Over here in France we use a special glue for those blocks. Goes on 1mm thick with a special applicator…no mixing sand etc. It expands at same rate as the blocks so no cracking ever in the wall or over plaster. No throwing mortar into the gap as you put it directly on sides of the block. Cheaper too as use so much less. We cut the blocks (60x60) with a special rep-saw blade. Like hot knife and butter! Funny thing is both the blade I have and the special mortar are made by a UK company!
Interesting, when blocking up a window)door, how do you tie into the old structure? With adhesive foam there dosent seem to be any gap between the blocks
It will add to the reputation of the mixer. When you want to sell it, its value is higher than the original purchase price, because of all the appearances on TH-cam 😉
Quite acceptable for that application. When i have a part bag of cement i buy one of those vacuum clothes bags. Put whole bag in first then cut top of paper bag and scoop out what u need. Then simply vacuum the plastic bag and the cement keeps for ages. No air can get to the cement. 👍👍
coming from someone that works within construction every day, what you've done is more than strong enough. Even if this was a supporting wall, it would be fine. I wouldn't worry about making it plumb (although it's a good bit of practice), because you would build it to suit the existing building, if the building is leaning way back and you've built it plumb then it would start to stick past the render as you got higher, trust me i've made this mistake haha
I just love the variety in your videos. Even though I likely won't ever close a window your videos are always the first ones I watch if a new one comes out. I guess your style of video combined with different topics that all still fit in the diy category just doesn't get boring!
3:19 Plasiciser also makes the mix easier to work, but (and I didn't know this until quite recently) probably the main benefit is that you need less water in yiur mix. That makes it stronger.
Nice job.You can be well happy i would say with the outcome.Its good to have a go at these different trades outside of your woodwork.Good of stuart at proper diy to loan you the mixer.
Nice job Keith, don’t be critical of yourself, that blockwork looks perfectly presentable and does the job fine. You see some of the blockwork in new builds and the mortar is awful, its laid down so quickly of course. I find it impossible to keep the mortar on the block edges when laying it and end up reverting to shoving more mortar in afterwards - its perfectly strong though so that’s all that matters. Those small portable steps are very useful, I’ve got my bandsaw on it right now and I use mine a lot as a portable workbench which explains why there are at least two tracksaw cuts across it where I didn’t position the material sufficiently away from the edge!
It looks like you did an excellent job, Keith. I'm looking forward to watching you finish the exterior. I have filled in a few window openings in my old house and I've never mastered the art of finishing the exterior. After I finish the process, you can always plainly see where the old window was. Thanks for sharing this video with us.
As an amateur, you’ve done a good job. As long as the block overlaps to no less than it’s width, 1/4 bond, it’s fine. As a builder/brickie, I’d have just cut a small piece of block to fill the gap in the first course, and then just half bonded from there using up all the off cuts to fill in as I got to the top. It’s non weight bearing and is never going to be seen. Good job, well done.
Here in Australia, laying bricks or pavers in the hot sunshine is normal everyday stuff (although we often won't work with cement/concrete/mortar products when it's too hot, as the structural integrity is damaged by an overly fast dry). Most people keep a bucket of water with them while doing any mortared-in jobs, You can't waste time here, brushing water on in the sun - so we briefly dunk the brick or paver in water so they're wetted down & a bit cooler & the outside is damp, but not soaked through. The excess water evaporates quickly, but enough moisture remains to stop the mortar having the life sucked out of it by hot bricks, pavers or by aerated Hebel blocks at any time. We also often use construction adhesive instead for Hebel blocks on many occasions, depending on the type of job.
Good work. Nicely done. I helped my parents do a similar jobbie years ago. Not a window but an unfortunate gap to allow a bathroom to expand into a kitchen. It's not easy if you're not a brickie. Kudos.
