Awesome block job

[Ben H]

Same house as the missing lintels from the other day. Appears they started at each end and planned to meet in the middle. And they did, just not in plane with each other. Notice the nice "feathering" of the mortar to try and hide the fact they are jackasses.

Click to Enlarge

37.21 KB

Click to Enlarge

43.6 KB

Click to Enlarge

39.47 KB

[hausdok]

Looks like there's been some flooding in that crawl.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[Ben H]

Yeah it had some water in it...

[Les]

Hey Ben,

nice block photos! I am curious why you imprint your photos with your logo. Marketing or protection?

[Jim Baird]

When I first looked I thought I was looking at block underpinning or skirting added after the framing.

Then I decided it was an "owner-built".

[Marc]

Should scratch the mortar to see if it was mixed properly. Too much or too little water and it's strength drops. If they can't lay block, maybe they can't mix it right either. Wrong mix is a bigger finding. I'm always looking for bigger 'fish'.

Marc

[Bain]

Should scratch the mortar to see if it was mixed properly. Too much or too little water and it's strength drops. If they can't lay block, maybe they can't mix it right either. Wrong mix is a bigger finding. I'm always looking for bigger 'fish'.

Marc

How does one empirically or quanitatively determine if mortar was correctly mixed by scratching it? Clearly if the stuff is like sand there's a problem, but what about everything in the middle ranges and slightly beyond?

[ghentjr]

Same house as the missing lintels from the other day. Appears they started at each end and planned to meet in the middle. And they did, just not in plane with each other. Notice the nice "feathering" of the mortar to try and hide the fact they are jackasses.

Click to Enlarge

37.21 KB

Click to Enlarge

43.6 KB

Click to Enlarge

39.47 KB

Based on the bottom picture it looks like a mix of different block sizes. May have been different support requirements or they had an excess of the wider block?

[Ben H]

@Les - I was playing around with Fast Stone and added the watermark when resizing. I plan on posting some pics of FB, and wanted to keep the piracy at bay....arrrhhh.

I'll be up in your neck o' the woods this week. I'll look out for you. []

@ghentjr - I suppose you could be right about the different sized block. However, the 1st pic is coming down the wall, and the last one is where it ended. Nothing particular special about the wall. Why use different sized block for 4-5 ft in the last 1/4 of the wall? Just doesn't add up in my mind.

[Marc]

Should scratch the mortar to see if it was mixed properly. Too much or too little water and it's strength drops. If they can't lay block, maybe they can't mix it right either. Wrong mix is a bigger finding. I'm always looking for bigger 'fish'.

Marc

How does one empirically or quanitatively determine if mortar was correctly mixed by scratching it? Clearly if the stuff is like sand there's a problem, but what about everything in the middle ranges and slightly beyond?

I wasn't suggesting to go as far as attempting an empirical or quantitative determination. Just scratch it with your fingernail. If it scrapes off that easily, that's all you need to write off the whole installation. If it's borderline, forget it, just write up the blocks.

Marc

[mgbinspect]

@Les - I was playing around with Fast Stone and added the watermark when resizing. I plan on posting some pics of FB, and wanted to keep the piracy at bay....arrrhhh.

I'll be up in your neck o' the woods this week. I'll look out for you. []

@ghentjr - I suppose you could be right about the different sized block. However, the 1st pic is coming down the wall, and the last one is where it ended. Nothing particular special about the wall. Why use different sized block for 4-5 ft in the last 1/4 of the wall? Just doesn't add up in my mind.

Each block width (grouted and ungrouted) is rated to hold back, as a retaining wall or bulkhead, varying soil depths. So, they may have reduced block thickness because a thicker and more expensive unit wasn't required, or they may have simply been using up their misc. locks to get rid of them.

[Bain]

Should scratch the mortar to see if it was mixed properly. Too much or too little water and it's strength drops. If they can't lay block, maybe they can't mix it right either. Wrong mix is a bigger finding. I'm always looking for bigger 'fish'.

Marc

How does one empirically or quanitatively determine if mortar was correctly mixed by scratching it? Clearly if the stuff is like sand there's a problem, but what about everything in the middle ranges and slightly beyond?

I wasn't suggesting to go as far as attempting an empirical or quantitative determination. Just scratch it with your fingernail. If it scrapes off that easily, that's all you need to write off the whole installation. If it's borderline, forget it, just write up the blocks.

