# Forum Home Renovation Brickwork  Besser blocks

## sinjin

I'm about to build a shed out of Besser blocks. Is Besser about the best brand to go for and is $2.95 each about the right price? Melb area
380 x190 x180

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## sundancewfs

You could try Austral Brick, they do concrete blocks

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## Terrian

> I'm about to build a shed out of Besser blocks. Is Besser about the best brand to go for and is $2.95 each about the right price? Melb area
> 380 x190 x180

  yeah, pretty much the right price, you might do a little better if you shop around, do you know how many you are going to need ?

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## sinjin

About 100sq meters i think..

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## raff

From memory the austral 400 series (390x190) I used to build a water feature weere $2.80 per block purchased straight from the Austral cash sales yard. 
For 100sqm I would shop around Austral suppliers rather than directly with Austral themselves- I found they would not discount per unit, no matter the quantity ordered. I purchased Austral clay pavers from a small paving sales yard around pakenham for about 35% below Austral retail yard price. These where ordered through Austral and delivered by Austral within a few days but signficantly cheaper than Austral RRP. Im not sure if the supplier I used deals with besser blocks but I can try did up the number if need be.

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## raff

On a second thought 100sqm is a very big shed?? A 2m high shed 5x4m shed (which is big!) would use around 36sqm for 4 walls?? 
100sqm is around 1250 blocks by my calcs? 
I may well be wrong but worth double checking calcs before ringing for quotes! :Smilie:

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## sinjin

Hi Raff....well the shed is 2 story..bottom level 12 x 6.5m Upper floor will be a 12m x 5.5m with a cantilever section 4m x 1 m.
I'm going to build it myself except for the zinc cladding and roof on the top floor..i reckon i should bowl it over in a weekend in a weekend or two..
yeah right!..
sinjin

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## raff

> Hi Raff....well the shed is 2 story..bottom level 12 x 6.5m Upper floor will be a 12m x 5.5m with a cantilever section 4m x 1 m.
> I'm going to build it myself except for the zinc cladding and roof on the top floor..i reckon i should bowl it over in a weekend in a weekend or two..
> yeah right!..
> sinjin

  Just a small project to knock over on a lazy Sunday afternoon!  :Shock:  
Now thats a 'shed' !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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## Blocklayer

Don't forget, you'll need more than 1 type of block. 
You'll need the correct number of stretchers, halves, knockouts, corner knockouts, lintels, knockout/lintels, sills, and probably half heights and half height halves.
You can see where these blocks go here http://www.blocklayer.com/BlockWalls.aspx 
(mouse over the blocks in the wall) 
And you can work out the quantities (blocks, cement, loam, concrete core fill etc) here http://www.blocklayer.com/Estimator8.aspx
(click the green Demo button) 
.

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## sinjin

Your a champ Block just what i needed! I know your up in QLD..but if yr free for a w/end come down and we'll bowl it over....lol
I'm absolutely dreading the thought of even starting this project. The going rate in vic for block work is $5 per brick and it adds up pretty fast as you well know.
Anyway appreciate the links you sent.

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## Bloss

Any special reason you are using blocks? Have you done this type of construction before? Do you have someone to help - mixing and laying as well as scaffolding etc is really at least two person job. 
Having laid too many blocks in my time I'd happily pay someone $5 a block to lay them for me!   :2thumbsup:  
If you are doings slab or footing it really really helps if you get it as close top size and level as you can (ditto for any type of construction).  :2thumbsup:

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## seriph1

What about using RAPIDWALL? BTW we were sitting in a stunning 17th century home in the south of France until yesterday .... while there we watched (ok, I watched.... the wife sunbaked) construction of excellent reproduction provincial houses .... made with concrete blocks then clad in limestone.  
Anyway back to RAPIDWALL  -  it is an excellent, locally produced product, available in single slabs in the size you need ..... obviously delivery and installation is far more costly than dropping blocks off from the back of a truck, but it literally is instant walling. 
BTW, Sinj, I would like to have a chat about what work youre doing in that shed ... we may have more things in common than an overwhelming desire for shedbuilding .... to give you a hint, we have come to the UK and France so the wife can relax and I can research architectural (exterior and interior) as well as the latest trends in the kitchen design industry.