I would have used all those offcuts of block on the top, after all they are all there, and with a bit of mortar will work to fill the gap. Done that already before, using whatever bricks were around to fill the hole, because it was Sunday and wanted to be done with it, so there were a lot of half bricks, quarter bricks and block bits in the cement filling the hole. After that was done plaster and paint, and aside from no longer being Spanish plaster, you can barely tell where the hole was. Definitely solid enough, even if it is a mix of brick and block. Wanted to remove a long defunct shower base, but after 5 hours with a big jackhammer, and it not moving much, we decided instead to plaster it flat, as the front at least was gone, and make the new cupboard a little higher instead. to remove that we reckoned we would need a bigger rock drill and explosives. It was bad enough replacing the broken toilet, as the wall there is a half metre thick concrete and brick, luckily with the old cast iron pipe being put in after construction, in a small space filled with rubble. Toilet was a replacement one, made in 1959, but the house is at least 50 years older. Did find the original water pipe in there though, well rusted steel and lead left in the wall.
As it's going to be rendered, it's actually better than most brickies do, what you don't see they don't care about. I'm sure there are some that do a professional job, but not many. Well done Cheers
Will be bricking a window up in our house one day in the future.... Glad to see it's not that hard even for a novice. And, I always wondered how to tie the bricks to the others without having to knock out part bricks either side to do that... 👍
You can do whatever you want here, its non structural and gonna be covered over with render. Great little project to try out block laying and mixing up mortar.
Good on ya - if it is unseen and safe - enough is enough I reckon 👍👍good job considering it’s the first time you’ve done this, given me a bit of confidence to try on my garage 😬
Yay to the stu (PD) cameo, I knew he was localish. Definitely a much better effort than Alec Steele did in the west of the county bricking his kitchen door up.
Considering that you haven't done that before, i think you did a cracking job on it anyway it's your Bungalow so who cares, plus it's getting rendered over. Stay Safe, Barry (the Wirral)
A job composed mainly of fiddly bits, just great for the first timer. And yet you came through with flying colours! Well done Keith! Now for the seemlessly blended render. . .good luck!
Its definitely good enough to render over thats for sure, can't see any problems with it so all good. Did you look down the route of framing it out and using cement board ? That's the way I would of done it just because I don't like cement or brick work 😃
Well done keith as for the worry about the layout of your blockwork I honestly don't see any reason for it being a problem whatsoever, just remember when you do the rendering to use the mesh screen that you fit in the recess to help with the bonding of your mortar etc. The reason why I mention this is that near where I live there's a house that has been totally rendered three time's in the past five years and the reason why it failed twice in three years was because the home owner just used render and overtime it cracked and basically fell off the wall's. The last time he rendered his house he used this screen type material which helped bond it all together. Don't make the same mistake he made you'll end up kicking yourself!. As always buddy 💯% 👍.
Cheers mate! Rendering is already done, didn't use mesh. If it does crack it won't be the end of the world anyway as there are other cracks elsewhere 🤦🏻♂️only hairline ones though
I’m all honesty no matter how you bricked it up it will be strong enough. Like the lintel is still there which would still be supporting everything above it if wasn’t 100% right. In any case what you’ve done is certainly strong enough especially if you think about the window that was in its place. Ps I love the audio reconstruction.
Mate TAPE the glass. before you break it, that makes cleanup much quicker and easier. Do crosses with gaffe tape then go vertically / horizontally. Comes out as one piece.
I reckon that's a pretty good job done there Keith. I blocked a brick shed door in and I have to say, my brick laying skills don't leave much to be desired mate lol great video chap 👍🏼👍🏼
been looking aroud for a van/car for ages, when i see you get that cement mixer in the back of your car i thought thats for me, it could take all my tools and materials for the small jobs i do, can you let me know the make and model, thanks for all the usefull tips and info over the last few months, definitely the best content out there
It's a great vehicle, really like it. The one down side is that I've kind of ruined the interior, because all the plastic just gets scuffed and scraped and ruined 🙁
Hop up very handy...... Going back to your dust extractor being on when you came back to the workshop. If you don't have your master power switch yet I had a thought why it came on. You have a remote control, from memory, to activate your system. I have one of these. When I have a power cut, once the power comes back on the system starts. I wonder if this happened to you?
