How to put brick on a wall: Brick Accent Wall: Stunning DIY results Made Simple

• 4.1 Prices for popular concrete mixers
• 5 How to put bricks
  • 5.1 Laying for a tsolk

  5.2

  • 5.3 Laying bricks butt and pressed
  • 5. 4 Prices for cement and base mixtures
  • 5.5 Video – Bricklaying for beginners
  • 5.6 Video – Mistakes of beginner masons in bricklaying
• 6 How to cut and split bricks

Types of bricks

construction of various residential, public and commercial buildings.

Ordinary brick M100, M75

Made in the form of a parallelepiped, the faces of which have their own names.

1. The largest edge in terms of area, which is usually parallel to the base of the masonry, is called bed .
2. The long side face, second in area, is called spoons or spoon part .
3. The short side face, the smallest in area, is called poke or poke part of brick .

Edges of an ordinary brick: 1 – bed, 2 – spoon, 3 – poke

Bricks are classified according to the following parameters:

• material of manufacture;
• dimensions and shape;
• structure;
• scope.

Let’s take a look at them all. According to the material of manufacture, bricks can be of the following types.

1. Ceramic bricks , also known as red ones, are among the most common. They are made from high quality clay and with a low content of impurities. Ceramic brick blanks are formed, dried and then fired in a kiln at a temperature of +1000°C. The manufacturing process is quite long and laborious, therefore such building materials are relatively expensive. But at the same time, red brick is strong and durable.

   Facing ceramic brick

2. Clinker bricks – like ceramic bricks, they are made from good clay, but they are fired at a higher temperature of +1200°C. As a rule, it has a darker shade and the best indicators of strength and frost resistance among analogues. Also, of all bricks, clinker bricks have the lowest water absorption rates – from 1 to 6% of the total mass.

   Strong and durable clinker brick

3. Sand-lime bricks – made from a mixture of sand and a small amount of lime. Unlike ceramic, they are not fired, but pass through an autoclave, where the temperature is about + 200 ° C and high pressure. Cheap and very popular material for the construction of outbuildings. But at the same time, it is less durable than ceramic bricks, and more prone to moisture absorption.

   Sand-lime brick

4. Hyper-pressed brick is a building material made from a mixture of rock and a small amount of Portland cement, which are shaped and pressed under very high pressure.

   Hyper-pressed facing brick

5. Cob brick is usually homemade building material, which is clay blocks, where straw or its equivalent is used as a filler.

Production of adobe blocks

Types and purpose of bricks

The size of bricks is determined by state standards. In accordance with them, this building material has basic dimensions called the “normal format”, from which all other options are repelled.

Table. The main dimensions of the bricks.

Basic dimensions of bricks

Important! It is worth noting that in the construction of brickwork, incomplete parts of bricks are very often used. This is half, one quarter and three quarters. To create them, a pick, a circular saw, a grinder or a special machine are used.

As for the shape of the brick, in addition to the standard rectangular, there are many more options that are used for decorative purposes or creating structures of complex shapes. These blocks, called shaped, you can see in the image below.

Types of figured bricks

According to their structure, bricks are divided into solid and hollow. In the first version, the blocks do not have any specially made holes, pores and voids are obtained due to the peculiarities of the manufacturing technology. Solid bricks are used for the construction of load-bearing walls and other structures that are under significant load – they are stronger, but at the same time worse in their thermal insulation qualities.

Solid silicate and ceramic bricks

Hollow bricks have in their structure rectangular or round holes in the bed. Masonry made of such material, due to such voids filled with air, has better thermal insulation properties, but at the same time it is not so strong.

Hollow ceramic and sand-lime bricks

According to their area of ​​application, the material is divided into the following categories.

1. Construction , also known as regular brick, is used to build walls and partitions, which are subsequently finished with other materials. It often has an imperfect shape and appearance, but it is cheaper.
2. Facing , or face brick – can also be used for the construction of load-bearing walls, partitions, plinths and other structures, but at the same time it has a better appearance, because it can not be covered with another finish and still get a beautiful and pleasant for eye building.
3. Fireproof – used in the arrangement of furnaces, chimneys and other structures that may come into contact with sources of fire or high temperatures.
4. Decorative brick is used exclusively for exterior or interior facades. Often has a special texture or painting.

Firebrick

Ceramic block wall

Comparative cost of different bricks

Important! Separately, it is worth highlighting a used brick – this is the cheapest version of this building material, but its strength qualities and appearance are very far from ideal.

Used brick

Brick price

Brick

Types of bricklaying, bandaging and jointing

Without knowing the basic terms for masonry elements, it is not easy to understand the various instructions and correctly build brick walls. Therefore, we will get acquainted with the basic notation presented in the image below.

Brickwork elements

Versts – bricks laid on the front (facade) and inner (constituting the surface of residential premises) sides of the wall. Bricks lying between the inner and outer mile in a row are called backfill .

Depending on the appearance of the façade, the rows in the masonry can be bonded or stretched . In the first case, the bricks go to the front side of the wall with a poke. And, accordingly, if a spoon is visible on the facade, then such a row is called a spoon row.

Mortar joint between rows of brickwork is called horizontal . And if the mortar is between adjacent bricks in a row, then such a seam is called vertical . It can be either longitudinal, or transverse . In the first case, the vertical seam is located along the direction of the wall, in the second – across it. Their overlaps in rows of brickwork are called dressings .

Point load distribution on masonry without bonding

Building strong and durable buildings with this material is possible only if three basic rules are observed.