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## sinjin

I have a couple of mates who are both concretors. Promising to help and it was actually there idea that i do it myself.
The reason for blocks is purely cost at 2.85ea. For the 2 story lock-up i have a budget of only 34k.
The cost of the labour to do the brick was around 8.5k. So i could really use that to put on the 3 ph power etc.
anyway nothing is final yet. The slab has been dowon for near of 5 yrs.
few hick-ups in between stopped the project.

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## Tools

From yesterday's 'Age',someone has 900 blocks for sale at $2.60 each. You might be able to talk them down. Murray  0419 689 333 
Tools

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## Bloss

> I have a couple of mates who are both concretors. Promising to help and it was actually there idea that i do it myself.
> The reason for blocks is purely cost at 2.85ea. For the 2 story lock-up i have a budget of only 34k.
> The cost of the labour to do the brick was around 8.5k. So i could really use that to put on the 3 ph power etc.
> anyway nothing is final yet. The slab has been dowon for near of 5 yrs.
> few hick-ups in between stopped the project.

  No worries - and use Blocklayer's site - it's a ripper.  :2thumbsup:

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## sinjin

No worries and thks for the clues..

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## autogenous

_BTW we were sitting in a stunning 17th century home in the south of France until yesterday .... while there we watched (ok, I watched.... the wife sunbaked) construction of excellent reproduction provincial houses .... made with concrete blocks then clad in limestone_ 
Much much cheaper to build the structure straight out of 110mm limestone  :Smilie:  
I was taught stone masonry by a Frenchman  :Smilie:

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## Matto-FNQ

BlockLayer - wow. I'm sure those calculators are absolutely amazing, but they're making my head hurt so much at the moment! And here I thought that working with besser blocks would be reasonably straightforward!  
Looking at your site - do you do this sort of work yourself, or do you just provide the site as a resource to mugs like me who have no idea what we're doing? IE, if we decide to go ahead with a project I'm thinking of, but decide it's beyond our abilities, should I get in touch? 
Sorry for the hijack sinjin - I'll but out now! I'd love to see some photos of your shed once you get moving on it though - it sounds like it will be an absolute ripper! And I thought a 6x6 double garage was an insurmountable task! 
Thanks!
Matto  :Smilie:

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## autogenous

Be sure to check the quality of the product. Good sizing and strength will not only save you time but money.  :Smilie:

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## bimborocks

I have been buying blocks - 390x190x190 - in small lots of about 15-20 from C & M Bricks in newcastle and i am pretty sure they are only $2.50.  they have yards all over the places so surely that is a standard price and maybe even do better for the quantity you are after. 
HTH
James

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## seriph1

Much much cheaper to build the structure straight out of 110mm limestone  :Smilie:  
I was taught stone masonry by a Frenchman  :Smilie: [/quote] 
Isnt limestone 200+ per square metre just for the material? 
As mentioned: we have a product here in Kilmore Victoria that works like a tilt-up but is made from reinforced Gypsum (inner and outer skins, with gypsum ribs every 25 cms to keep it apart). Doesn't burn, is 1/2 the cost of brick veneer, and you can erect all the internal and external walls of a 45 square home in a morning  :Biggrin:   -   oh yeah, and making it produces 1/10th the carbon footprint of brick manufacture.  
What we are planning on doing for some of the folks who lost period homes around the Kilmore region, is use the above material and clad it with a reconstituted sandstone veneer product out of NSW.... I have seen the cladding on a building complex in Melbourne and while I think the product was wasted on the building itself, it was utterly convincing as sandstone. I remember thinking the only way it could be made better would be to make it from real stone, but the cost would be in excess of $300 per square metre, I was told.

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## seriph1

here is a pic or two of the recon. stone product I was referring to..... will never beat the real thing but this is as close as it gets I reckon.

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## autogenous

> If you are doings slab or footing it really really helps if you get it as close top size and level as you can (ditto for any type of construction).

  Ditto because the last thing you want is a pig in it and have to cut concrete blocks  :Shock:  :Biggrin: 
There is not much room for joint variation as a big bed joint usually results in them sinking.
As level straight as possible for the footings. :2thumbsup:

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## autogenous

> here is a pic or two of the recon. stone product I was referring to

  Its like a chiselled rockface finish, coool!  :Smilie:    

> Isnt limestone 200+ per square metre just for the material?

  It probably depends n the source stone. That does sound high. That rockface finish is very labour intensive which takes twice as long plus as cut stone to prepare.

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