Bricklaying 101: How To Build A Brick Wall - YouTube

Here in front of me is all the tools that are required for brick laying.

You can see I've got my trowel, my hammer, my levels.

I've got a shovel, I've got my trusty wheelbarrow, vinyl [SP], cement and sand.

So what we have to do first is set up our profiles.

We've got our measurement on the wall.

A builder supplied me with that measurement there, was 1650 back up the wall.

Now I'm using today just a bit of 9035 pine, and generally for brick laying we use 45 x

45 steel but these are fine.

Make sure they're straight and if they're straight then they're right to use because

that's what our brickwork's going to run off.

So what we need to is do as we stand that up, we need to have a packer sit behind the

profile, so that we can get our string lining behind.

And make sure that our line is visible further back here and then we're just going to clamp

this to the wall.

So I can see my line there, so now all I have to do is plum down.

Now, it is very important to make sure that the bubble is sitting dead center of the two

lines.

So that's bang in the middle so I'm happy with that.

Okay now what we're going to do is we're going to mark the gauge on this profile, which is

not really that important because we've got existing brickwork, but for the sake of the

exercise I'll show you what to do.

So, set the level, to get the level up the brickwork just simply mark underneath the

level.

Then we're going to take our gauge rod, which I've already marked off the existing brickwork.

Now what we're going to do is we're just going to hold that on that top level mark there

and then we're going to transfer the rest of these.

So it's the height of the brickwork.

So we've got our profile set up.

We'll duck our line in behind the profile.

And what we have to do for starters is we have to set up a level line.

So what I'm going to do is I'm going to set this with five courses above, one, two, three,

four, five.

And then I'm going to go over to our other wall here which is also completed.

And I'll need to count down five from the top, so one, two, three, four, five.

So the line needs to be nice and taught.

And if there is a sag in the line then your brickwork is not going to be level.

I've got my line set up.

So what I need to do to check that this concrete's level or close enough to level, is I'll put

my gauge right here and I can see on my gauge rod that I need to get up probably 20, 25

mil, which is not a big deal, I'll be able to do that easily enough.

So what I'm going to do is I'm going to lay this first brick with a larger bed than I'd

normally lay.

I'm just going to pop him down there.

I'm just using my eye for now for sight, but then I'll sit my gauge right on top and that

tells me that I've probably got half of it there, which I'm pretty happy with.

So I'm just going to get half to start with and then probably get the second half in the

next course.

So what I need to do now is just grab my level and I've just got to plum down to make sure

that's in the right spot.

That's essentially where I want to have it, so what I'm going to do now is I'm just going

to block this one down.

Just put a bit of mud on the back of the brick.

Just creates and angle so that the brick will sit forward and it will hold the line down

for me.

And you've got to be very gentle when you do this, because you can actually knock the

brick and then you'll lose where you're at.

Now I'm right to lay this first course.

This bed is a lot bigger than it would normally be, so I'm going to need a little bit of extra

mud on the bottom.

So you take up this much mud for buttering a brick and then just flick it back onto the

trowel 'til it settles, and then it stays onto the trowel nicely.

Just a good strike and push down, like you're buttering a piece of bread essentially.

So push that down, you want about that much on there.

And what that's going to do is enable us to get the front and the back and it'll have

something to adhere to.

So there you go, she's ready to go.

So this comes up.

We'll take him away.

And then what we'll need to do is just fill that in, continue on with our bond.

So what we're going to be left with here will be a three quarter, so the little notch there.

Now what I want to do is make sure I've got my glasses on because chips can fly up and

cause some problems if it hits you in the eye.

So nice and gentle as you're hitting it.

Cracks [inaudible 00:04:09] and there you go.

Now because I've had to lift up the line on those last two bricks I'll just check from

my level just on top, which it should be pretty good and it is.

Just checking through the front as well, that's no worries.

So now that we've laid our first course we need to go back to where we were before, so

that we our level line again.

So we're coming back up to here.

So we've got one, two, three, four, five again.

We'll go back to our other end and do the same, so we're sitting here.

One, two, three, four, five, level line.

So now that I'm laying this next dummy brick, I can actually lay this so that it's going

to be in bond when I set it in.

So, what I want to do is make sure that that pair up underneath is sitting in the middle

of this brick, which it just about is right now.

Now I'm just using my eye to eye down the faces, and I will check that but I'll do that

first, I'll check, so we're getting very close now.

So this isn't essential to do this in two courses or in three courses, because we've

got another five above the line, we've got six above this.

So if we grab two mil each course we'll have it by the top.

So you don't want to have a big messy bit at the bottom and then go from there.

Okay, so it's safe to go down again now.

And as you can see with the spreading here of the mortar I'm just laying it down.

I'm just picking up some excess stuff from the sides, so you get a nice little triangle

shape.

Then you just go straight through the middle and just feather through it.

So you get that nice pattern and what that does is it creates that air pocket in there,

so that it's nice and easy to lay a brick on it.

That's why it's called a bed, because that's the comfort that the brick gets when it sits

down on top.

So there you go.

So that's got us out of the ground.

We're now able to use our gauge at that end, which is right.

We're able to use our already established brickwork at this end.

So we're right to finish off our wall.

Five courses to go and we're done.

More often than not we lay half on brickwork, so it's one brick sitting on two bricks.

So all the way through it'll be sitting half on.

Okay last brick going in now, just as important as the first one.

There we go, all done.