1. In masonry, compressive loads must be evenly distributed and bending loads minimized. To do this, the planes of all rows must be parallel to each other. As a result, uneven distribution of the load on one of the corners or one of the sides of the masonry is excluded.
2. Vertical joints located along and across relative to the direction of the brickwork must be located at an angle of 90 ° relative to the plane of the row and mutually perpendicular to each other.
3. To ensure even load distribution and avoid bending moments, each brick in the top row must be supported by at least two bricks in the bottom row.

The classification of brickwork according to wall thickness can be found below.

Various thicknesses of brickwork. Choose one of them, based on what kind of structure is being built, whether the wall should be load-bearing and how the situation is with the climate in the area

Important! Separately, it should be said that there is another type of masonry – a quarter of a brick. In this case, the plane of the rows does not pass along the bed of blocks, but along the spoon. The thickness of such masonry is 65 mm, strength and thermal insulation are low, therefore the scheme is suitable only for thin partitions inside the house.

Quarter Masonry

As mentioned above, to create a strong and secure masonry, its vertical joints must be covered. To solve this problem, various stacking schemes are used, called suture dressings . Each of them has a certain level of complexity, as well as its own advantages and disadvantages.

The most commonly used tie systems in construction are:

• single row also known as chain;
• multi-row ;
• and a subtype of multi-row – three-row dressing system.

Single-row suture dressing system

Principle single-row suture dressing is the alternation of spoon and bonder rows of brickwork through one. In this case, you still need to follow some rules.

1. The initial and final rows of masonry must be bonded.
2. Longitudinal vertical joints overlap by ½ brick.
3. Transverse vertical joints overlap by ¼ brick.

The single-row bonding system makes it possible to create very strong and reliable masonry with even load distribution and minimization of bending moments. But at the same time, this method of laying bricks is very laborious. In addition, the bricklayer needs to produce a large number of undersized blocks, which increases material consumption due to unnecessary quarters or rejects resulting from an unsuccessful split.

Brickwork laid in a single-row joint bonding system

Single-row joint bonding scheme for laying one and a half and two bricks

From the point of view of saving material and time, multi-row joint dressing system is preferable. In it, one tychkovy row alternates with 5-6 spoon rows. At the same time, there are specific features that must be observed.

1. As with single-row bonding, the beginning and end courses of the masonry must be bonded.
2. The next row of spoons must overlap the vertical cross joints of the previous row of the same type by ½ brick.
3. Vertical longitudinal seams in spoon rows are usually not tied.
4. The following rows of bonders in the masonry must overlap the vertical transverse joints of the previous row of rows by ¼ of a brick.

As mentioned above, such a system is more economical and simpler, but at the same time not so strong. As for the three-row dressing, this is a special case of multi-row dressing – when there are three spoon rows between two tychkovy rows.

Multi-row bonding of joints in one and a half bricks

Scheme of three-row bonding of joints

Comparison of single-row and multi-row bonding of joints for laying two bricks

It is worth noting that there are other systems for dressing joints in brickwork, each with its own advantages and disadvantages . The image, for example, shows a scheme called “Flemish”

In brickwork, not only wall thicknesses and block layouts differ, but also the types of mortar joints. Consider their main varieties.

1. Undercut – joint borders coincide with the wall plane. The result is an even and smooth brickwork.
2. Pustoshovka – the borders of the seam do not reach the plane of the walls, there are small gaps between the bricks. As a rule, this type is used if the masonry is to be plastered. In the process, the finishing material will enter these slots and, thus, it will adhere well to the wall.
3. Convex and concave semi-circular and double shear seams – in profile, the solution at the wall boundary has the form of a semicircle or triangle, which goes out or, conversely, goes beyond the plane of the masonry. Used for decorative purposes.

Types of grouting brickwork

Brick laying tools and equipment

Any construction work is impossible without the use of tools. Consider everything that you may need for proper bricklaying.

Mason’s trowel is a triangular metal trowel with a curved handle. The most important tool for laying bricks, it is necessary to apply mortar to a wall or a separate block, to mix it or cut off excess.

Bricklayer’s Trowel

Pickaxe Hammer – Used to break bricks into halves and quarters. The sharp side is used for small or normal-sized blocks, the blunt side is used for those that are larger. Instead of a pickaxe, you can also use a circular saw or grinder.

Pickhammer

Jointing trowel – used for jointing in masonry and giving them the desired shape.

Jointing trowel

Nylon cord for arranging a dock, which controls the correct position of a new row of bricks.

Cord-mooring

Ordering – a metal corner fixed on the corners of the house with clamps-clamps. It contains holes or other fasteners that allow you to quickly move the mooring cord exactly to the height of one row of brickwork (taking into account the thickness of the seam). The use of ordering significantly speeds up and facilitates the work of a bricklayer.

Sequence application

Spade for mixing cement mortar. Also, for its preparation and carrying to the point of laying bricks, you will need buckets, a trough and other containers. When working with a large amount of mortar, it makes sense to buy or rent a concrete mixer.

Shovel

To check the position of the corners you need carpenter’s square . You will also need a tape measure to measure distances and lengths. And for marking – a pencil.

Carpenter’s square

In the work of a bricklayer, it is important to control how even one of the bricks or a whole row lies horizontally and vertically. For these purposes, use building and water levels .

Building level

Prices for building levels

Building levels

Water level

scaffolding or scaffolding must be used to lay the top rows of bricks . It is better to transport building materials using a wheelbarrow.

Bricklayer’s scaffolding

Prices for scaffolding

Scaffolding

Also during construction it is better to wear separate working clothes and use protective equipment – goggles and gloves .

Important! Separately, it should be said about the templates for the bricklayer. These are simple plastic devices that allow even an inexperienced person to apply perfectly even layers of mortar on the bed and vertical surfaces of bricks.

Mason’s Templates

Mixing Mortar for Masonry

You will need cement mortar to join bricks into a solid and strong wall. And in this section of the article you will learn how to cook it.

