Structural welds on residential property

[Pete.]

There's a bloke near me, did some work on a site @Pete. was on. Got a flashy van, flashy trailer, even offers beam lifting via mini crane now.
Very professional looking outfit.

Awful welding. It was so bad Pete got the guy to come back and redo it all.

Just goes to show you can have the flashy branding and sign written wagons etc, doesn't mean you can do a good job. Probably makes a killing bashing out multiple jobs all over London a week, but I couldn't live with that on my conscious.

This is true. He wasn't working directly for my company but as a subbie to another company working for us. Even they tried to gloss it over by saying "This guys a professional, what makes you qualified to question his work?"

Next morning I showed the guy another photo of a vertical weld and he said "you cant possibly have a problem with that?" I said "nope, I did it myself on my bench at home."

Anyway, they had to return and grind out their work. I told him from the start to bring a 3 ohase welder and he turned up with a 110v Chinese POS.

It way all made harder for him by the fact that he attempted to cover it up himself by grabbing a tin of paint and slopping it everywhere.

 

[Smallfry]

Just goes to show you can have the flashy branding and sign written wagons etc, doesn't mean you can do a good job. Probably makes a killing bashing out multiple jobs all over London a week, but I couldn't live with that on my conscious.

It's a funny part of the world London and the Home Counties, because you've got so many builders who know a "welder" who is a random bloke from down the pub, that's before you get the migrant labour who do welding, bricklaying and jet washing.
You'd be on a hiding to nothing trying to compete with these idiots. Someone always does it cheaper.

The Sikhs, Indians and Pakistanis round here do it all themselves - some of the stuff I've seen being welded on driveways and up in the air is horrendous.

From what I have seen, MOST trades are like this. Flashy van = high prices but poor workmanship, and poor workmanship is not confined to the "overseas" community by a long stretch.

For most punters who do not have either the ability/tools/time/desire to do anything themselves and rely on trades, is a depressing situation, and little wonder there are so many complaints

 

[gaz1]

Sorry should’ve said in my post - There is doorway going underneath the small beam. The design did initially have a large lintel above the doorway and then the two beams sitting on top of the lintel but we didn’t have the head room to play with so had to change the design

that does help if you had of stated that in the first place as you had a change of design

however should have been welded and bolted plates whilst they was taken down and trimmed and moved into there new places also would have given painting before fitting

but i presume it would have been a speed reference for the acrows to go back from being rented however a day over the time would have been better that could have been agreed with the builder and customer due to preplanned reference and adjusted to make the planed reference better

 

[trigger3]

jesus!! look at all the arc strikes! thats a big mess!

i was noticing that. was wipping the rod like a fishing pole

 

[harveyp6]

I've kept quiet in this because I have so little experience with stick welding, in fact I'd never tried it until a couple of weeks ago, and up to now I reckon I've had about ten hours practice. But if I put in welds like that, even now, with so little experience, I'd be thoroughly ashamed of myself.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

but i presume it would have been a speed reference for the acrows to go back from being rented

Our first project we rented the props...they were battered and as I recall on the second job it was cheaper to just buy them!

The props came in very handy for making braces for my car projects

 

[trigger3]

in the states you dont even need to know how to turn on the welder machine. just pay alittle money for a business liscense. buy a shiny van and put fancy logo on the side

 

[Keith 66]

I am not by any means a good welder but can stick things together with my old oil cooled set & they dont come apart. But that job looks just like one i did down the yacht club on a club working party about ten years ago, Security gate, nearest power point was a 13 amp socket 80m away with two long leads joined together, aircooled sip buzz box, Two guys had tried to weld the hinges onto a post & couldnt strike an arc. I managed to get it going & blobbed it on. It held for a fortnight until a gale & then the whole lot fell off. There was next to no penetration at all. In my defense i wasnt being paid!

If i owned that house i would back that & someone would be grinding it all off & redoing it properly, And it would not be the guy that welded it first time. Reason being i wouldnt want the whole lot falling down one day with me or my family walking under it.

 

[finyuk2005]

I am not by any means a good welder but can stick things together with my old oil cooled set & they dont come apart. But that job looks just like one i did down the yacht club on a club working party about ten years ago, Security gate, nearest power point was a 13 amp socket 80m away with two long leads joined together, aircooled sip buzz box, Two guys had tried to weld the hinges onto a post & couldnt strike an arc. I managed to get it going & blobbed it on. It held for a fortnight until a gale & then the whole lot fell off. There was next to no penetration at all. In my defense i wasnt being paid!

