Walls and Blockwork: Building Up from DPC
Free with emailWhat happens as your extension walls go up, from DPC to plate height. Covers cavity wall construction, block types, wall ties, cavity closers, scaffolding, weather risks, and the quality checks you need to do at each payment milestone.
Do this first:
More than a third of all residential construction defects recorded by LABC involve external walls. Not roofs. Not foundations. Walls. The part of your extension that everyone assumes is straightforward is actually where the most things go wrong, from botched DPC installations to wall ties pushed into mortar after the fact rather than set in as courses are laid.
The good news is that cavity wall construction for an extension is well-understood by any competent bricklayer. Your job isn't to lay blocks. It's to understand what's being built, check quality at each payment milestone, and know when to involve your building control officer.
Your foundations and DPC must be complete and inspected by building control before blockwork begins. Window and door opening sizes must be finalised (these come from your architect's drawings). If you're having structural steels, they should be ordered or at least specified before walls reach lintel height, because lead times run 2-6 weeks.
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