Step 1. Prepare all the necessary components – cement grade M400, good sand, a small amount of water and a plasticizer. The latter is necessary to create an elastic, high-quality mixture that will lay down on the brick without any problems and smooth out. As a plasticizer, use either specially formulated additives or a regular detergent.

Preparing everything you need

Step 2. Turn on the concrete mixer, pour three-quarters of a bucket of water into it, then add 30-50 ml of detergent. Wait until the mixture of two liquids mixes well and foams.

Adding detergent

Step 3. Add two buckets of sand. Also wait until all the components in the concrete mixer turn into a mixture.

Sand is added

Step 4. Once the sand and liquid are mixed, add two more buckets of sand. Repeat the same steps as in the previous operation.

Sand is poured a second time

Step 5. Add one bucket of M400 dry cement to the concrete mixer. Rotate the bulb slightly down, about 5-10°.

Pear turns down slightly

Step 6. Stir the ingredients evenly until the mixture is slightly damp. After that, gradually add water to the concrete mixer. Do not overdo it with water, otherwise you will have to add dry ingredients and plasticizer again, while it will be difficult to maintain the correct proportions.

The mortar is almost ready

Water is added to the concrete mixer

Step 7. As soon as the mixture is completely mixed and begins to peel off the walls of the concrete mixer, pour it into a previously prepared trough or any other container of a suitable volume.

Mortar is poured into a trough

Step 8. Stir the resulting mixture with a shovel, check if it is elastic and if its consistency is suitable for use in brickwork.

The mixture is stirred with a shovel

Step 9. After preparing the mixture for bonding bricks, do not forget to clean the stopped concrete mixer from the remains of the solution.

At the end you will need to clean the switched off concrete mixer

Prices for popular models of concrete mixers

Concrete mixers

How to lay bricks – step by step instructions

Now let’s start describing how to lay bricks correctly. For this, several step-by-step instructions have been created, each of which is placed in a separate subsection.

Important! Before starting construction, it is advisable to “practice” to perform brickwork and its individual elements, such as corners and pillars. This will give you basic bricklayer skills and save you some mistakes in the process of building your own house, barn, garage or any other building.

Dry laying on the plinth

Work begins with laying the first row of dry bricks. It is necessary to calculate how many blocks will be needed in this case, and for a rough idea of ​​\u200b\u200bhow to make the correct masonry.

Step 1. Unpack the bricks and check the specimens from different pallets. Due to some features of the raw materials and the technological process, they may differ from each other in shade or size. Identify these features in advance. When laying walls and other structures, it is advisable to use bricks from one batch, one shade.

Checking the unpacked bricks

Step 2. Spread and fix roofing material on the plinth or foundation – it is necessary for waterproofing. Without it, the brick will “draw in” water, which will not affect its durability in the best way. Then lay out the first row of blocks without mortar and careful fitting. Prepare a pin or a piece of reinforcement with a diameter of 8 mm – it corresponds to the thickness of the mortar layer between the bricks.

Laying the first row of bricks on top of the roofing material

Step 3. Now lay the bricks on the edge of the plinth, carefully leveling them and maintaining the desired gap using a pin of the appropriate diameter. In this way, a dry layout is made around the entire perimeter of the building being erected – pay special attention to the corners.

Second Row Laying

Use a pin to maintain clearance

Step 4. Measure the length from one corner to the other, record the results. Also take measurements diagonally – is everything correct, are the project numbers observed.

Measurements in progress

Step 5. At the corners, mark the plinth with a pencil where the edges of the bricks will be. If desired, and if there is time, the same marks can be placed along the entire length of the walls – this will require additional forces from you now, but at the same time it will greatly facilitate work in the future.

Pencil marking

Laying the first row

One of the most important steps in laying bricks is the first row. The quality of the subsequent masonry and the entire structure as a whole depends on how correctly it will be laid out. Keep this in mind and do this job with as much care as possible.

Step 1. Following the marks made during the dry laying stage, lay the first bricks on the corners of the plinth. In this case, a reinforcing wire mesh was laid over the roofing material.

The first brick is laid

Step 2. After placing the corner bricks of one of the walls on the mortar, carefully adjust them in height with the handle of a trowel or with very light and careful blows of the blunt part of the pickaxe hammer. In this case, be sure to use both the water level and the building level – you need to make sure that the blocks on the two edges of the walls are located at the same height.

Corner Brick Fitting Process

Step 3. Lay the first row bricks in the same way at all corners of the future building.

Laying the second corner brick

Step 4. Stretch a mooring thread between the corner bricks, along which all other blocks of the first row will be aligned horizontally and vertically. The cord is fixed either with the help of corners (as in the photo below), or in order. Please note that the mooring thread should not sag and that when laying it, it is undesirable to “push” it towards one of the faces of the brick.

Pulling on the mooring line

Step 5. Start laying the other bricks of the first row. Lay the mortar on the plinth with a trowel, level it to a height of about 1.5 cm, lay the brick, align it horizontally and vertically using a mooring thread. If this is your first time working as a bricklayer, check with the building level. In this case, it is allowed to adjust the brick with light taps with the trowel handle or the blunt end of a pickaxe. After that, the thickness of the horizontal seam should be approximately 8-10 mm, and the vertical – 8 mm. Remove excess solution with a trowel.

The second brick of the first row is laid

Step 6. Follow the same principles as above, lay all the bricks of the first row.

Laying the first row of bricks

Step 7. After laying the last brick in the first row, check again if the height of all blocks is the same, if there is any protrusion forward or backward relative to the plinth. If everything is in order, proceed to laying out the corners of the second row, moving the pier and further construction work.