I’ve got one that I bought from aliexpress that looks visually the same as Keith’s. When I have a power cut or I cut the power in the shed to fiddle with the wiring the power to the vac definitely doesn’t come on when I restore the power. It’s a good theory though and maybe Keith’s behaves like yours not mine
@@geoffreycoan I think they are programmable. I had mine in learning mode to get a second fob working. Which it does Also does the power on thing. Mine came from Banggood so factory next door to yours
@@dougsaunders8109 I just had another look at the one I bought and it doesn't describe what it does on power on, it may be programmable? I got the idea for this from Keith and it's definitely one of the more useful things I've done in my workshop. Bit fiddly to program the two controllers but once done it's rock solid
Great job. It's not load bearing so it's plenty strong enough and with the wall ties it will be very unlikely to crack after final render. Everyone would do it differently so whichever way you choose, you're right.
I did my first brick work over the first pandemic lockdown.. and OMG it was difficult, I basically rebuilt about a 1/3rd of a 2x3m shed and it was hard hard work. Nothing seemed to work out how my research suggested. I was doing it in the heat of the summer sun, and despite like you moistening the bricks the mortar was going off within a minute or two (at least in terms of being able to level the brick). Only at the end when I had to supplement with some brand new bricks did I realise that the circa 1975 bricks I had been working with were very very very porous. Anyway I completed it and by the end my laying was looking pretty good, although I was utterly fed up with brick laying and swore I never wanted to do it ever again! It's a steep learning curve even with lots of research. Good job although rule number one is never put your shovel inside a rotating mixer and rule number two is never hit your level with a hammer or trowel. 👍🏻
@@RagnBoneBrown I felt like giving up at multiple points and just getting a pro to finish it! I now sometimes stand and admire the good bits of the brick work and feel proud of battling through.
You were pretty self critical of your work on the last Workshop Banter podcast but from where I'm sitting, that looks pretty good to me. Given how much you both ranted about shoddy work from tradespeople, I think doing it yourself was definitely good enough. Haven't seen your rendering yet though.....!
I would say the mix is too dry and a 5 to 1 mix would be fine. I would have set it out differently but its certainly ok for hidden work. Allow a slightly bigger joint, 12mm on a job like that or you run the risk of not having enough gear in the joints.
Decent first attempt at blockwotk there mate. The strength of it you mention is a non issue really. Platiciser gives a strong mortar, you've used plenty of ties and, the cavity will have a lintel above bearing the load. Could have used stud and cement board even. Still, jobs like this are great practice for a new skill.👍👌
for the layout I would have just keep going with full block then cut to size, then offcut follow by full block and so on - job's good either way so no sweat
Nowt wrong with the blockwork....it does a job, and , as you say, render will cover it. Just one point. Your earlier work blocking up from the workshop side ( studwork / insulation etc), I note that you have put thick polythene on the cold side of the insulation...insulation that is vapour permeable. Potentially, warm , moist air from within your workshop can migrate through the rockwool and condense on the room side of the polythene .....eventually rotting the studwork and soaking the insulation. Tyvek ( or other breathable membrane on the cold side, polythene ( which is a VCL, vapour control layer) on the warm side of the insulation. Apologies if this has been mentioned already, but with 180 odd comments.....my tea is going cold! Keep the videos rolling !...always enjoyable to watch.
Looking good, I've seen worse done by 'professionals'. If you really want to know what the other side looks like, you could drill a hole in the wall and put a borescope through into the void and have a peek?
I'm a bricky kieth and your job is way better than needed, you have done a great job . I think most brickies would have stuck a 50 mm cut in the middle of the first course and two 250mm cuts on the next course to make bond. It really doesn't matter blocking up a window like that, strength is not an issue. Economy / waste is probably the most important factor on a job like that. Your biggest challenge is going to be the thirst ot the thermolite blocks whilst rendering them. Get them well soaked and ideally primed with SBR. Some would call it over kill but I always take the render off back past the old window opening and then trowel mesh in to my scratch coat to avoid a crack where the original window lied.
