Joining an extension to a house.

woody7777

A friend of mine is having a brick extension built.  I thought that the new walls would have to be knitted into the house walls, but it looks like the builder has just used a metal bar with some small fixings coming out in the bricks. My friend questioned this with the builder, who told him it was fine.
What do others think about this?

Section62

woody7777 said:

A friend of mine is having a brick extension built.  I thought that the new walls would have to be knitted into the house walls, but it looks like the builder has just used a metal bar with some small fixings coming out in the bricks. My friend questioned this with the builder, who told him it was fine.

What do others think about this?

Something like this?  If so, perfectly normal.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/sabrefix-wall-starter-kit-stainless-steel/56037

woody7777

Yes, that looks very much like it. I suppose it is much quicker.

Section62

woody7777 said:

Yes, that looks very much like it. I suppose it is much quicker.

Quicker, but also allows for some movement.

There are two ways of approaching the problem of joining old work to new - one is to make the join really strong in the hope the strength will resist any movement, the second is to accept some movement will happen and design the join to accommodate it.

Given modern foundations are generally far more robust than historic foundations, some differential movement is almost guaranteed.  If you opt for a rigid join with the brickwork toothed in then differential movement will probably result in cracked bricks.