laying first course of blocks

[sm_jamieson]

The first course of blocks I have to lay will have to be cut in the horizontal plane since the foundation pour "extra concrete" took it a bit higher than I had carefully intended ! Couple of questions related to this:

1. Will a block splitter be able to cut a 215mm block down to 185mm OK and give a flat square cut (usually vertical cuts are made where this does not matter). Or will I need a diamond saw ? I would have up to 60 blocks to cut. Or can you get funny height blocks anywhere ?

1. Can you lay a row of e.g. flat roof tiles to get things leveled up ? Sure I've seen this but looks a bodge.

2. What is the biggest acceptable mortar bed (underground - will not show !) that can be used to level things up ?

1. Or, how would a pro get the first couple of courses lined up. Only

3 courses to ground level so not much room to stretch the beds vertically.

Thanks, Simon.

[Grunff]

I don't think so, no. Splitting blocks lengthwise doesn't work as well as widthwise, and I don't think you'll get a clean break.

I'm not aware of any 185mm blocks.

Very untidy I think.

You can get away with around 25mm.

They'd almost certainly use bricks to bring it up to the right level, before starting the first block course.

What are the implications of being 30mm taller? What are you building?

[Harry Bloomfield]

sm_jamieson expressed precisely :

No, can't be done that way.

That would work for an odd one or two, but 60...

Could you lay the blocks on their sides for one to three courses to get the level, or perhaps use bricks?

[sm_jamieson]

ground. The heights I needed for 2 parts of the foundation are 175mm and

195mm. I'll do this with 15 + 73 + 15 + 73 = 196 and 15 + 100 (block on side)

• 15 + 65 = 195. Sorted. Cheers, Simon.