Oh wow, thank you! The rendering is already done, I didn't use SBR... I did have a few issues, all will be revealed in the next one! But I didn't do a great job on it! Appreciate the kind words
Nothing wrong with your block work as long as you stagger your joints Also if your rendering it doesn’t matter what it looks like Good job for a beginner
Great job, but Your mix looks a bit hard, when well mixed with plasticiser it should be like whipped cream. As you are doing small mixes it's not mixing well in the big drum. Best to Mix it in a bucket with a padded mixer and mix for 5 min till it makes cream peaks. Especially for your render, you need a good mix to spread well. Blocks look good, but I would have cut less of them, to speed up the work.
Cheers - I think it looks good. Did you consider insulation in the gap between the blocks and the reverse side of the inside frame? I couldn't see how big a gap there was? Cheers
The audio reconstruction is another reason to keep faithfully watching these videos
Thanks
One of my favourite parts 😀
Wifey wanted to know why I was belly laughing. It took her five seconds of watching before joining in.
It's amazing what AI can do these days,
As a retired bricklayer I think you have done very well for first attempt good job
Wow thank you very much! 👍
Love the collaboration with and cameos from other TH-camrs. It's like watching high end educated Kardashians and other social media people.
Over here in France we use a special glue for those blocks. Goes on 1mm thick with a special applicator…no mixing sand etc. It expands at same rate as the blocks so no cracking ever in the wall or over plaster. No throwing mortar into the gap as you put it directly on sides of the block. Cheaper too as use so much less. We cut the blocks (60x60) with a special rep-saw blade. Like hot knife and butter! Funny thing is both the blade I have and the special mortar are made by a UK company!
in the Uk we are happy to build using slow crap and expensive methods !
@@carforumwanker lol
Same in Germany 😀
Interesting, when blocking up a window)door, how do you tie into the old structure? With adhesive foam there dosent seem to be any gap between the blocks
Please tell us the name of the glue? TY
I've still got to send you the invoice.
Cheques in the post! 👍
It will add to the reputation of the mixer. When you want to sell it, its value is higher than the original purchase price, because of all the appearances on TH-cam 😉
Yes, I cheered when I saw Stuart open the gate.
I always cheer when I see my gate still able to open as well!
Audio reconstruction earned my like. 10/10
Quite acceptable for that application. When i have a part bag of cement i buy one of those vacuum clothes bags. Put whole bag in first then cut top of paper bag and scoop out what u need. Then simply vacuum the plastic bag and the cement keeps for ages. No air can get to the cement. 👍👍
coming from someone that works within construction every day, what you've done is more than strong enough. Even if this was a supporting wall, it would be fine. I wouldn't worry about making it plumb (although it's a good bit of practice), because you would build it to suit the existing building, if the building is leaning way back and you've built it plumb then it would start to stick past the render as you got higher, trust me i've made this mistake haha
Thanks that is helpful to know
Stuart! Small world ;) His review of that cement mixer was very interesting! Well done Keith!
Well done. However strong you think it might not be, it will certainly be stronger than a window!
Thanks
I just love the variety in your videos. Even though I likely won't ever close a window your videos are always the first ones I watch if a new one comes out.
I guess your style of video combined with different topics that all still fit in the diy category just doesn't get boring!
Thank you very much. It was nice to try something out of my comfort zone
“Is it done to a builders or bricklayers standard” well, I’d say it far exceeds that of a Persimmons bricklayer. Nice job well done as always
Ha ha thanks!
Absolutely shocking
Hi Keith - great tip regarding the pennywasher! Currently doing my research on brick ties for the inner walls of my chimney breast 👌
Thanks Vikkie, yeah it works great! Can't remember who I picked that up from, one of the TH-cam brickies!! 👍
3:19 Plasiciser also makes the mix easier to work, but (and I didn't know this until quite recently) probably the main benefit is that you need less water in yiur mix. That makes it stronger.
Very nice audio reconstruction...
I like videos showing these kind of jobs.
Nice job.You can be well happy i would say with the outcome.Its good to have a go at these different trades outside of your woodwork.Good of stuart at proper diy to loan you the mixer.