You can start laying the corners of the second row

Laying bricks back and forth

After laying the first row, it is necessary to start creating subsequent layers of brickwork. In this case, actions are performed according to a similar algorithm – corners are created, a thread is pulled, blocks are laid. In this subsection, we will focus on the last operation. There are two main techniques for laying bricks – sticking and pressing. Let’s look at both in turn. Let’s start with laying bricks using the butt method.

Step 1. Pull the mooring threads along the upper edges of the row to be laid out. It is advisable to do this both from the outside and from the inside. Then pour the cement mortar onto the bed of the previous row of bricks.

Top ribs tensioned

Step 2. Use a trowel to spread the mortar over the surface of the previous course of brickwork. Its thickness should be slightly larger than the thickness of the horizontal seam you are planning. Also make sure that the mortar completely fills the vertical longitudinal and transverse joints on the previous row of brickwork.

The mortar is smeared on the surface of the previous course of brickwork

Step 3. Take the brick, tilt it down a little with a spoon or poke (depending on how you need to put it) and, after immersing it in the mortar, move it so that on the inclined face was covered with a layer of the mixture. As a result, you get both horizontal and vertical seams at the same time.

Laying bricks

Another photo of the process0005

In the illustration you can see how the laying of the bricks is done, both for stretching and bonding.

Step 4. Follow the same principle for laying the rest of the bricks. If they deviate in height from the border set by the mooring thread, adjust them with light taps with a trowel or hammer. Cut off the excess mortar from the outside with a trowel, partially fill the vertical seams where the mixture is not enough.

Other brick laying

Now let’s look at the laying of bricks.

Step 1. As in the previous instructions, stretch the mooring thread along the upper edges of the row, and lay out and level the mortar on the bed of the underlying layer of bricks.

Laying the brick down

Step 2. Then turn the trowel on its side and gently rake a portion of it over the mortar to the vertical edge of the brick next to which you are going to lay the new one. As a result, you should get an even side seam.

Part of the mortar is raked up to the vertical edge of the brick

Step 3. Holding the mortar on the vertical edge with a trowel, lay the brick in the right place and press it to the bed of the previous row and to the spoon (or poke, depending on the type of masonry) of the adjacent block. Carefully pull out the trowel.

Place the brick in the right place

Step 4. Lay the next brick in the same way. Adjust them in height with light strokes with the trowel handle, if necessary.

Laying the next brick

Adjusting the height of the brick

Step 5. Cut off excess mortar from the horizontal and vertical joints with one stroke of the trowel. The mixture can be sent to a bucket to its main part or laid out on top (in the case when the joint of pokes or spoons of two bricks is not sufficiently filled with mortar).

Removal of excess mortar

The diagram shows the principles of laying bricks in a push-down position with a spoon and a tie laying

Step 6. Repeating the previous steps, place all the other bricks in the row.

The remaining bricks

The prices for cement and the basics of mixtures

Cement and the basics of mixtures

Video – brick masonry for novice masonry

Facing brick laying.

If you don’t have the skill, when laying facing bricks, you can use the traditional methods of laying ordinary building bricks and get normal results. The facing brick has almost no differences from the usual. They have a more aesthetic appearance and a different purpose.

When making a calculation to determine the required number of bricks, be sure to add 10% of the total to the figure obtained in order to have a supply of bricks, since approximately that many bricks can crack during the laying of a brick wall.

To ensure the greatest adhesion between mortar and bricks, it is necessary to moisten them before laying the bricks, lowering them into a container with water.

In order to learn how to properly lay out brick walls, you need to be patient and not rush. Due to the fact that the masonry mortar does not dry out immediately, if the need arises, it is possible to correct the shortcomings.

How to lay a brick? Learning to make brickwork

Brick has been a well-known building material since ancient times. It is an artificial universal and unified building stone from which anything can be built. Until today, it is one of the most popular building materials. It is rare that a summer resident does not use brick in the construction or improvement of his site, so it is worth talking about some of its features.

Mortar for masonry

For bricklaying, ordinary cement-sand mortar is used, based on one part of cement, 4-6 parts of sand. The solution helps to strengthen the brickwork and glues the bricks together. By itself, the solution is quite thin, withstands the load of compression and displacement. For greater plasticity, lime or clay is sometimes added to it, and washing powder can also be used. This increases the fluidity of the solution. But such a solution cannot be used for hollow bricks, since the solution flows into the cracks, as a result of which the thermal insulation properties of the brick deteriorate.

To prepare the mortar, dry cement is usually mixed with sand and then diluted with water. It is not recommended to mix the solution more than 50 liters, because it is consumed little by little. It is better to take a little dry solution and dilute it with water. If you are going to make a large amount of masonry, and it is carried out by several builders, then it is best to use a concrete mixer to hammer the mortar.

Bricklaying tools

1. Trowel. With its help, the mortar is applied to the brick, the one squeezed out during fitting is selected, and the back of the handle adjusts the brick being laid.

2. Pick-hammer. It is used for splitting and hemming bricks. Now more and more often they began to use a grinder with a disk for working on stone for these purposes. With its help, you can cut or cut a brick very accurately.

3. Auxiliary tools. These include a building level, plumb line, strong cord and other tools as needed.

How to lay bricks correctly?

The most common bricklaying problems for beginner bricklayers are getting a right vertical angle and laying a straight line of bricks on the same level.

For successful laying, the main factor is the even laying of the very first row. To do this, use a long rule or a stretched cord. The brick should not reach 2-3 mm to the guide so that the mortar does not press on it. Each brick is checked by a level for horizontality, as well as in pairs with a neighboring brick. This is done in each row with all bricks. For front masonry, such a check is simply necessary.

Types of joints in masonry

There are several types of joints, differing in the way they are made (from top to bottom, right to left).

