The bottom drains have been sealed with 4" bungs and covered with plywood to protect them. 4" thick high-density blocks are used to construct the walls.
This was the first of my big challenges. Not being a bricklayer, ensuring that the walls remained level and plumb over the whole build took some time and much checking. It was one of the tasks that was very time consuming but ultimately rewarding when it turned out alright!
I spent quite a time when the base was poured trying to get a level perimeter to make building the walls easier. This worked well and made getting the walls level far simpler for me.
A large sheet of building damp proofing membrane is laid behind the blocks. This is to prevent groundwater soaking through the mortar joints and attacking the render and fibreglass from behind and also helped the render dry more readily at a later date.
Here some of the wall has been brought up to the correct height. Two rows af bricks will sit on top of these blocks to bring the depth to 6ft and also allow some levelling if required. The rear of the blocks have a sand&cement coat applied to them. This is subsequently painted with a bitumen type product to further seal the blocks before the damp proof membrane is pulled up against the back of this.
A this point, three of the TPRs have been installed (the other is on the front wall). The pipes are left long at this point and will be trimmed back after rendering.