Nice job. I have a garage door that I’d love to block up. Just trying to muster the courage! Looks doable. Cheers!
Pva in the mix is great addition also and slapping some on the breeze blocks in a slurry (pva and water)
Nice job Keith, don’t be critical of yourself, that blockwork looks perfectly presentable and does the job fine. You see some of the blockwork in new builds and the mortar is awful, its laid down so quickly of course. I find it impossible to keep the mortar on the block edges when laying it and end up reverting to shoving more mortar in afterwards - its perfectly strong though so that’s all that matters.
Those small portable steps are very useful, I’ve got my bandsaw on it right now and I use mine a lot as a portable workbench which explains why there are at least two tracksaw cuts across it where I didn’t position the material sufficiently away from the edge!
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Representing Norfolk TH-camrs!!
It looks like you did an excellent job, Keith. I'm looking forward to watching you finish the exterior. I have filled in a few window openings in my old house and I've never mastered the art of finishing the exterior. After I finish the process, you can always plainly see where the old window was. Thanks for sharing this video with us.
Thanks! 👍
As an amateur, you’ve done a good job. As long as the block overlaps to no less than it’s width, 1/4 bond, it’s fine. As a builder/brickie, I’d have just cut a small piece of block to fill the gap in the first course, and then just half bonded from there using up all the off cuts to fill in as I got to the top. It’s non weight bearing and is never going to be seen. Good job, well done.
Lol, great job. Looks sturdy to me. Love the sound effects.
Here in Australia, laying bricks or pavers in the hot sunshine is normal everyday stuff (although we often won't work with cement/concrete/mortar products when it's too hot, as the structural integrity is damaged by an overly fast dry). Most people keep a bucket of water with them while doing any mortared-in jobs, You can't waste time here, brushing water on in the sun - so we briefly dunk the brick or paver in water so they're wetted down & a bit cooler & the outside is damp, but not soaked through. The excess water evaporates quickly, but enough moisture remains to stop the mortar having the life sucked out of it by hot bricks, pavers or by aerated Hebel blocks at any time. We also often use construction adhesive instead for Hebel blocks on many occasions, depending on the type of job.
Loving the crossover, I really enjoy your videos and Proper DIY's videos. Keep up the good work!
Masonry work is my trade and I can say it is not terrible block-work, pretty smart actually 👍😀.
Thank you very much!
Good work. Nicely done.
I helped my parents do a similar jobbie years ago. Not a window but an unfortunate gap to allow a bathroom to expand into a kitchen. It's not easy if you're not a brickie. Kudos.
Nice work, Kieth! Sir Winston would be pleased.
these YT crossovers are a good idea.
I would have used all those offcuts of block on the top, after all they are all there, and with a bit of mortar will work to fill the gap. Done that already before, using whatever bricks were around to fill the hole, because it was Sunday and wanted to be done with it, so there were a lot of half bricks, quarter bricks and block bits in the cement filling the hole. After that was done plaster and paint, and aside from no longer being Spanish plaster, you can barely tell where the hole was. Definitely solid enough, even if it is a mix of brick and block.
Wanted to remove a long defunct shower base, but after 5 hours with a big jackhammer, and it not moving much, we decided instead to plaster it flat, as the front at least was gone, and make the new cupboard a little higher instead. to remove that we reckoned we would need a bigger rock drill and explosives. It was bad enough replacing the broken toilet, as the wall there is a half metre thick concrete and brick, luckily with the old cast iron pipe being put in after construction, in a small space filled with rubble. Toilet was a replacement one, made in 1959, but the house is at least 50 years older. Did find the original water pipe in there though, well rusted steel and lead left in the wall.
First time experience from a handyman is always interesting !
Thx
I’m a Bricky and your made that look hard 😂 but your right it’s good enough for the job at hand!
I'm a plasterer, the next vid is going to be hilarious.
That's not nice mate🤣🤣🤣
@@paulrobinson3042 lol Paul. Blocklaying is a doddle compared to plastering, for sure. Keith’s saving grace is that it pebbledashed, not polished.
