New Build Mortar Query

CattyUk

Edited

test

Doozergirl

One for @stuart45 methinks!

Section62

CattyUk said:

I am waiting for the builder to come back to me but wondered if anyone could advise likely reasons why this is happening. Builder isn’t the easiest to deal with and feeling very worried bigger problem so any advice or guidance on this would be greatly appreciated. 

It looks like there is a lot of variation in the quality/strength of the mortar.  Some of the mortar appears to be excessively strong.

Some pictures showing larger areas of the brickwork (i.e. less close up) are going to help in diagnosis.

Edit: Any idea why it was empty for so long between construction and sale?

koalakoala

Do you still get a 10 year guarantee with new builds? We have twice in the past

Section62

CattyUk said:

The person ‘builder’ we deal with more just project manages things as he has a full time job working in the rail industry so not his main priority if you get me. 

So the bricklaying was possibly done by different people as-and-when rather than by one or two bricklayers working full-time?

Was this the only house they were building, or are there others?

Any other problems with the structure/finishes?

stuart45

It should be easy to fix. Close ups of new brickwork on site often make the problems look worse. It looks like on the blue bricks they have put more mortar on the jointers as they rubbed up the joints. In theory all the joints are full and then the jointing iron goes over the top to compress the joint. In practice there will be some gaps that need filling. If the mortar has gone a bit harder the layer put on top might not bond so well to what's under it. 
When you talk to the builder the horizontal joints are the bed joints and the vertical are the cross joints. 
The cross joints are often only partially filled, so these are more likely to have problems. Cracking in the bed joints could be shrinkage cracking. Below DPC the mortar is stronger and more prone to this.
As Section62 said some photos further back will give a better overall picture of the quality.

daveyjp

I'd also give the plastic weep vent a pull and see if it actually bedded in and doing the job it should be doing.

Sometimes the front is cut off and wedged into the joint to make it look like its done correctly.  A pull and it comes out,

stuart45

The brickwork doesn't look that bad for site work. The blue bricks at the base are always more difficult to lay as they don't absorb water, and the joints stay soft for ages, so they might have been a bit soft when they were jointed, so they look white in places. 
Don't think you have a serious problem with the mortar.

CattyUk

Thank you for you help. 

Wouod raking out and repointing the effected areas be beneficial? Just don’t want any to end up with loads of holes everywhere. 

stuart45

If there's any defective mortar it can easily be replaced. Were some of those holes made by cable clips?

CattyUk

No I don’t think so. 

There’s the little holes where no clips/cables are.