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Posts Tagged ‘capillary<’
Posted in Bricklaying on Nov 10
United Kingdom soil is always damp provided you dig down deep enough, and when it gets saturated, capillary action causes moisture to rise up to the surface.  If that happens and you rest a cardboard box upon the ground, the water dampens the cardboard too. Similarly, moisture naturally rises up through porous brick walls, and that’s what we call rising damp.
A damp course is a physical damp-proof barrier above the ground on which the walls of a building rest. It may also be a vertical barrier to prevent rainwater intrusion from outside, although this is less common. The earliest horizontal barriers were inserted using slate which being dense is impervious to water. These days cheaper plastic strips are more common.
If you are planning to Find a Builder outside of Mr-Skill we recommend that you carefully research the details of what they propose by way of damp courses. Should you source a tradesman through us though, there is no need to worry. That’s because all our craftsmen follow the practices of the best London Bricklayer Firms.
 A horizontal damp course should be laid between two brick courses at least six inches above the ground at the highest point, and it should never be covered afterwards by soil because this can counteract it. Should the brick course subsequently fail, then there is little point in getting Bricklaying Quotes. The only workable solution is to arrange expensive chemical injections.
This is why we always recommend employing qualified, Rated Bricklayers such as we provide at Mr-Skill. The pleasures of saving a few pounds on a bricklaying job through employing glorified handymen is easily forgotten, after you receive an expensive chemical injection repair bill.
Tags: barrier, brick, bricklaying quotes, capillary, chemical, course, damp, damp course, dig, earth, find a bricklayer, ground, horizontal, injection, intrusion, london bricklayer, moisture, plastic, rain, rise, rising damp, slate, soil, surface, vertical, water
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Posted in Bricklaying on Aug 12
Most brick walls are finished off with some or other kind of capping, which is called coping in the trades. While the main purpose of this is to prevent water seeping into the structure, coping also often provides a decorative feature too. Coping may be pitched or flat according to the tastes of the designer.  The most important thing of all though is to ensure that the coping is at least an inch wider that the finished wall, and preferably an extra inch wider in total too. This is to prevent capillary action dripping off the surface onto the wall itself.
Do you need to Find a Bricklayer on Mr-Skill to lay coping for you? Perhaps not, if you are reasonably skilful and have the right tools. But definitely, if the wall is high or if the site is dangerous in other ways.
o Span a suitable length of builders twine along the wall at a height above it equal to the coping plus the settled bed of mortal. This is a critical factor for success, so take your time. Mark the approximate position of each coping stone, to determine where to start and where to site the filler piece.
o Mix sufficient mortar, but not more than you can use in one hour. Lay a generous bed of it along the top  of the wall, starting at one end and one and half times the length of a single coping stone. Make regular slashes in it to help your work bed down nicely.
o Set the first coping stone in place remembering to obey the level of the builders twine. Immediately check your levels in both directions and adjust where necessary. Continue on the same basis without worrying too much about filling in the grouting. This is often easier the following day when the stones have settled. London Bricklayers invariably like do this the same day though, because they do not want to have to come back again.
This really is a simple job, provided you have the time and patience, and a straight eye too. If you lack one or more of these, then why not Ask Mr-Skill for Bricklaying Quotes instead. Our tradesmen are competent and pleasant enough to work with, and their rates are really keen.
Tags: bed, brick, bricklaying quotes, cap, capillary, capping, competent, coping, dangerous, decorative, filler, find a bricklayer, finish, grout, height, high, lay, level, london bricklayer, mix, mortar, patience, rate, seep, set, settle, skill, slash, straight eye, time, tool, top, twine, wall, water, wide
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