@@paulrobinson3042 I was crying watching that so yeah Im looking forward to plastering video for sure 😂😂
DIY - 9/10
Foley work - 10/10!
🤣👍
As it's going to be rendered, it's actually better than most brickies do, what you don't see they don't care about. I'm sure there are some that do a professional job, but not many. Well done Cheers
Stu is the man
A bit of “scrapie scrapie” 😂 love it!!
Will be bricking a window up in our house one day in the future.... Glad to see it's not that hard even for a novice. And, I always wondered how to tie the bricks to the others without having to knock out part bricks either side to do that... 👍
Looks Great and it's more than strong enough - way stronger than the window! Thanks for sharing!
True friendship is when you can lend your mixer to somebody knowing it won't come back filthy or full of dings in the drum.
You can do whatever you want here, its non structural and gonna be covered over with render. Great little project to try out block laying and mixing up mortar.
If your mix is too dry add water after.
Us a brush to add the water.
A quick dip and flick tends to be enough then mix well
Good on ya - if it is unseen and safe - enough is enough I reckon 👍👍good job considering it’s the first time you’ve done this, given me a bit of confidence to try on my garage 😬
Good that you both know each other. Both great at diy
Thank you
The block laying looks alright mate. Looking forward to seeing the finished job. Have a good one 🇦🇺
Thanks
Yay to the stu (PD) cameo, I knew he was localish. Definitely a much better effort than Alec Steele did in the west of the county bricking his kitchen door up.
Pretty nice work, Keith! It didn't turned out bad at all!
Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊
Thanks buddy! 👍
Considering that you haven't done that before, i think you did a cracking job on it anyway it's your Bungalow so who cares, plus it's getting rendered over.
Stay Safe,
Barry (the Wirral)
Thanks Barry!
Fantastic! Good job. 👍
Got to say, I like it when you have to recreate the lost audio
A job composed mainly of fiddly bits, just great for the first timer. And yet you came through with flying colours! Well done Keith! Now for the seemlessly blended render. . .good luck!
Thank you
Looking forward to the render..
Good job.
The sound effects brought me back to Star Wars….😂
Loved the audio effects 😁😁
👍
Well done dude!! that looked like fun! Great vid thanks for posting. Have a good weekend
Thanks you too
Its definitely good enough to render over thats for sure, can't see any problems with it so all good.
Did you look down the route of framing it out and using cement board ? That's the way I would of done it just because I don't like cement or brick work 😃
That's a nice idea, I didn't think of that
yea good idea, or even ply and mesh?
Well done keith as for the worry about the layout of your blockwork I honestly don't see any reason for it being a problem whatsoever, just remember when you do the rendering to use the mesh screen that you fit in the recess to help with the bonding of your mortar etc. The reason why I mention this is that near where I live there's a house that has been totally rendered three time's in the past five years and the reason why it failed twice in three years was because the home owner just used render and overtime it cracked and basically fell off the wall's. The last time he rendered his house he used this screen type material which helped bond it all together. Don't make the same mistake he made you'll end up kicking yourself!. As always buddy 💯% 👍.
Cheers mate! Rendering is already done, didn't use mesh. If it does crack it won't be the end of the world anyway as there are other cracks elsewhere 🤦🏻♂️only hairline ones though
I really enjoyed your video Keith and I think you made a very good job of it! Is there anything you can't turn your hand to?
If you had like a sticky polly or tape or somrthing you could put that on before you break the glass and save your self alot of clean up 👍
Nice one dude, I particularly loved audio reconstruction 😂🤙🏻
Cheers Sam! 👌
I’m all honesty no matter how you bricked it up it will be strong enough. Like the lintel is still there which would still be supporting everything above it if wasn’t 100% right. In any case what you’ve done is certainly strong enough especially if you think about the window that was in its place. Ps I love the audio reconstruction.
Thanks enjoyed that and learned something too 👌
Audio reenactments were the best!
Mate TAPE the glass. before you break it, that makes cleanup much quicker and easier. Do crosses with gaffe tape then go vertically / horizontally. Comes out as one piece.