Wasteland. In this way, the mortar is placed so that it does not protrude beyond the outer edge of the brick, and a gap remains, which is used for further plastering of the wall. With this method of laying, the plaster mortar flows into the gaps between the bricks and holds well.

Undercut With this method of laying, the mortar completely fills the gaps between the bricks flush, and is level with the brick. This type of masonry is used in the construction of chimneys and chimneys to create a smooth surface inside so that soot does not accumulate on it. Very rarely, this type of seam is used as a decorative one.

Convex (concave) seam is purely decorative. To make a concave seam, a small piece of a round tube is usually used, and for a convex seam in the tube, a part of the surface is cut off on one side.

Corner laying

If you have ever watched a professional bricklayer work, you must have noticed that he always draws the corners first, and they are much higher than the middle parts of the walls. This is done in order to obtain benchmark beacons, through which a mooring cord is pulled to indicate the masonry line and its height. To avoid sagging of the cord, it is pulled quite tight and from time to time shifted with beacon bricks for support.

Rectangular corners are formed using the so-called ordering. It is a flat metal square. Sometimes marks are placed on it according to the level of brick laying. The first few bricks are placed in a corner with the help of a rule, and then an order is established, which is fastened with a pair of clamps. A vertical position is given to it with the help of a level or a plumb line, and the mooring cord is drawn along the marks in order.

Professional builders do not like to use order in their work, guided by the belief that order is the lot of dummies, and they, they say, are cool pros and can draw an even corner without outside help. We do not need these show-offs, because we are only learning to lay bricks evenly.

If the length of the wall does not exceed 3 meters, you can use not a mooring cord, but an aluminum corner or profile, which does not bend at all and can easily ensure the horizontal and straight laying.

Secrets of bricklaying

Every 5-6 rows you need to lay a reinforcing mesh, and remember to bind the bricks (the seams in adjacent rows should not coincide).

After going through a period of training, constructing simple buildings, such as posts, retaining walls, steps, anyone in the future will be able to lay out with their own hands, for example, a brick barbecue or even a summer kitchen in their summer cottage.

It is best in this case to use a face brick with a smooth side or a special chocolate brick, which is smaller than usual and very decorative. Or vice versa, a rough brick, similar to natural stone.

Before doing any construction, it is necessary to make an orderly plan, that is, to draw on paper all the layers of bricks in order to avoid unnecessary expenses, since bricks are not exactly a cheap material. The brick size is 250x120x65 mm. When making the calculation, you need to throw 10% in excess of the required amount, in case of a battle.

Having made all the calculations and having bought the right amount of material, you need to make a dry laying of the structure, without mortar, in order to identify all possible flaws. If everything is in order, and no errors were revealed in the project, you can proceed to the direct laying of bricks on the mortar.

Brick must be soaked before laying by dipping it in a bucket of water so that the mortar adheres well to it.

The most important thing is not to rush. Immediately lay the brick without mortar, see how it lays down, if everything is in order, apply the mortar and lay by tapping on the top of the brick with a trowel handle or mallet until the brick is in the desired position in the masonry. Remove excess solution with a trowel back into the bucket. You can take your time with cement mortar, this is not Moment glue that dries in one second, here you have a lot of time to play with laying, turn the brick in the right direction, remove and reapply the mortar until it turns out the way it should be Ideally. When you have the skill, and you learn how to draw the right amount of mortar on the trowel the first time, and immediately install the brick in the right place, only then the work will go much faster.

I would like to hope that thanks to this article you will learn how to lay bricks yourself, and at your summer cottage you will be able to please your family and friends, as well as friends with the work of your own work in the form of a stove or even a summer kitchen, or a garage.

Corner brickwork. Video

Brick. Brickwork from the “teapot”. How to learn to lay bricks and build brick walls.

The purpose of this article is not to reveal some secrets of brickwork (I don’t know them myself), and what secrets are there, humanity has been messing with bricks for 5-6 thousand years. And just to show and prove to those who doubt themselves and do not dare to start working with bricks, that it is not the gods who burn the pots and not the gods who lay the brick. And my experience, perhaps someone will cheer up and encourage them to independent brickwork.

A little background. I myself laid the brick 2 times in my life, as a student in the construction team, and then I laid it – it’s loud. Rather, he butiled the wall with a brick … He filled the space. And the house (one’s own) is a serious matter, here you want everything in the mind and with high quality. Therefore, I agreed last fall with a local bricklayer that in the spring he would lay out a wall for me. Spring has come – he has already signed up for another. Dynamyl-dynamyl, promised a month – never showed up. He began to hire others… And it’s not spring anymore, but summer, the height of the construction season. And the most crooked masons announce such prices that sparks from their eyes. And even then – “if there is time . ..”. He spat on everyone, and decided to lay the wall himself. The parameters are as follows: In 1 brick, length 15 meters, height partly 3 meters, partly 2.5. Brick was present (purchased back in the fall), cement, a concrete mixer and all that …

I read the theory. In principle, nothing complicated, the main thing is accuracy and skill. There is nowhere to hurry, all the deadlines and plans have fallen sideways anyway. Stock up on the appropriate tool, the main of which is a trowel (trowel) and a mason’s hammer (to beat a brick in the right place). Well, there are all sorts of roulette levels, etc. The task was greatly facilitated by the fact that the house is planned to be plastered. Therefore, all sorts of non-horizontality and ugliness did not bother much, plaster will hide everything. The main thing is that it should be straight, in one plane, without a “belly” and “bubbles”, and as strong and reliable as possible.

I decided to make the composition of the masonry mortar as follows: 4-4. 5 buckets of sand (sifted), 1 bucket of M-500 cement, ½ bucket of Fliesenkleber glue from Knauf, a little liquid soap for the plasticity of the solution (50 ml). Glue does not increase the price of the solution much, but it greatly improves the quality. Looking ahead, I will say that the solution turned out – a feast for the eyes. It sticks to a brick like a magnetic, do not clean it off. And after hardening – stronger than the brick itself.

