Hi,
I am converting my garage into a room and will be building a dwarf cavity wall (9 courses) with a window above it on the existing concrete slab. Building control have given me the OK to do this as the slab is quite deep. Instead of keying in the new brickwork I plan to recess it back half an inch. However, I will of course be placing my first course of bricks directly onto the concrete slab (mortar in-between of course!) where as looking at the pillars, that would be half way through a course, so the new wall won't line up with the pillars.
To solve this I believe I have the following options:
1) Dig down half a brick's height, so that I can sink the first course down just below existing ground level to match the depth of those in the pillars. (not sure building control will let me do this as it makes the slab thinner.)
2) Using an angle grinder, slice the bricks lengthways to make them less tall (down to aprox 25mm high). An eagle eyed person may notice that I would have a bed of mortar, a very slim brick, then the next bed of mortar... but the average person would never notice. Would the bricks crack if they were that thin? I could use engineering bricks for that course if it would solve this?
3) Save money, use blocks, render it, paint it.
In case makes a difference, the bricks will be LBC Dapple Lights.
Which option is best?
Thanks in advance,
Si
I am converting my garage into a room and will be building a dwarf cavity wall (9 courses) with a window above it on the existing concrete slab. Building control have given me the OK to do this as the slab is quite deep. Instead of keying in the new brickwork I plan to recess it back half an inch. However, I will of course be placing my first course of bricks directly onto the concrete slab (mortar in-between of course!) where as looking at the pillars, that would be half way through a course, so the new wall won't line up with the pillars.
To solve this I believe I have the following options:
1) Dig down half a brick's height, so that I can sink the first course down just below existing ground level to match the depth of those in the pillars. (not sure building control will let me do this as it makes the slab thinner.)
2) Using an angle grinder, slice the bricks lengthways to make them less tall (down to aprox 25mm high). An eagle eyed person may notice that I would have a bed of mortar, a very slim brick, then the next bed of mortar... but the average person would never notice. Would the bricks crack if they were that thin? I could use engineering bricks for that course if it would solve this?
3) Save money, use blocks, render it, paint it.
In case makes a difference, the bricks will be LBC Dapple Lights.
Which option is best?
Thanks in advance,
Si