I reckon that's a pretty good job done there Keith. I blocked a brick shed door in and I have to say, my brick laying skills don't leave much to be desired mate lol great video chap 👍🏼👍🏼
Thank you
Congratulations on 200K subs. Love your work. Billy J.. Queensland, Australia.
Thank you
Stuart’s cameo 😂😂😂
Its good I taught myself bricklaying work on your placement and eyeing
been looking aroud for a van/car for ages, when i see you get that cement mixer in the back of your car i thought thats for me, it could take all my tools and materials for the small jobs i do, can you let me know the make and model, thanks for all the usefull tips and info over the last few months, definitely the best content out there
It's a great vehicle, really like it. The one down side is that I've kind of ruined the interior, because all the plastic just gets scuffed and scraped and ruined 🙁
Hop up very handy......
Going back to your dust extractor being on when you came back to the workshop. If you don't have your master power switch yet I had a thought why it came on. You have a remote control, from memory, to activate your system. I have one of these. When I have a power cut, once the power comes back on the system starts. I wonder if this happened to you?
I’ve got one that I bought from aliexpress that looks visually the same as Keith’s. When I have a power cut or I cut the power in the shed to fiddle with the wiring the power to the vac definitely doesn’t come on when I restore the power. It’s a good theory though and maybe Keith’s behaves like yours not mine
@@geoffreycoan I think they are programmable. I had mine in learning mode to get a second fob working. Which it does
Also does the power on thing.
Mine came from Banggood so factory next door to yours
@@dougsaunders8109 I just had another look at the one I bought and it doesn't describe what it does on power on, it may be programmable? I got the idea for this from Keith and it's definitely one of the more useful things I've done in my workshop. Bit fiddly to program the two controllers but once done it's rock solid
@@geoffreycoan likewise Geoffrey saves a lot of squeezing past machines to turn the thing on and off which means I use it!
Thanks! I think it starts off when the power us turned on as we've shut power off before and never been an issue
Great job. It's not load bearing so it's plenty strong enough and with the wall ties it will be very unlikely to crack after final render. Everyone would do it differently so whichever way you choose, you're right.
Thank you!
Look's fine to me Keith, I can't see a pro doing it any better myself, looking forward to the rendering video, have a nice Mate !!!.
Thank you
I did my first brick work over the first pandemic lockdown.. and OMG it was difficult, I basically rebuilt about a 1/3rd of a 2x3m shed and it was hard hard work. Nothing seemed to work out how my research suggested. I was doing it in the heat of the summer sun, and despite like you moistening the bricks the mortar was going off within a minute or two (at least in terms of being able to level the brick). Only at the end when I had to supplement with some brand new bricks did I realise that the circa 1975 bricks I had been working with were very very very porous. Anyway I completed it and by the end my laying was looking pretty good, although I was utterly fed up with brick laying and swore I never wanted to do it ever again! It's a steep learning curve even with lots of research. Good job although rule number one is never put your shovel inside a rotating mixer and rule number two is never hit your level with a hammer or trowel. 👍🏻
I'm glad I only had a small area to do as that sounds like a nightmare!
@@RagnBoneBrown I felt like giving up at multiple points and just getting a pro to finish it! I now sometimes stand and admire the good bits of the brick work and feel proud of battling through.
Love your vids. Thanks
Thank you
You were pretty self critical of your work on the last Workshop Banter podcast but from where I'm sitting, that looks pretty good to me. Given how much you both ranted about shoddy work from tradespeople, I think doing it yourself was definitely good enough. Haven't seen your rendering yet though.....!
Thank you! The rendering was problematic!!
I never heard of those blocks before, was that a standard wood saw you were using to score them?
Yeah it's an old woodworking handsaw, blunts the teeth a bit so wouldn't use a nice new one 👍
I would say the mix is too dry and a 5 to 1 mix would be fine. I would have set it out differently but its certainly ok for hidden work. Allow a slightly bigger joint, 12mm on a job like that or you run the risk of not having enough gear in the joints.
