Building in Winter

If wet mortar freezes, then it'll be damaged. My recollection is that it ought to be 5C or above for building work, there are limitations on various things, for example if your extension has an flat roof with a bitumenised covering, it may crack if unrolled below a certain temperature, and you'd have to check on that. Paint is usually limited to a minimum temperature as well.

Andy.

Reply to
andrewpreece
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I am having an extension built with the work likely to start bang on in the middle of winter. Are there any precautions I need to take or things to check or be wary about. I have heard that bricks can't be laid if the temperature drops to a certain level, is this true? and what is that temparature.

Is the likelihood of damp higher if the building work is done in winter? Do I need to wait longer for the plaster to dry before I sand down and start painting? If so how long do I wait and is there any way of speeding up drying?

Apologies for all the barrage of questions but as you can probably tell, am a complete novice when it comes to the building trade, but hoping to start dabbling in DIY activities with help from people on this board

Thanks G

Reply to
Gaffar

Silly comment?

Do it inside. Call a few marquee hire companies. Alternatively, you can knock up a weatherproof structure out of 2*6 and galvanised sheet pretty fast, then work under it. Or, even cheaper, tarpaulins held off the structure by a minimal framework.

Reply to
Ian Stirling

Above confirmed.

You can use winter mix in the mortar to reduce freezing point, but brickwork takes a long time to set at 5C and below - several days really as against 'more or less solid after 24 hours'

Once weatherproof tho, space heaters can be used to raise internal temps.

The chief downside is the hours of daylight, and the cold and the wet, which reduce the amount of man hours you can realistically put in by day. Also you can't lay mortar in the pouring rain without getting very sodden jonts and risking the cement washing out.

Also timber will get wet and need drying before plastering etc, or you will see cracking.

Do-able, but not the most efficient time of year.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

You can use visqueen and scaffold to make a tent.

Rick

Reply to
Rick Dipper

weaker yes, but the building will still work ok. You'll just be looking at needing to repoint in a few decades rather than 70 years. Thats if theyre using a good quality mix anyway, which is unlikely.

Its not something I'd moan about.

Store it indoors before laying so it unrolls warm. Where it needs bending and folding once on the roof, a quick play with a blowtorch makes it nice and soft. Alternatively use a decent quality of felt based on slightly different stuff to bitumen, they stay soft in the cold. Its perfectly possible to felt a roof below freezing, even with the old bitumen stuff.

I wonder what the developers do about that? I presume the paint will work at lower temps, just be slow drying, and so pick up dust etc before dry. Maybe they just choose low temp paints, I dont know.

NT

Reply to
N. Thornton

Or just heat the room? With insulation behind the walls, the entire plaster and inner leaf masonry will soon be well above the temperature required.

Christian.

Reply to
Christian McArdle

Yes. Its exterior work that is bad news in winter. Bricklaying, ground work, roofing, and of course exterior deciration and or rendering.

Once the shell is up, the envirtonment inside is what you are prepared to make it.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

Thanks for the comments and ideas, tarpaulin looks like the cheapest and easiest option as I have a whole load of this sitting idle in the shed.

Regards

Reply to
Gaffar

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