A friend asked me to look at this site so I drove nearly 60 miles not knowing what to expect and then this, What would you do with this type of work?
If I was the homeowner, I would fire the GC right now. He let the masons build it that way, how do you think the rest of the house will be built.
Now would you have any queries or concerns about these footings?
Not fit for a bar-b-que pit.
I thought I have seen shoty work, but thats just a bunch of blocks thrown together.
Ya know... I was thinking earlier to myself "self, you're not to good with masonery stuff" - but I'm almost certain I could have done a better job!
Do you not have building inspections there? Here we have to have inspection at set points of the home's construction, the first being the dug footing before they are poured. There would be a "stop work" order on that place in a heartbeat. I'm curious about the sill plate too. Here we have a minimum of 8" for the sill plate, most times 10". How would a sill plate attach to that?
What you are looking at Steve is the rebate for the dampproof course. from this point a heavy plastic strip is inserted and the block work continues upward with insulation in the cavity.
it won't look all that bad after backfilling.
That looks like a high school shop project.
As long as they backfill with concrete
Hey it looks like a house being built in the Alberta boom two years ago lol
What would I do with this type of work? Well.. I'd get a dozer and level it off so the next contractor has a nice level work area to start with.
x2
I've never seen the L shaped blocks before. What are they called and what are the for? Dt
Probably L shaped blocks.They usually are at the course to allow the concrete floor to sit on the horizontal shelf.
they kinda look like a 4" corner block, but i'm no mason. I will say this, while a fine piece of abstract art, a foundation it is not. Doze it out and give the next guy something smooth to work off.
I dont see any problem, the middle is full of concrete so that aint going nowhere and once the outside has been backfilled up to dampcourse you wont be able to see that either. What the eye dont see the heart wont grieve about. Now, original question " would I live in a house built like this " WHHHHHHHAt your havin a laugh :ban
It looks as if it's built with all corners. Did the guy get a deal on somebody's left over stock of corners, or what? A foundation like that is designed to support the load that's placed on it from above, so all it needs is to be adequate for that purpose. I've dug up lots of old foundations, and "adequate" and "pretty" don't really relate to much to one another. If it were "random rubble masonry" you wouldn't expect it to look like much either, but there's lots and lots of buildings that have been standing for a long time that were built that way. Presuming there's plenty of mortar bedding the individual blocks, if it's on a good footer (which we really can't tell from the photos), that won't settle, and it doesn't need to be waterproofed below grade, and it's level on top, I think it'll be ok. Not pretty, certainly, but it'll hold up the house, and that's all it's supposed to do. That having been said, I do question the thickness, for the same reasons Steve did. I'd also question why the mason did it so it looks so butt ugly, because it obviously calls attention to itself, despite being adequate for the purpose. Where's that Squizzy feller when you need him? :cool2
the inspectors in this neck of the woods would just laugh at that! wow
Go easy on the guy.....he wore out the blade on his block saw and couldn't afford a new one...and besides, he's allergic to the cutting dust.... On a more serious note, if you look at the blockwork its very easy to tell that the "person" who laid them has no idea whatsoever, and has never done this before. I'd be very concerned about where the bay wall kicks out that it is actually evenly bearing on the footing...not to mention a number of points where there is continuous vertical alignment of the mortar joints. "One on two on one" for masons....sssssooonnnllyy been that way for bout 6000 years...since mortar was invented.
The foundation dose have a rustic "old timey" look to it much like the ruins of an old castle.It will probably work fine ,It just dont look the best.Check out the 4th pic on post #1.I see another home site location beside this one.Maybe the mason will see this thread and do better on the next job.I am not sure why the side walks are built up like that .Maybe they will be adding fill dirt later.
I agree with you on everything, but that guy is no mason. It looks like the homeowner did it himself. "Hey, what the heck, its easy - just watch those shows on TV"!!!:lmao
You that old Squizzy? Dang...your older than Methuselah!
I knew Squizzy would have an informed opinion, being that he's an expert in both "walls" and "ugly".... :cool2
Unless the man who build that was blind, in a wheelchair with one arm theirs no excuse!
For what it's worth, The lines are straight. Pj
Block Laying vs Block Stacking It Elevates the term "Block Stacking" to a whole new Level.
hello to all trying to get my 3 posts in:usa
I dunno. That it could be his 3rd or 4th one. He was probably really proud of himself when he finished.
It looks like some ancient Roman ruins. LOL
Tada! Look mom its done:drinkup
They are known as L-blocks or corner blocks and are used to return around a window or door ope on a cavity wall.below is a rough sketch showing the correct location
Looks better then some retaining walls I have replaced!
Hey now keep it down on the boom houses. I am buying a boom house and I would rather not think about how crappy its built until im on Holmes on Holmes.
I wouldnt build a house on cement blocks if it were build correctly. :Banghead
2nd post for membership Didn't they learn anything fron the Mayans?:drinkup
That 2000 years later someone will make a movie of a giant robot destroying it to blow up the sun?
I wonder if the ground freezes over there? if not, probably they will be "adequate", still not a pretty site to see. but if the ground freezes, then OMG, you would not get me to cross treshold, just watch for cracks in the walls whoever did this, they should not be in the business. those floors contradict with the footings, would expect to be also concrete filled
This remainded me of a meeting a few years ago with an experienced homebuilder (30+ years in the biz), so he put forward his idea of properly built footings for a house, namely, footings are laid a year before the actual building goes ahead. His point was that first, over the year they "seat" in properly, and no floating aferwards, second, the ground freezes over here, so the year gives time for ground to settle properly arround footings and no freeze lifting later. no such thing with boom houses...
Stock you laying blocks again?
IMO, most high school kids could do better.....
Mule you know better than that,that fella couldn't build a house with loge if he tried.
Sounds like this builder needs to hire someone else to do his earthwork. Footings should be poured on virgin soil or on properly and adequately compacted load bearing fill.
The poster is from erie and he said he drove 60 miles to see it. No matter what direction from erie he went it still gets frozen ground. Im in the same state 250 miles east and iv seen the ground frozen 2+feet thick befor .
um that would be the wrong erie.....try on the other side of the pond
:lmao :yup :thumbsup I think the spelling is very slightly different too. If Stock went 250mls in any direction he would be needing a boat
Not far wrong there Rob,for those of you who don't know Eire is another name for Ireland, Éire (pronounced [ˈeːɾʲə] (help) is the Irish name for the island of Ireland and the sovereign state of the same name YouTube - Ireland - An Image from each county No folks we don't have to worry about frost here our temperature varies from a low of -5c to 30c these are the extremes of each which I can say I have only ever experienced once and at that it was for a short duration.
As long as the big bad wolf wont come to blow it down, im good.
house +1 looks pretty bad
Well I am due up that way in a week or two so we will see and I will record any development .
hey, come on guys, who ever he or she was that did that job must have worked real hard to make it look that bad. Must have been a real artist to do that kind of work. Probably needed twice the material too!