Just a thought ...
If you dont have any plastersizer, you can use fairy liquid.
Decent first attempt at blockwotk there mate. The strength of it you mention is a non issue really. Platiciser gives a strong mortar, you've used plenty of ties and, the cavity will have a lintel above bearing the load. Could have used stud and cement board even. Still, jobs like this are great practice for a new skill.👍👌
Thanks mate! Glad to hear it won't fall over 🤣👍
Just for the audio reconstruction it was worth watching this video :)
Thank you! 👍
Good thing that's a cheap level you're beating with the hammer. Why not use 8 inch block?
Being level in a patch?
your glass smashing noises haha. i think the dude from police academy's job is safe :P
I actually found you through Stuart.
The sound effects lol 😆
for the layout I would have just keep going with full block then cut to size, then offcut follow by full block and so on - job's good either way so no sweat
Cheers👍
Nowt wrong with the blockwork....it does a job, and , as you say, render will cover it.
Just one point. Your earlier work blocking up from the workshop side ( studwork / insulation etc), I note that you have put thick polythene on the cold side of the insulation...insulation that is vapour permeable. Potentially, warm , moist air from within your workshop can migrate through the rockwool and condense on the room side of the polythene .....eventually rotting the studwork and soaking the insulation.
Tyvek ( or other breathable membrane on the cold side, polythene ( which is a VCL, vapour control layer) on the warm side of the insulation.
Apologies if this has been mentioned already, but with 180 odd comments.....my tea is going cold!
Keep the videos rolling !...always enjoyable to watch.
Yeah I did it wrong.... Hasn't caused any issues though 👍
@@RagnBoneBrown ..... I have some block laying to do ( approx 10m2)...rest assured , there'll be no video !
For the Love of God, Montressor !!!
the window frame was fitted while the walls were being built, that is why the screw was screwed into frame,
I thought they just used inverted screws. They're a bugger to find nowadays though
Looking good, I've seen worse done by 'professionals'. If you really want to know what the other side looks like, you could drill a hole in the wall and put a borescope through into the void and have a peek?
Thank you! 👍
@@RagnBoneBrown I have seen definitely much worse by "professionals"
Never bang your level!
Stu Crompton says different
This is like the Avengers crossover, but with DIY TH-camrs. 😅👌
Bagsy Ironman for me.
I'm a bricky kieth and your job is way better than needed, you have done a great job . I think most brickies would have stuck a 50 mm cut in the middle of the first course and two 250mm cuts on the next course to make bond. It really doesn't matter blocking up a window like that, strength is not an issue. Economy / waste is probably the most important factor on a job like that. Your biggest challenge is going to be the thirst ot the thermolite blocks whilst rendering them. Get them well soaked and ideally primed with SBR. Some would call it over kill but I always take the render off back past the old window opening and then trowel mesh in to my scratch coat to avoid a crack where the original window lied.
Oh wow, thank you! The rendering is already done, I didn't use SBR... I did have a few issues, all will be revealed in the next one! But I didn't do a great job on it! Appreciate the kind words
I bet Stuart’s house backs on to yours, I’m in the Midlands and I’m sure I can still see his vast estate.
Nothing wrong with your block work as long as you stagger your joints
Also if your rendering it doesn’t matter what it looks like
Good job for a beginner
Cheers!
LOL... I see that your neighbor was probably watching every movement you made on her security camera mounted behind you... He He !
That's my security camera
Great job, but Your mix looks a bit hard, when well mixed with plasticiser it should be like whipped cream. As you are doing small mixes it's not mixing well in the big drum. Best to Mix it in a bucket with a padded mixer and mix for 5 min till it makes cream peaks. Especially for your render, you need a good mix to spread well. Blocks look good, but I would have cut less of them, to speed up the work.
Good job. Many bricklayers work far less accurate.
Thank you!
Cheers - I think it looks good. Did you consider insulation in the gap between the blocks and the reverse side of the inside frame? I couldn't see how big a gap there was? Cheers
Cheers! The internal framing already had insulation in it 👍