Marc

I'm slow, so be patient. Are you saying that if you can easily scrape mortar out of one joint--or even ten--in a block foundation, your stance is that the entire installation should be "written off," which I assume is synonymous with "considered failed?"

[Marc]

Yes, if it's portland cement based. Not so with lime based.

Not necessarily failed but definitely an issue.

Marc

[Terence McCann]

Should scratch the mortar to see if it was mixed properly. Too much or too little water and it's strength drops. If they can't lay block, maybe they can't mix it right either. Wrong mix is a bigger finding. I'm always looking for bigger 'fish'.

Marc

How does one empirically or quanitatively determine if mortar was correctly mixed by scratching it? Clearly if the stuff is like sand there's a problem, but what about everything in the middle ranges and slightly beyond?

I wasn't suggesting to go as far as attempting an empirical or quantitative determination. Just scratch it with your fingernail. If it scrapes off that easily, that's all you need to write off the whole installation. If it's borderline, forget it, just write up the blocks.

Marc

I'm slow, so be patient. Are you saying that if you can easily scrape mortar out of one joint--or even ten--in a block foundation, your stance is that the entire installation should be "written off," which I assume is synonymous with "considered failed?"

The block that's out of alignment by a country mile is "small fish" - barely worth a passing glance. []

[mgbinspect]

These aren't fragile systems. Any masonry foundation is made up of materials with psi ratings that make supporting a lil" ole' house a walk in the park. If you do the math, you can probably stack fifty house on top of each other on the typical house foundation.

It's akin to using a 4x4 as a foundation for an empty milk carton.

[Bain]

THese aren't fragile systems. Any masonry foundation is made up of materials with psi ratings that make sopporting a lil" ole' house a walk in the park. If you do the math, you can proably stack fifty house on top of each other on th etupical house foundation.

What is the psi rating for block walls when the cells haven't been slushed? I could Google it, but asking you is quicker.

[mgbinspect]

Ha! I'm on the road... sorry.. just google a solid block - pretty much the same..

[Bain]

I shouldn't be lazy in the first place.

[mgbinspect]

Search the thread "The Mightly Brick" here at TIJ. If memory serves, I believe, based upon average total gross home weights provided by the manufactured home industry, fifty homes stacked was accurate.

[Bain]

Pages on the site are hanging and loading really slowly. Mike must be trying to block me again.

Professor Google says that 8" x 16" split-face CMUs are rated at 1,250-1,900 psi depending on their quality.

[mgbinspect]

Pages on the site are hanging and loading really slowly. Mike must be trying to block me again.

Professor Google says that 8" x 16" split-face CMUs are rated at 1,250-1,900 psi depending on their quality.

Well, there you go. that means that in a perfect world, even using the lower psi rating, that block can support 80 tons! (considerably less if it's cored.) The average frame house is between 50 - 100 tons I think. All that info is floating around in here from past threads.

[mgbinspect]

FWIW, Philadelphia's City Hall, to this day, still holds the world record for the tallest load bearing structure on the planet topping out at 548 feet or roughly 54 stories of good ole' solid masonry.

[ghentjr]

@Les - I was playing around with Fast Stone and added the watermark when resizing. I plan on posting some pics of FB, and wanted to keep the piracy at bay....arrrhhh.

I'll be up in your neck o' the woods this week. I'll look out for you. []

@ghentjr - I suppose you could be right about the different sized block. However, the 1st pic is coming down the wall, and the last one is where it ended. Nothing particular special about the wall. Why use different sized block for 4-5 ft in the last 1/4 of the wall? Just doesn't add up in my mind.

If the block was that far off you would/should have seen it from the exterior. No? Using different sized block can easily be explained in many ways. Your picture, (last one) shows an evenly "irregular" joint which is clearly two sized blocks. The cracks in your second picture are due to the blocks being joined. In a normal layout the blocks would have been overlaid differently. Because of the two different sizes the mason made a joint which was bound to crack. Think outside the block.

[Erby]

Les,

Here's the thread about putting logos on your photos.

https://www.inspectorsjournal.com/forum ... C_ID=12852

-

[robert1966]

That looks really bad, I would be afraid of horizontal pressure. I had a contract do about the same hen tiled a bathroom shower, by the time he reached the top he was 1.5 inches out of plumb.