Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Mar 09, 2020 6:51 pm Hi there, We are currently at the lockup stage of our new home build. This is our first home and after two years of title delays we can't believe we are almost there. Today my wife and I had a little bit of a nosey around the outside of the property. Upon our own visual inspection we noticed some rather poor bricklaying work on the boundary and it has us a little concerned. Our property's garage wall/bricks are right up to the boundary with our neighbour. They have already had their brickwork done on their boundary and ours had to be laid from the inside in our garage. From what I can see the bricks are laid unevenly, many bricks projecting outwardly and inwardly and the mortar not being spread throughout the entire depth of some bricks. What I can see visually is limited, however I feel like the brickwork along the entire boundary would be of a similar standard. Of course once the our home is complete and our fence is up, the boundary wall is something we will never see. I need some advice as to whether this is acceptable workmanship and if it is something I need to raise with my builder? Can it cause any structural problems in the future? I have uploaded some pictures below of the brickwork mentioned, any help would be great. Kind regards. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Poor Brickwork on Boundary Wall! 2Mar 11, 2020 4:57 pm Just giving this post a little bit of a bump, any feedback would be much appreciated as to whether I should be concerned about the brick work? I have raised the concern today with my SS, he will be visiting the site sometime this week. He mentioned most likely it should not cause any problems, but will visually inspect it himself. Re: Poor Brickwork on Boundary Wall! 3Mar 11, 2020 9:15 pm ![]() Just giving this post a little bit of a bump, any feedback would be much appreciated as to whether I should be concerned about the brick work? I have raised the concern today with my SS, he will be visiting the site sometime this week. He mentioned most likely it should not cause any problems, but will visually inspect it himself. Definitely looks like there is deviation of some of the brickwork more than 2mm, which is a defect according to Guide to Standard and Tolerances. I would arm yourself with a copy of this when inspecting with the SS. Best to check all the areas covered in this pdf. Not good enough that he stated "most likely is should not cause any problems". It's a common statement used by Site Supervisors and builders. https://www.vba.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/102896/Guide-to-Standards-and-Tolerances-2015.pdf (Masonry - Chapter 3) My advice would be to send the pictures in an email to the SS and a description of what your concerns are. Always put your concerns in writing, so it doesn't come down to "he said", "she said". Your evidence is in your emails and photos that you send. You may never know when you might need them. I had a similar issue with a boundary brick wall and they also bricked from the inside because of a boundary fence. The eventually fell down and I was horrified to see the workmanship. The wall is now not structurally sound. Good luck and keep us informed of the outcome with your SS. PS. Some photos of my boundary wall Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Poor Brickwork on Boundary Wall! 4Mar 11, 2020 10:20 pm Thanks Hart's for the advice. Would you suggest it would be worthwhile them replacing the suspect bricks? I'm just not sure how far I should go and what decision to make if given the option. As I mentioned the plaster is already in so I'd imagine this would be a pain of a job getting to those brick and may cause significant delays. I have also added two more images below of the suspect brickwork, these images are a little more clear. [img:3l67nlji]https://forum.homeone.com.au/u/77848_1583930592.jpg[/img:3l67nlji] [img:3l67nlji]https://forum.homeone.com.au/u/77848_1583930615.jpg[/img:3l67nlji] Andrea You are welcome. I know we over engineer our slabs, as we have to give a 6 year structural warranty so we think its prudent to spend a little extra up front, for… 13 19199 ![]() Looks like AllCastle Homes. The door frames and brick colour give it away to me at least. My last home was built by AllCastle and my current neighbour's is, they were good… 3 18617 |