Well, I started …

First of all, in order not to run after each brick to the stack, I smashed the bricks along the wall, creating such mini-stocks of bricks. On the concrete slab of the foundation, I spread a reinforcing mesh 25 cm wide (this is just the length of one brick) in order to immediately connect the brick wall with the foundation. My waterproofing was laid between the floor slab and the strip foundation, so in this case I considered it unnecessary. In addition, Fliesenkleber glue creates a waterproofing layer, and for me, each layer of mortar between rows of bricks is a kind of waterproofing.

The second number of the program was the laying of the so-called. “versts”. Those. a row of bricks laid dry, without mortar. Versta solves a lot of problems. The entire brick of the row is laid out in it, and there is no need to be distracted by its delivery, it sets the direction and it becomes clear from it what and how, how many bricks are required for the row, how to dress, etc. A mooring cord is pulled along the extreme bricks of the verst, ensuring the straightness of the wall and orders and corner guides are installed. Therefore, it would be fair to apply the saying “measure 7 times – cut 1 time” to a verst. In this case – measure 27 times, estimate – lay a brick once. After all, then it will be impossible to fix it, except by dismantling the wall. And you need to check all the lengths and widths, the squareness of the corners, and so on. The very first (lowest) row of bricks in the wall is the head of everything. Haste is inappropriate here under any circumstances.

Having laid out a mile and measured and measured everything that is possible, we proceed to the actual brickwork. There are many masonry techniques and I will not focus on them. I will only say that there are 2 main ones. The first one is “in the clamp”. This is when the solution is first laid out on the base, and then the brick is laid, as if sinking it into the solution, while pressing it with a poke (end) and raking the solution to another brick. The second technique is when the mortar is applied to the brick to be laid and then placed in its place. It is advisable to thoroughly moisten the brick before laying, so that it does not draw moisture from the solution. Correctly dip it in a bucket of water for half an hour – an hour. But it’s tedious and long. I just watered it abundantly from a watering can.

I used a mixed method of laying bricks. The solution that is under the brick, I applied to the base where the brick will be laid. But on the end I applied the solution with a trowel. The mortar adheres perfectly to the brick, even if it is turned down. Therefore, it did not present any difficulty.

Particular attention should be paid to the so-called ligation of sutures. Its meaning is that no seam between bricks in one row should coincide with a seam between bricks in an adjacent row. It is not difficult to perform such a dressing with linear masonry (in the wall), it is enough to lay 1/3 of a brick or 2/3, sometimes a half, at the beginning of the row instead of a whole brick, to create the necessary shift of the bricks and the seams between them no longer match.

And in order to tie parallel rows of bricks together, every fifth row should be made not with a spoon (when the brick is laid along the wall with its length), but with a bond, when the brick is laid across the wall. At the same time, it is also useful to provide a shift in the width of the brick so that no seams between the bricks coincide in the upper and lower rows.

A certain difficulty is the dressing of the seams at the corners of the wall, if it turns 90 degrees. Since the corners are the starting point for laying each row, one intuitively wants to use whole bricks. And at the same time, the coincidence of adjacent seams inevitably begins. And this greatly weakens the masonry.

To prevent this from happening, it is important to work out several options for laying bricks at the corners and choose those where the seams do not match with each other. The use of parts of bricks with a length that is not a multiple of the length or width (1/3 and 3/3), and not halves, largely solves this problem.

Another important technique for creating a very strong brick wall is the periodic laying of reinforcing masonry mesh. On every forum about construction, you can find messages “Help! Crack in a brick wall! What to do?!” The causes and treatment of these problems are not the subject of this article. Although in almost all cases, a disgusting foundation and poor masonry are to blame. But in order to prevent this (although in my case it is extremely unlikely – the foundation under the brick wall is a monolithic foundation of 2.2 meters, on which the reinforced concrete floor slab lies), I laid the reinforcing mesh every five rows.

In fact, the scheme turned out like this. Two spoon rows – a row of rows – two rows of spoons – a grid – two rows of spoons – a row of rows … and so on. I may have been very safe, but in the construction of my house it is better to overdo it than underdo it.

At the corners, the first rows of bricks are laid using a spirit level to ensure they are vertical. But from about 4-5 rows it is already possible to install a corner. It can be pressed against the corner with other bricks, boards, fastened with a cord to the reinforcement bars protruding from the wall. Using a corner makes the job much easier. Constant checking of verticality is not required, but it is enough to move the brick into the corner. The main thing is that the corner is even.

After about the second thousand bricks, some kind of skill comes. Work goes 2-3 times faster than at the beginning. If at the beginning I barely had time to deal with one batch of mortar in a day, then by the middle of the wall I already made 2 of them and at the same time there was time to prepare for the next day (pulling bricks, preparing the grid, etc. ).

As I wrote earlier, I was not very worried about the horizontality of the rows, since the wall would go under plastering. But since it is planned to lay the beams of interfloor floors on this wall, it is important to ensure the strict horizontality of the upper part of the wall. To ensure this, it was decided to make a concrete screed on top of the brick wall. Its thickness is no more than the thickness of one brick (otherwise it’s easier to just lay a brick).

For the screed device, a simple formwork is equipped from a pair of boards 150 mm wide. They are installed strictly horizontally. Fastening with metal threaded studs. They pull together both boards. In cross section, the letter “H” is obtained, where the vertical sticks are boards, and the horizontal one is a hairpin. So that the hairpin is not concreted into the screed, a piece of plastic cable channel is put on it.

