Bricklaying - one piece of advice?

[LineLefty]

I'm about to embark on my first ever attempt at bricklaying. It's simply two brick piers for a timber slat bench seat but still. Bricklaying holds a certain fear.

So if there was one piece of advice.....................what would it be?

One question though? Do I still need standard concrete foundations for such a small 8-10 brick structure?

[jackiew]

practice using mortar without cement first ... you can just add water to it and keep on reusing it until you feel confident using the real stuff. I've got the ratio of sand to lime at home somewhere for this.

and as the bricklaying teacher kept telling us ... you just have to learn how to lay one brick properly and then repeat it.

I found laying a line of bricks wasn't so hard. Laying another the line on top and keeping it vertical AND level to the line was somewhat more difficult. Going round the corner and keeping it vertical on both faces AND level to the line was even more difficult. Practise makes perfect.

[Wildman]

As far as I have discovered, laying bricks is easy, however as already mentioned, laying them even, straight and level is a fair bit tougher and laying them so the missus is happy with them based on the amount of cash saved by not hiring a professional is an entirely different story again.....

If you are laying onto any sort of concrete already, then 8-10 bricks is nothing, dont bother with footings. If laying onto dirt, then your decision to put down a concrete pad under each end is entirely up to how long you want it to last without cracking. It doesnt have to be much.

Cheers

Wildman

[TassieKiwi]

My 20c is to spend time really watching a brickie. My father in law was a brickie, and it's harder than it looks. If possible, have a go with them watching/assisting. They say mud sticks, but it won't to the bloody brick unless you hold you mouth right!

[ozwinner]

It always looks easy, 'cause it is.


Al :)

[Grunt]

Bricklaying holds a certain fear.

A certain brickie I know scares the crap out of me.

Isn't that right Al?

[jackiew]

found my notes from the course

practice mortar recipe - 5 parts bricklaying sand to 1 or 1.5 parts lime - because their is no cement although it goes off it doesn't set really really hard and you can knock it off the bricks you've laid .. add water and mix it up to the right consistency again and then start again.

[craigb]

found my notes from the course

practice mortar recipe - 5 parts bricklaying sand to 1 or 1.5 parts lime - because their is no cement although it goes off it doesn't set really really hard and you can knock it off the bricks you've laid .. .

I used to own an old terrace house in Erskineville which is an inner western suburb of Sydney. It was built in the 1880's (yes I know that makes it modern in UK terms :p ) and that was all that was holding the bricks together.

Portlamd cement? What's that? :D :D

[journeyman Mick]

One piece of advice pertaining to brick laying? Get a brickie to do it! :p (They're the only ones who can make it look easy, mainly because it is once you've laid your first thousand).

Mick (who has a brickie living next door-and a sparky on the other side :) )

[adrian]

You mentioned a possible need for foundations so I can assume you are putting it on a soft surface or lawn. You can answer your question yourself by building the piers without mortar and placing the bench on it. The weight of the bench with you sitting on it will hold the bricks in place so you will then get an idea of how stable it feels. Just make sure it won't tilt.
After spending a weekend building a dozen 4 foot high brick piers for a deck and worrying whether I had got the mortar mix right the building inspector told me that they would have virtually the same structural integrity without mortar given that there was going to be a tonne or two of timber holding them down and all the stress is vertical.

[LineLefty]

Thanks for the tips all. The piers are going to go in a pot where there is currently some nice flat brick brick paving, so I imaging the soil foundation underneath is pretty good.

I've had the following things suggested to me:

1) Just use a concrete slab as a foundation for a small pier.
2) Use the existing pavers as the foundation - just sink them by 200mm (I like this idea)
3) Use a mortared brick foundation
4) You must pour a concrete slab. (This will give me practice for the next project, the BBQ)

:confused:

[LineLefty]

Ok, it seems lke a long time ago, but the concrete is laid, the bricks are stacked and the tools bought. This saturday morning - it's crunch time.

Twas quite funny actually, going into bunnings in my shirt and tie and hoiking a 40kg bag of mortar on my shoulder. The tradies were looking at me like I was a soft office worker DIYer who wouldnt know a sharp sand from a soft sand.

I'll post pics when it's all done.

The foundations were an effort in themselves. I reckon I'm the only person to ever use a shooting board and a hand plane to build concrete formwork. How these guys get a smooth surface, devoid of any aggregate on their concrete is beyond me.

[journeyman Mick]

The foundations were an effort in themselves. I reckon I'm the only person to ever use a shooting board and a hand plane to build concrete formwork. How these guys get a smooth surface, devoid of any aggregate on their concrete is beyond me.

Lefty,
if you're referring to not seeing the aggregate and the voids between at the edge of the slab against the formwork, the secret is to vibrate it as this causes the concrete to flow and fill the voids. If you havent got access to one of those flexdrive vibrators then using a bit of steel rod and "rodding" it, that is repeatedly poking into the concrete next to the form work will help to flow it into most of the voids.

Mick

[Scooterscum]

I built my new office out of concrete blocks and thought I was doing just fine - until I watched a couple of blockies build a wall at work. It would have taken them 2 hours to lay what took me 2 weeks!!!
Any way, half way through laying my blocks (on advice from the blockies) I switched from the premix bag mortar to buying the ingredients and mixing myself. The mortar was now incredibly easier to work with (once you got the consistancy right!!) and doubled my laying rate (to about 4 blocks an hour :eek: !!)
Good luck
Regards Simon