in email/letter and send to your builder/CSR and request for some action. Better get it all fixed now than later...

Also, definitely get an independent inspector to check all of your brick work! Normally your builder would be more responsive to whatever the inspectors said in their report than your complaints.

That second photo looks like the flashing is protruding even though it does look like a crack.

The brickwork is crappy and for face brickwork is simply unacceptable. I have recommended others to talk to the QBSA but it appears that the inspectors will not attend until the contract is complete. Just the same, give them a call and see what your options are and please keep us posted!

Good grief, did they just leave it to a 1st year apprentice or something??

Terrible, terrible job.

Hope you havent paid them?

Right... Well I've spoken to the BSA and they have advised that they can only inspect when the contract is complete. I am fine with that.... I am going to organise a certifier to go and inspect the job to see if there are any structural issues, and also have a few friends at council that may help me out... I've spoken with my Site supervisor again and he is being very helpful and understanding... (I would hope so!) He had a meeting with his boss yesterday and I'm expecting a call back... I'll let you all know what happens.