In order for the screed to also play the role of a reinforced power belt that tightens the brick, a reinforcing mesh is laid along the wall along the entire length of the wall. Concrete was used ordinary, with the use of crushed stone. Since the wall belongs to unheated rooms, the thermal conductivity of the materials is not of great importance.

Konstantin Timoshenko

How to lay a brick with your own hands?

If you decide to do bricklaying with your own hands, then in order to extend its service life, you need to take care not only of selecting high-quality building material, but also take into account such features as its humidity, mortar plasticity, season and other characteristics.

Contents

• 1 Brickwork sequence
• 2 Mortar preparation and instrument preparation
  • 2.1 How to make corners?
  • 2.2 How to build walls?
  • 2.3 How to form seams?

Sequence of bricklaying

When faced with the need to lay a brick wall for the first time, in addition to preparing the tool and masonry mortar, you need to understand the sequence in which the material is laid. Let’s take a closer look at how to learn how to lay a brick. First of all, you need to understand that not only the appearance of the structure, but also the duration of its operation will depend on the quality of the masonry. Masonry in most cases is carried out in rows and layers, and a cement-sand mortar is used to fasten the material.

Before laying the brick, it is necessary to carry out preparatory work, the material should be spread along each of the walls of the building being erected. It is also recommended to pre-moisten it with water. This is done to better bond the solution with the material. Regardless of what building material is used, the first row begins to be laid on a previously prepared surface. First, the foundation is leveled with a building mixture and waterproofing is done. Today, a lot of modern waterproofing materials are offered, but the most common is roofing material.

Preparation of the mortar and preparation of tools

Bricklaying must begin with the preparation of the mortar, which must bind the material. In this case, a cement-sand mortar is required, which is prepared in a ratio of 1:5 or 1:4, depending on the brand of cement. If the solution turned out to be quite viscous, another component is added – clay, which will give fluidity. In extreme cases, you can add washing powder. It is important to remember that when laying hollow building material, such a solution should not be used, since thermal insulation will deteriorate when all voids are filled. Use mortar for hollow bricks.

To prepare the working mixture, the sand is sifted through a sieve. This procedure is necessary in order to remove debris, stones, pieces of soil. First, the components are mixed together, and then water is gradually added in such an amount that the solution is of the desired consistency. If you plan to do the masonry with your own hands, you do not immediately need to knead a large amount of masonry mixture. By making the solution in small batches, you can avoid premature solidification. If the construction is planned for a long time, then it is better to get a concrete mixer, which will not only speed up the process, but also facilitate it.

Bricklaying is done with a trowel, with which the mortar is applied to the material, leveled with a handle and excess masonry mixture is selected. The trowel is the main tool in the process under consideration. In order to lay the brick yourself, you will need an angle grinder (grinder) with a stone disc. If there is no such tool, you can use a hammer with a sharpened striker: having adapted, they can also crack bricks evenly. The accuracy of the masonry is checked using a level and a plumb line.

How to build corners?

The process starts from the corners. The straightness of the walls and, in general, the stability of the future building depend on how correct the bricklaying will be done in the corners. The main condition for this stage is to tie the brickwork of two adjacent walls, the connection of which is performed at right angles. Particular attention should be paid to the device of strictly vertical corners, for which a plumb line is used. Bricks are laid out one by one. If the vertical is not maintained, then the corner will turn out to be “littered” to one of the sides. In the case of large loads, there is a possibility of destruction of the wall. First, the bricks are laid in the corners, then the walls are erected. This technology is due to the fact that for the construction of even walls, the corners are first raised, then the cord or fishing line is pulled. These devices allow you to perform even laying of the corresponding row.

To start, take and lay two bricks at right angles into the corner and press them against the masonry mixture. The seam between them is filled with mortar. In each of the sides of the corner, which are already the beginning of the wall, several masonry materials are laid. Immediately, with the help of a level, they check how the laid out brick is correctly positioned horizontally. In accordance with the order, the second, third and subsequent rows are laid.

Making corners and laying bricks with your own hands is done in the following sequence:

1. Two corners are erected alternately.
2. Lay 2-3 rows of building material.
3. The third corner is being erected.
4. By means of 2-3 rows, a connection is made with the second corner.
5. Place the fourth corner.
6. Building material is laid from it to the first and third corners. This is how the wall is built.

By arranging the corners, a step is created that allows the brickwork to be bonded as firmly as possible between walls and corners. In addition, reinforcing mesh in the corners can be used for strength. Particular attention should be paid to the presence of a right angle. Check it with a square, while the bricks should be in close contact with the tool.

How to build walls?

The first row is laid directly on the waterproofing, without worrying that the laid material will not be connected to the foundation through the mortar.
The brick construction is heavy, as a result of which the walls will stand securely even on the waterproofing layer. In order for the horizontal laying of the walls to be of high quality, a fishing line is used, which is pulled between adjacent corners for a specific row. Laying in a vertical plane is controlled by a plumb line. It is necessary to make it a rule that the construction of walls is carried out with the obligatory dressing of the material. In this case, each brick is shifted by half: in the first row, the masonry material must be laid whole, and in the second, halves of two bricks are located on it. If the first row was laid out with a poke, then the next 5 rows are performed with a spoon side.

When building walls, it is necessary to provide openings for windows and doors. To do this, a quarter (recess) should be made in the wall, i.e. the inner part of the masonry is shifted by ¼ of the building material. Doors and windows are later inserted into the resulting recess. Close attention should be paid to the bricks above the openings: under them you need to build a reliable support. In most cases, the embedded element is a metal corner or a concrete beam (puff). How to lay a brick over the openings? Laying is carried out in the same way as the main laying of walls.

How to form seams?

