Hi Again,
Crikey a flood of resonses here! Just a word from the wise plasticiser can affect your final cure if you use too much but it will give you a little while longer to lay if you arent to quick with a trowel. As for using the blocks on the side, yes I see no problems with that and the base is more than adequate. A 4 to 1 mix is fine but I would recomend getting a lend of a mixer rather than doing it by hand as you can ensure a constant mix.
Help! A question for the structurally minded
Moderators: B.Scott, vippymini, Gazza, Manky Sanke
-
tranquil waters koi
- Sandbar shark
- Posts: 8
- Joined: Sat Nov 04, 2006 3:43 pm
- Location: county durham
- Contact:
Hi Tranquil Waters Koi
I certainly won't be quick with a trowel! In fact I could possibly set a record for the slowest user of a trowel ever! My next door neighbour is going to lend me his mixer and one of his sons (recently taken up a building apprenticeship and therefore needs all the experience he can get of mixing and spreading concrete at a very low rate of pay) to lay the concrete pad.
Hi Gazza
No I haven't done it yet!. It's taken me three weeks of arsing about just ordering the materials. Partly due to trepidation on my part about building anything and as previously recorded trying to find some decent materials (not exactly spoilt for choice with builders yards in this part of the world). Getting an instrument to remove a ram's doo dah's in West Wales - no problem; getting 7 newton blocks - a pain in the ram's doo dah's.
Anyway I'm now the proud possesor of 3 tons of aggregate/sand and enough blocks to rebuild the house. I'm now trying to work out which way round to hold the trowel!
I'll post a few piccies as the fun gets underway.
Cheers
Jon
I certainly won't be quick with a trowel! In fact I could possibly set a record for the slowest user of a trowel ever! My next door neighbour is going to lend me his mixer and one of his sons (recently taken up a building apprenticeship and therefore needs all the experience he can get of mixing and spreading concrete at a very low rate of pay) to lay the concrete pad.
Hi Gazza
No I haven't done it yet!. It's taken me three weeks of arsing about just ordering the materials. Partly due to trepidation on my part about building anything and as previously recorded trying to find some decent materials (not exactly spoilt for choice with builders yards in this part of the world). Getting an instrument to remove a ram's doo dah's in West Wales - no problem; getting 7 newton blocks - a pain in the ram's doo dah's.
Anyway I'm now the proud possesor of 3 tons of aggregate/sand and enough blocks to rebuild the house. I'm now trying to work out which way round to hold the trowel!
I'll post a few piccies as the fun gets underway.
Cheers
Jon
Hi Jon,
Hopefully the filter should be with you shortly! I cant offer any helpful advise in terms of building etc! However i have just built a growing on pond 1m x 2m x 1m deep-i had never laid a brick in my life, only piece of advice i can give you, is dont worry to much, i found i was trying to be to neat and tidy and messed around for hours, probably making it weaker! I also found that because i was so slow the mortar kept going off-i found it much easier to make up smaller mixes little and often so the mortar was more workable(a descent plasticier helps as well!)
Make sure you put loads of pics as you progress!
Cheers Andy
Hopefully the filter should be with you shortly! I cant offer any helpful advise in terms of building etc! However i have just built a growing on pond 1m x 2m x 1m deep-i had never laid a brick in my life, only piece of advice i can give you, is dont worry to much, i found i was trying to be to neat and tidy and messed around for hours, probably making it weaker! I also found that because i was so slow the mortar kept going off-i found it much easier to make up smaller mixes little and often so the mortar was more workable(a descent plasticier helps as well!)
Make sure you put loads of pics as you progress!
Cheers Andy
Hi All
Had my first stab at the dimensions today. It's taken all day to arrange a course of blocks in a rectangle with 3/8" joints. Initial attempts were all parallelograms! Sole purpose of this exercise was to mark exactly where the corner blocks should go. I tried using strings but probably resembled an orangatan with epilepsy attempting to get them to stay put whilst securing at the other end.
Only problem work is rearing it's ugly head for the next couple of days which will slow progress considerably.
Bob
I did go out and buy a decent spirit level. Then I found the other 4 that I couldn't find before I went out and bought it!
vippymini
I thought slavery had been abolished! I didn't know you would still buy brickies. Or is the thing for maing sure that the mortar is a consistent thickness? Round here your more likely to find rocking horse poo for sale than an up to date gadget! I was thinking of improvising one with a plywood template if I do get into bother.
Cheers
Jon W
Had my first stab at the dimensions today. It's taken all day to arrange a course of blocks in a rectangle with 3/8" joints. Initial attempts were all parallelograms! Sole purpose of this exercise was to mark exactly where the corner blocks should go. I tried using strings but probably resembled an orangatan with epilepsy attempting to get them to stay put whilst securing at the other end.
Only problem work is rearing it's ugly head for the next couple of days which will slow progress considerably.
Bob
I did go out and buy a decent spirit level. Then I found the other 4 that I couldn't find before I went out and bought it!
vippymini
I thought slavery had been abolished! I didn't know you would still buy brickies. Or is the thing for maing sure that the mortar is a consistent thickness? Round here your more likely to find rocking horse poo for sale than an up to date gadget! I was thinking of improvising one with a plywood template if I do get into bother.
Cheers
Jon W