If i owned that house i would back that & someone would be grinding it all off & redoing it properly, And it would not be the guy that welded it first time. Reason being i wouldnt want the whole lot falling down one day with me or my family walking under it.

could have gone for smaller rods and done multiple passes, as the smaller rods need less amps, you can get rods as small as 1.6mm, but you would have been there until the gales hit!

 

[Keith 66]

could have gone for smaller rods and done multiple passes, as the smaller rods need less amps, you can get rods as small as 1.6mm, but you would have been there until the gales hit!

I seem to remember they were 1.6's or 2mm's, but with the long distance from power point & voltage drop anything was going to struggle. The gate was re hung by a welder using a genny set on the back of his wagon, took him 10 minutes!

 

[tom2207]

an old engine driven set is always handy to have , but boys they have gotten to be dear ,,,, not sure about the new battery power sets ,, be nice if you had a use for one I guess

 

[finyuk2005]

Im sure inverter welders work better on a long extention..... but im also quite sure thats how i killed my first one!

 

[finyuk2005]

an old engine driven set is always handy to have , but boys they have gotten to be dear ,,,, not sure about the new battery power sets ,, be nice if you had a use for one I guess

that battery ones would be some handy for that kinda small jobs miles from power, maybe one day they will be affordable!!

 

[Bornfree]

an old engine driven set is always handy to have , but boys they have gotten to be dear ,,,, not sure about the new battery power sets ,, be nice if you had a use for one I guess

I've got a diesel 10kva generator that cost £500 and it will run my 250amp inverter stick and my 250amp mig. The only downside is that it weighs 250kgs

 

[finyuk2005]

I've got a diesel 10kva generator that cost £500 and it will run my 250amp inverter stick and my 250amp mig. The only downside is that it weighs 250kgs

and you have it to run your house when there is a power cut! more versatile!

 

[ash1356]

Thanks for all the comments everyone.

attached are the the re-worked welds

 

[angellonewolf]

who got the welder in builder ?

not that im any good welding but they look better in most places others will confim

 

[Memmeddu]

Hi all,

I’m new here and would really appreciate some urgent advice regarding a residential weld on my project.

Our builder, who has been good up to now - brought in a welder today to join two steel beams (one supporting the inner leaf and one supporting the outer leaf) onto another steel using a welded plate. I’ve attached some photos along with the structural engineer’s details for reference.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t home when the welder arrived; otherwise, I would have asked questions on the spot. Now that I’ve seen it, I’m concerned about the quality of the work and its structural integrity - although I’m not a welding expert, something doesn’t look right to me. The Acrow props are still in place.

My main concerns are:

• The welder hasn’t ground the primer at all. I’m worried about how well a fillet weld can bond through primer, and whether porosity could be an issue now that the paint has been burnt off instead of properly cleaned.
• Some welds appear to be “sitting on top” of the steel rather than blending into it, which makes me question the fusion.
• There’s a huge amount of spatter. It almost looks like someone practising, which doesn’t fill me with confidence about the welder’s competence.
• The structural engineer specified 6mm fillet welds, but what’s been done looks very inconsistent.

I’ve sent the photos to both Building Control and the structural engineer, but Building Control have been pretty unhelpful so far in the project and seem reluctant to take responsibility for anything.

Before I push this further, I’d really value the opinion of people who actually know what they’re looking at. Do I have legitimate cause for concern here?

Thanks in advance - any guidance would be hugely appreciated

I've not read the entire thread really so I can say something already said.
But it looks like stick welding using E7018 and till here you're fine cause it's actually a good process and the right welding electrode for the task.
Problem is that it looks it has the slag on still ...
Take a chipping hammer and remove it .
If it looks like a welded joint it will probably withstand a lot more than you think.
But again it's not a great job, I'd be concerned myself if in your position.
I weld structural things everyday at work but it's not just the paint, welds look cold in some spots.
We don't do a lot of cleaning but we champher everything, we run as hot as possible avoiding undercut if we go through to the other side the better, then we back grind and weld the other side.
In this specific scenario I would have mechanically detent the beams to the parts on wall prior welding

 

[8ob]

It would be fair to say that the first and the second welder have little to no experience in positional welding, that said there is probably enough of it to stop the whole lot landing on somebodies swede.

Bob

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

In the last pic it looks like the flat end plate is welded to the edge of the I beam flange?

I should state I know nothing about structural steel welding!