Before laying a brick wall, you need to familiarize yourself with such an important point as the thickness of the seam. For horizontal seams, this figure should be 10-15 mm, for vertical 8-12 mm. When laying the material in the corners, it must be laid in such a way that the vertical seams do not coincide.

There are several types of seams:

• “waste”;
• concave;
• convex;
• “undercut”.

When laying bricks are to be plastered, a “waste slab” is used. In this case, the solution is not brought to the outside of the building material, a small gap is formed. How to make decorative masonry? In this case, resort to concave and convex seams. To create them, use a tube or a wooden stick made of hardwood. A concave seam is obtained by passing a tube along the seam, as a result of which excess solution is squeezed out. To get a convex seam, the tube must be cut in half, installed on the mortar and removed. The scope of the “undercut” seam is the laying of a chimney or chimney. Not only the seams are filled with mortar, but also the front side of the brick is covered. From the inside we get a smooth pipe: a good option, excluding the accumulation of soot.

If for the first time you are faced with the question of how to lay brickwork, you should not rush: carefully calculate the number of planned rows and the amount of building material in them. In order to be distracted as little as possible during the work, draw up a plan and a scheme in advance according to which the bricklaying will be carried out, also prepare the tools and necessary materials. As a recommendation: try laying the brick without mortar first, it will be a kind of training. When there is an understanding of the correct masonry, you can begin the process using the solution. Although very rare, sometimes you can see when a girl lays bricks. There are women who set themselves the goal of building a house on their own, and for some it even works out. Therefore, if you are new to construction, it is never too late to learn this business, because a house built with your own hands will always be warmer and more comfortable.

Do-it-yourself brickwork of external and internal walls

Despite the apparent simplicity of building walls, do-it-yourself brickwork is quite difficult – it requires not only a huge amount of theoretical knowledge, but also solid practice. Without this knowledge and skills, laying a brick with high quality and making the walls of the house strong and reliable will not work. If the theory can be studied, which we will now do together with the stroisovety. org website, then the practical side of this matter will have to be mastered on our own and fill our own bumps.

Any work, including laying brick walls, can be divided into certain stages – it is easier to assimilate information and move on to practical actions.

Do-it-yourself brickwork – where to start

Many will answer that brickwork begins from the first row. In some ways, they are right, but in fact, the foundation of everything is the waterproofing of the base of the walls – roofing material is laid on the foundation. This is done in order to isolate the brick from the effects of ground moisture – without this, it will absorb water and collapse during frosts. The first row of brickwork is laid on top of the waterproofing, and you should not worry that the walls of the house will not be tightly tied to the foundation. Massive brick walls will already stand firmly and reliably.

Brickwork of external walls, as a rule, starts from the corner – the first row is laid with a poke (across the foundation). If walls of greater thickness are needed, then another brick is added, laid along the foundation from the inside.

Do-it-yourself brickwork photo

A very important point is to lay the first row of bricks correctly, observing the horizontal and vertical levels. For such an operation, the rack level familiar to everyone is not suitable – the technology of masonry walls involves the use of a plumb line and a thread stretched to the level. It is with respect to the latter that the first and all subsequent rows fit.

First, a brick is placed in one corner, then without mortar in the other, and between them a thread is pulled along the upper edge, at the touch of which all the other bricks are placed. All walls are erected in exactly the same way, only a plumb line is added to the stretched thread to control verticality.

Bricklaying technology for walls

Bonding of bricks

Proper bonding of individual bricks is of no small importance when creating brickwork for load-bearing walls. The purpose of this procedure is to make all the walls of the house a single and solid structure. It is for this purpose that each stacked brick is shifted by half, and each individual row is placed in a mirror image. If you laid the first row with a poke, then the next five rows must be laid along the foundation – every sixth row of masonry is laid with a poke.

Bandaging of corners is a separate story – this is a complicated operation, but its principle is exactly the same as when laying straight sections of walls. It is necessary to lay brick at the corners so that not a single seam coincides vertically – it is for this reason that all brickwork begins from the corners of the building. And once again I want to remind you that each row of bricks, and especially the corners, must be constantly monitored by a plumb line.

Do-it-yourself brickwork of external walls

Window and door openings in a brick wall

Any window or doorway significantly violates the integrity of the walls of the building – therefore, special requirements are put forward for their formation. There are few of them, but these nuances must be observed without fail.

• First, when making a brick wall with your own hands, you need to create a so-called quarter (planting for windows or doors) – the inside of the brickwork must be shifted by a quarter of the brick. It will turn out something like a small internal recess, into which a window or door will subsequently be inserted.
• Secondly, in order to provide reliable support for the bricks that will be laid above the window, a concrete or metal beam must be laid in the upper part of the window opening in compliance with the level. As a rule, an iron corner 100x100mm in size or a finished concrete beam is used for these purposes. And he and the other material copes with the assigned tasks quite adequately.
• And, thirdly, it would not be superfluous to recall that a window opening in a brick wall must be laid out in compliance with all levels and geometry.

Bricks are laid over windows and doors in the same way as everywhere else.

Do-it-yourself brick wall photo

Why do you need an armored belt

Asking how to lay a brick wall, you should understand the importance of an armored belt, which closes the brickwork around the entire perimeter and fastens it, turning the entire structure into a single integral structure. This belt is made quite simply, although not very convenient.

A formwork 20-30 cm high is installed along the entire perimeter of the walls, after which a three-dimensional reinforcement frame is laid into it and all this is poured with concrete. The inconvenience in working when creating an armored belt lies precisely in the height at which you have to work – it is difficult not only to deliver concrete there, but also to mount the formwork itself.

How to lay the interior walls of a brick house

The construction of the walls of a brick house is not limited to laying the exterior walls – the frame of the house will be complete only when the walls between the rooms are laid.